“When will she be discharged?” I interrupt his meaningless apology. I’m not a man of useless words or platitudes; I say only what I mean, and nothing less. Anything else is a waste of time. He stares at me but doesn’t speak for a few minutes and my patience is running thin, too thin to play this game. “Answer me.”
The man swallows hard, nodding fast. “As soon as she wakes up. Her vitals are stable, and other than exhaustion, Miss Moore is fine.” Dr. Frausu, as his name tag reads, hasn’t bothered to look at the machines monitoring her or the notes left behind by the nurse an hour ago. My jaw ticks and the hand not holding hers clenches, nails digging into my palm. “I’ll have the paperwork ready for whenever she wakes up. Does that work?”
“You do that.” There’s a slight jerk to her hand and her breathing has changed. My eyes flick to her, and I notice the faster rise and fall of her chest. She’s alert. And yet Gabriella’s playing asleep to listen in. Bad girl.
“Of course, sir. I just need to check—”
“Get out.” The words come out on a low growl, and I notice him flinch from the corner of my eye. He’s also looking at the floor. “Send the nurse to check her as your incompetence isn’t welcomed in this room. Understood?”
“I’m her doc—”
My head snaps in his direction, eyes narrowed. “I don’t like to repeat myself. Understood?”
“Yes.” He nods before I finish and then scurries off before I can acknowledge his response. Pathetic.
“That was mean.” A low chuckle greets my ears, and I tilt my head in her direction while watching the door close. “And here I thought you were harmless.”
“So is pretending to be asleep in order to spy on the conversation, Miss Moore.”
“Which sin is worse?” she asks while I turn to face her, my body leaning closer.
“The one where you doubt my abilities to protect you at all costs.” My words cause her to blush, and yet I also notice I ruffled some feathers. She’s glaring while biting that damn bottom lip I yearn to lick. “Something on your mind, Gabriella?”
She scoffs, a challenging brow raised. “How is it rude when the conversation is about me?”
I don’t miss her avoidance and mimic the action. “Easy.”
“I’m waiting.”
“I know.” Keeping my eyes on hers, I get just close enough to make her gasp. For goose bumps to rise across her soft skin while I bite back a grin. “It’s rude because it’s beneath you. It’s rude because I’ll never hide anything from you, Gabriella. Ask me, and I’ll always answer.”
“Trust isn’t freely given by me. Nor does this make sense.” A red curl has gotten loose from her messy updo, and I push it back behind her ear with a single finger. She shivers. Shakes a little. “We don’t know each other, and this makes no sense.”
I nod at her low response. “We don’t, and it does.”
“How so?”
“Because sometimes life places a gift in your path that you’d be an idiot to ignore. Because there’s something between us, more than this sudden attraction, that I won’t ignore.”
“And I’m that gift?”
“You are more than that.”
“This is my home,” I say after entering my penthouse apartment in the Belltown area a few hours later. She’s been discharged into my care, per the nurse’s request to be monitored and a bit of negotiating on my behalf. She doesn’t know me well enough yet, and I was more than accommodating in sending a message to the detective working the case via her phone and mine explaining where Gabriella is and the why.
Elise also knows, but not by our doing. She’d found us leaving the hospital—were almost inside my car—when her false best-friend-instincts arose, and she tried to take Gabriella with her. Not that the blonde idiot cared or wanted to help, something the beauty beside me knows, but more to prevent this.
Miss Moore in my home. Close to me.
“Come on, Gabby,” Elise says with the fakest smile on her face, her hand reaching out toward the stiff woman beside me. “Let me get you home and settled in so Theodore can return to his busy day. I’m sure he doesn’t have time to babysit you.”
“How did you know we were here, Miss Scott?”
Her eyes flicker to mine, batting her lashes before attempting to seem concerned. Lies. A motherfucking lie. “Didn’t Gabriella tell you she called me? She said she needed a ride home and I came down right away.”
“Is that so?”
“Ask her yourself, Theodore. Right, Gabby?” Both sets of eyes turn toward the quiet woman beside me who promptly rolls her eyes at Elise while holding her hand out silently for my car keys. We are but a few steps from it, almost within reach if you lean over enough, and I hand them over without a second thought. “Gabriella! We spoke about this and have an agreement.”
There’s a hidden meaning behind those words, a tinge of a threat, but my girl’s response is to unlock the door and get in, closing it with a bit more force than necessary, but the answer is in her actions. She wasn’t going anywhere with her. Not that I would’ve allowed it either.
Gabriella could’ve left, could’ve let Elise manipulate her, but I was proud of her for not saying a single word. Moreover, I’m expecting her so-called friend’s call. Because after our brunch fiasco, I’ve done my own bit of research and know more than she wants—what is beneficial to her.
“And you live here alone?” Gabriella asks out of nowhere and I bite back a smile. What she doesn’t ask outright is if I’m dating anyone.
“I do. There hasn’t been anyone in my life for a long time.”
“And now?”
“And now you’ll get a tour.” This is the largest unit in this area and those surrounding, with over fifty-seven hundred square feet of living space, a wrap-around terrace, and an ostentatious master bath that I can see her enjoying. It’s where I relax when in the city, and the interior reflects that with clean lines, minimal gold accents, and black-on-black everything.
All shades. All styles.
Modern. Mid-century. There’s even a touch of farmhouse in the soft chenille blankets Tero’s wife insisted I keep in a leather basket of the same color when she decorated the place.
“Trust me, Theodore,” she’d said with a knowing grin. “You will thank me later.”
I’ve always favored this color, and she sees that as I walk us in deeper with a hand on the small of her back. We pause at the entrance of the living room where the Space Needle greets her and the waters of Lake Union can also be seen depending on which way you look.
“Wow,” is all she says, taking in everything. The Seattle skyline is the backdrop and its lights the sole hint of color dancing across my walls. “And you made it seem as though you didn’t understand the difference in shades.”
It’s hard to keep a straight face at her jest; I know exactly what she’s talking about, and I’m also proud of her for joking after everything that’s happened. She saw Tim both alive and dead mere hours apart but is keeping her composure and trying to move past it. But that might also have to do with the medications given to her before we left, which should last the night; tomorrow is another day, and I’ll help her through it.