Indiscretion: Volume Four (7 page)

“Excuse me?” he asked, incredulous.

I spun back around to face him. “What?”

“A wheelchair?”

I narrowed my eyes, propping my hands on my hips. He wasn’t winning this one either. “Well, after the display of you trying to get from the bathroom to the bed, you certainly won’t be walking out of here.”

His frown was belligerent, allowing me to imagine what he must’ve looked like as a young boy. “You don’t seriously think I’m going to let you push me out of here in a wheelchair, do you?”

“I don’t think it, I know it.” I cocked an eyebrow. “It’s not up for discussion. Now fill out that paperwork, and I’ll be back.” I swiveled on my heel again.

“Geez,” he grumbled behind me. “I’ve had some nurse fantasies before, but they didn’t quite go like this.”

I didn’t fully turn around, only turned my head so he could hear my quiet, seductive voice. “You follow the doctor’s orders, and I’ll make all those fantasies come true.”

He brightened up considerably. “Seriously?”

I laughed. “Seriously. Now fill those papers out so I can take you home.”

“Fucking hell,” I heard him mutter before I left the room.

An hour later, Max was fiddling with the radio in my car. He hadn’t said much since we left the hospital.

“What are you thinking?” I asked.

Max’s tapping on his leg came to a stop. “Just wondering what the hell could’ve happened to cause the collapse,” he said, confused. “Paul is on top of his game. There’s no way it had anything to do with a lack of safety or poor construction.”

I pursed my lips, contemplating it. “I saw Paul before I came here...he’s the one who told me where to find you.” I was a little embarrassed by my actions after I’d found out Max had been brought to the hospital. Now that I knew he was okay, it didn’t seem like it was my place to be the one bursting into the emergency room, demanding to see him. Not to mention the fact that I had lied and said I was his wife. Freud would’ve had a field day inside my brain with that one.

“What did he say? Was anyone else hurt?” Max asked, deeply concerned.

“He didn’t say much.” I shrugged, bringing the car to a stop at a red light. “I only spoke with him for a minute.”

Max didn’t say anything. He only laid his head against the headrest and closed his eyes, anxiously tapping his fingers against his thighs again. His pants were ripped and covered in dust.

“It’s killing you not to call someone and discuss the accident, isn’t it?”

“I need to touch base with Paul,” was all he replied. “If my father hasn’t heard already, then he will soon and I’m going to need to bring him up to speed.”

“Okay, all your stuff from the hospital in in my trunk so you get one call over the speakers in my car and that’s it. You can check your phone after you’ve rested for a bit. You start getting worked up and I’m cutting it off,” I warned him with conviction.

“Yes ma’am.” Max wore a small smile and mock saluted me.

I smirked at him. “Someone has to keep you in check. Unless you want to be back in the hospital for a longer stay?”

“Not a chance,” he replied quickly, probably picturing himself in one of those horrible beds again. “This afternoon was enough to last a lifetime.”

“Believe me, I understand.” Memories of going to the hospital to identify my mom’s body after the accident flashed through my mind, but I refused to go there. “Now what’s Paul’s number?”

Max recited it and I let him have his conversation with Paul. Apparently, the only saving grace when the building collapsed was that it had been lunch so no one was in the structure. When the beam collapsed, it hit the corner of the building that Max was near and toppled only part of the structure. It had been a miracle that he wasn’t injured worse. A shudder ran up my spine at the thought. I couldn’t even go there, wouldn’t go there.

I pulled into the Harborside parking lot so I could quickly run in and grab a few things for Max. I’d be heading straight to the room but if anyone saw me and asked I’d tell them I was meeting an out of town client or something. Living in tight quarters with Max for the next week was going to be challenging enough—I couldn’t have him walking around half naked twenty-four seven. My feelings for Max seemed to be a bottomless well, getting deeper and deeper with each day that passed.

Chloe

After I got Max settled at my place, I ran out to the grocery store to get some of the things he said he liked. Not being a great cook myself, and not being used to having to feed a more than six foot, muscular man, I knew the provisions at my place wouldn’t last us very long.

I was wheeling my cart around the store, not paying attention to much else. I wanted to get back to Max quickly in case he needed something. I was beyond relieved that he wasn’t seriously injured, but from experience I knew concussions shouldn’t be taken too lightly.

In the cereal aisle, I scanned the shelves for the right one. My cart clanked and came to a stop when it bumped something. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” I looked up, hoping I hadn’t taken out a cart with a small child. I stopped cold as tension seized all the muscles in my body.

It was Jeff. My ex.

Well, he wasn’t exactly a child, but he could sure act like one at times.

He was standing there, holding onto the cart I’d hit, though it was obvious from the positioning that he’d gotten in my way intentionally. There was a smug smile on his face I would have been more than happy to smack off for him.

“Chloe, fancy seeing you here,” he said.

I fought the urge to cross my arms over my chest, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing his presence affected me. “Not really. I’m surprised to see you here, though. I figure you’d have your minions do this kind of thing for you,” I deadpanned.

He laughed. I guess he thought I was actually joking. “I gave them the night off.”

I rolled my eyes. I didn’t have time for this, or him. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to be going.” I started to pull my cart back so I could get around him, but he put a hand on the end to stop me.

“You did a great job singing at the charity gala,” he said, his tone smooth and easy.

My gaze darted up to him and I froze. “You were there?”

