Not Planning on You (Danvers #2)(11)
Wow, Gray could see the family resemblance now. Beth practically glowed as she laid down the law to him. Gone was the quiet, shy person and in her place was a lioness protecting her cub. Even though she was calling him to the carpet, he couldn’t help being impressed.
“Beth, I know this sounds a bit cliché, but I only have the best of intentions where your sister is concerned. You have nothing to be concerned about. I intend to find a house that Suzy will be comfortable in while she recovers, and she’ll have everything she needs. If you would feel better living with us, I’d be more than happy to have you.”
The spark seemed to leave Beth as fast as it had come, and she returned to her former quiet manner. “Thank you Gray, but I’ll be fine. I will be over daily to help, though, and I’ll be here tomorrow morning to help you um….finalize your plans with her.”
Gray laughed as he read the underlying message in her expression, ‘good luck with that.’ “Thanks Beth. I plan to go look at houses early in the morning so if you could be here it would be great. We don’t want to leave your sister alone to inflict damage unto the nursing staff, do we? Also, please call me Gray. As she leaned over the bed to give her sister one last kiss before leaving, he stood, prepared to escort Beth to her car.
“Beth, I’ll see you out. Suzy would have my head if I let you walk to your car in a dark and probably deserted parking lot.”
He could see the protests forming on her lips. Beth obviously wasn’t comfortable yet in his company. He opened the door and held it for her to precede him out. She was quiet as they walked down the hall to the bank of elevators. Gray decided to break the ice and asked her about her job.
“Well, I’m actually supposed to start working for Suzy tomorrow, but that doesn’t look great right now. You do realize that she isn’t going to stay at home while she’s recovering don’t you? I’d give her maybe two days max before you are carting her to the office. It’s not going to be pretty, but my sister isn’t an idle person. In fact, she’ll probably be the patient of your nightmares,” Beth chuckled.
Gray laughed along with her knowing she spoke the truth. “We will cross that bridge when we have to, Beth, and thanks for the warning.”
Soon they were in the parking garage, and Beth was walking towards a bright red convertible VW. Gray was a bit surprised. Like her sister, there appeared to be more layers to Beth than he’d originally thought.
Beth turned to say goodnight to Gray. As she was getting in the car, she asked, “Your brother, he is just visiting, right?”
Gray stifled a groan at her question. Dear lord, please don’t let anything happen between Beth and Nick. Suzy would kill Nick and then move on to kill him. His baby brother was a love ‘em and leave ‘em type of guy. He was so charming that women seemed to love him even as he was showing them the door. Somehow he didn’t think the Denton sisters would feel that affection for Nick should he do the same to Beth.
He pondered lying to her, and then knew that if she was going to work with Suzy, she’d be seeing Nick around the office. “Actually, Beth we are both moving here. Jason wants us at headquarters now, especially with Claire having the baby soon. Jason plans to take time away to spend with his family, and I’d like for him to be able to have that.”
Beth felt her heart drop. She’d just met Nick tonight, why did she care whether he was coming or going? Now Gray probably thought she had a big crush on him as well. The way Nick stared at her made her self-conscious. She felt like the old Beth again, wondering if her clothes made her look big, was her dress clinging to her hips. Nick was drop-dead gorgeous and she was Beth, frumpy former fat girl with nothing to offer a man like that. She noticed Gray studying her, almost as if reading her mind. “Goodnight Gray, I’ll see you in the morning.”
Gray watched Beth buckle herself in the car and with a quick wave, she was gone. He walked back into the hospital and made a mental note to have a serious talk with his brother in the morning. Better to stop trouble now before it came calling later.
Chapter Six
Suzy woke feeling as if her bladder was going to explode. She looked around the darkened room in confusion. Where the hell was she? When she tried to sit up in the bed, pain stabbed through her. She stifled a scream as she noticed a dark head lying on the side of her bed. Suddenly, it all came back to her, and she knew who was sleeping at her bedside. Gray, always Gray. She couldn’t escape him any longer. He’d haunted her every waking moment for months and now here he was in the flesh. Fate was cruel mistress. Instead of a night of hot sex as planned, she’d fallen down a flight of steps like some klutz. Apparently, Claire was rubbing off on her. Her friend had at least one accident a day, which Suzy always found rather amusing; now the shoe was on the other foot.
“I can practically hear your mind racing from here.”
Suzy snorted. Did he always have to sound so sexy? Just once couldn’t he have a squeak in his voice or something? That deep, sexy rumble made her want to start panting. “It’s not my mind racing babe; it’s my bladder. If you could step out for a moment, while I go to the bathroom that would be great.”
Gray flipped on the bedside light and she blinked like an owl, trying to adjust to the sudden brilliance. He walked over to the bedside and started lowering the side bar of the bed. “What’re you doing?”
“Well unless you want to pole vault out of bed, I’m going to help you.” When Gray had the side lowered, he leaned down and started sliding his hands under her hips.