He nodded, his hazel eyes alight. “I was.”

“I didn’t see you.” I narrowed my eyes accusingly.

He shrugged. “It’s a big ballroom. There were a lot of people there.”

I wasn’t sure what to think of that. I had too much running through my head right now. “Like I said. I need to be going.”

He didn’t move his cart out of my way. “I couldn’t help but notice you weren’t talking to your new sugar daddy while you were there…” he trailed off, seeming to wait and see if I’d take the bait. I wouldn’t.

“We’re not seeing each other. Try to keep up,” I said with a sarcastic tone and a fake smile.

“Interesting.” His eyes turned shrewd, and I could tell he was about to goad me again. “That must’ve been why I saw him leaving the ballroom with that gorgeous brunette.”

I had to bite my tongue not to latch onto that one. Literally. The metallic taste of blood coated my tongue. “Must have.”

“I guess it’s not your concern that his project just about collapsed to the ground earlier today, then?” He studied me for a long moment, waiting for my response.

I gripped the shopping cart so hard my knuckles turned white. Why was I hanging around here listening to this shit? “Why would it be my concern? I’m just happy to hear that no one was hurt.”

He shrugged again, trying to appear nonchalant, but I knew him too well for that. He was like a shark that had smelled blood in the water—he wasn’t going to let it go that easily. He had something up his sleeve. “I don’t know. Now that the repercussion of it has shut down your own site, I figured you’d care.”

I couldn’t help reacting to that. My eyes went wide. “What’re you talking about?”

“I take it you didn’t know. That’s a shame,” he gloated. “Well, apparently the labor board has concerns that whatever problem they were having on the Richfield site, might also be happening at the Tribute job site so they’ve shut it down too, in order to do an investigation.”

Shut down? Why would one job site effect the other?
I couldn’t help but wonder what that meant for my bonus. “How do you know that?” I asked. Why wouldn’t Mr. Cullen have called me?

“You know me,” he said with a cocky grin. “I like to make sure I’m on top of everything that goes on around here.” Including his secretary as I’d once found out. But it was the truth, which was why what he said next worried me so much. As I rolled my eyes at him, he gave my cart a thorough perusal. “You’ve got a lot of food in there for one person, Chloe. Better watch what you eat—you don’t want to lose that knock-out figure of yours.”

I couldn’t be sure if he was just saying it to be a jerk, or if there was a hidden meaning behind his words. He was such an asshole. How had I ever seen any redeeming qualities in him?

Without another word I backed my cart up and swerved around him. I heard him chuckling at my back as I raced away.

When I arrived home, I set the grocery bags on my kitchen counter, and then went upstairs to check on Max. After the little bomb Jeff had dropped on me, I’d called Mr. Cullen from the car, only to find out that Jeff had been right. Mr. Cullen had been livid and so preoccupied with the fallout, that he hadn’t gotten an opportunity to call me yet. So, until I heard otherwise, I didn’t have to be at the showroom for my regular shifts, since it was located on the building site.

It was a blessing and a curse. I was happy I’d be around all day to keep an eye on Max, but the looming deadline to earn my bonus wasn’t far from my mind.

I poked my head into my bedroom. Max was on the bed and must’ve heard me coming up the stairs because he was awake and looking at me with a sad smile on his face.

“Everything okay?” I asked, taking a couple steps in.

He sighed. “Yeah, I just got off the phone with my dad.”

I opened my mouth to berate him for making another phone call instead of resting, but he held his hand up to stop me.

“I had to touch base with him, Chloe. He needed to know I was okay and hear from me what the hell happened.”

I shut my mouth because he was probably right. “What did he say?” I was afraid to hear the answer, though. I knew they didn’t get along that well.

“The usual. How the hell could I let this happen? What the fuck is going on, etcetera, etcetera.”

My face heated in anger. “Does he know you were injured?”

He shrugged. “Yeah, that doesn’t matter though since I’m going to be fine. It’s business as usual and damage control.”

I frowned. “Did he ask who was taking care of you?”

“No.” He closed his eyes for a second, then opened them again. “Probably figures Paul is keeping an eye out for me or something.”

Maybe distraction would work to take his mind off his father. “Well, I just had a run in at the grocery store that left me in a similar mood.”

A crease appeared in his forehead. “What happened?”

“I ran into my asshat ex, Jeff.” I proceeded to tell him about my conversation with him, and the subsequent phone call to Mr. Cullen. “So, I’m afraid you’re going to have to deal with me on a full time basis.”

He smiled and reached a hand out, inviting me to join him in bed. I crawled in gingerly beside him, not wanting to shake the mattress too much in case it made him dizzy. He wrapped an arm around me, and I placed my hand on his chest.

“Sounds like I’ve got some competition.” He’d said it as a joke, but it was clear it was also a question.

I laughed without humor. “I’d never give that guy another chance. I can’t even imagine now what I ever saw in him.”

“Good to know,” Max said, sounding drowsy.

Bringing up Jeff made me think of something that had been bothering me since it happened. I’d wanted to tell Max about Gabe since the whole house hunting thing, but I wasn’t sure how to broach the subject, or whether I even should, given our situation.

Finally, taking a deep breath, I rushed out, “I have a confession,” I bit my lip and pushed forward. “The other night when I was showing my friend Gabe some houses, he tried to kiss me.”

“Really,” he said, not sounding surprised.