Not Planning on You (6 page)

Shivers ran down her spine as she cleared her throat, “I can walk to the bathroom Gray; I’m not an invalid.”

“Baby, just let me help you. You’re going to cause yourself a world of pain trying to prove your point, and I don’t want to see that happen. I’m going to pick you up and set you inside and then carry you back to the bed,
are
we clear?”

Being the intelligent person that she was, Suzy knew when to pick her battles. When you were about to pee all over yourself and felt as if someone had stabbed you, was not the time to stage a stand-off. She closed her mouth and linked her arms around his neck as he gently picked her up. At the best he could do, it was still an excruciating trip and she stayed on the toilet longer than necessary trying to recover enough to return to the bed.

Suzy had to give Gray credit; he made an incredible nurse. He was gentle, caring and smelled good enough to eat. If not for all the pain she was in, she’d be seriously tempted to pull him down in the bed on top of her and finally take care of this ache she had inside whenever he was near. Heck, she could almost have an orgasm just hearing his sexy voice on the phone; she could only imagine how good the real thing would be.

When Gray had her settled back into the bed, he called the nurse and asked for more pain medication despite her protests. She needed to think clearly where he was concerned and how could she do that when she was constantly in la
la
land? The nurse came in and quietly injected medication into her IV. When she left, Suzy looked at Gray in a haze and said, “You know I’m not staying with you.” She tried to hang on a little longer to finish her sentence just barely managing, “And I’m not falling in love with you Gray.”

As she finished those last words, Gray held her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss against the palm, whispering, “I’m afraid you have to, from the moment we met, I ceased to exist without you. You’ve put me off as long as I can take. Ready or not Suzanna, I’m coming for you, and I don’t intend to stop until I have
you
..forever
.”

The next morning, Gray left the hospital when Beth arrived. He’d convinced a realtor to show him some property bright and early. He hit it lucky on the third house and within two hours, he was signing papers to make it his. Luckily, the house was empty, so he’d be able to move in immediately. An offer well above the asking price had both the realtor and the owner anxious to accommodate anything that he needed so he could keep all the furnishing, for the time being. Later when Suzy was settled in, he’d be happy to let her change anything that she wanted, but for now, it was a bonus to be able to move right in. He called Nick and asked that he handle having his personal items moved from the penthouse to the new place and also
have
it fully stocked with supplies. He’d then talked to Beth about packing some items for Suzy.

As he was getting back into his car, his cell phone rang. Afraid it was the hospital, he didn’t even spare a glance at the caller ID, instead answering it on the first ring. His blood ran cold as a mocking voice filled his ear. “Well, hello my darling, have you missed me?”

“
Reva
, how did you get this number?”

Laughter filled his ear as she said, “You should know by now Gray, what I want, I get. I told you when you broke up with me that I wouldn’t just tuck my tail and run like all the other women you have thrown away.”

“I didn’t break up with you
Reva
. That would imply that we had a relationship, which we didn’t. We went out for less than a month.” What Gray didn’t add was the only reason it had lasted that long was because he was desperate to take his mind off of Suzy. It hadn’t taken long though to figure out the whole love the one you’re with thing didn’t work for him.

 He’d met
Reva
at a launch party for an author friend. Warning bells should have been ringing wildly at the way she pursued him all evening before he finally agreed to have dinner with her the following evening. Truthfully, he had had little interest in
Reva
, and he was paying the price now for letting it get out of hand. They’d gone out to dinner a few times, and he’d been her escort to various charity functions over the course of a month. Finally, after several weeks of pressure, they had ended up in bed together. Gray knew it was a mistake as soon as it happened, and he ended things afterwards. He didn’t see leading her on when he knew it was going nowhere. Even if Suzy wasn’t in his life, he’d have no desire to become seriously involved with
Reva
.

That had been the start of months of hell. To say that she hadn’t taken it well would be an understatement. Gray had tried to be understanding because, in truth, he felt guilty for letting it go that far to start with. Unlike his brother Nick, Gray wasn’t the type to sleep around. When he was involved with a woman, it was exclusive, and they always parted as friends. Never had he been faced with a woman who hated him afterwards.

After several weeks and hundreds of phone calls, emails and appearances at his office, Gray had had enough. He tried one last time to reason with her on the telephone and then had notified security too nicely but firmly
turn
Reva
away when she showed up at
Mericom
; he’d changed his home and cell phone number and had informed security at his condominium. For all of a week, life was peaceful. Then
Reva
somehow had his new cell phone number, and the phone calls and threats had again started. He’d changed his cell phone number at least five times, and each time she had it within days. He also received various hate
mail
at his office and home. Friends looked uncomfortable and embarrassed as they told him the latest lies that
Reva
had spread within their social circle.

Still, Gray was hesitant to involve the police. He felt as if he’d somehow caused the problem even though he’d never been anything but honest with
Reva
. There had been no promises made, and he’d always treated her well. He’d also wanted to avoid the negative publicity that was sure to come when something like this came out. Even though Jason had encouraged him to take proper steps to protect himself, he still hated to open Danvers up to this type of publicity so soon after the merger. The most important reason, however, was his fear of Suzy finding out. Logically, he knew she couldn’t expect that he hadn’t seen other women since he met her. They were not dating; hell he’d never even kissed her. Their foreplay had spanned over a year, and he thought maybe she was coming to terms with the inevitability of their involvement.

Something inside him said that she’d feel betrayed by his sexual involvement with another woman. Truthfully he even felt that he’d betrayed her when there was no reason why he should. To his knowledge, Suzy hadn’t been involved with anyone since her break up with her fiancé. He’d dated a few times casually since meeting her. In the beginning, he saw her very little, and they lived miles apart so it was more of an infatuation. As the merger between
Mericom
and Danvers became reality, he was in Myrtle Beach at the Danvers headquarters at least once a week, and suddenly he was seeing Suzy regularly. He asked her out each time he saw her, and she told him no.

In the last few months, though, something seemed to have changed, and even though she hadn’t spoken the words, Gray could feel the softening in her attitude towards him. She still tried to hide behind her sassy mouth, but much of the heat had gone out of her comments. When he asked her out yesterday he’d known that something would happen between them that evening. Of course instead of sex, Suzy damn near broke her neck. Boy, couldn’t a guy catch a break?

Apparently, the silence on his end of the phone line had finally irritated
Reva
enough to end her rant and hang-up. Gray knew it was just a matter of time before the next call. Another phone number would soon be required. He was starting to question whether he was doing the right thing trying to handle this on his own. He hoped that with his permanent move to Myrtle Beach,
Reva
would soon lose interest when he was no longer easily harassed.

“For God’s sake Beth, if you don’t help me get in that bathroom to bathe and wash my hair I’m going to kick your butt all the way to kingdom come when I get off these damn crutches.”

With a sigh, Beth said, “I don’t know why I thought pain medication would make you a pleasant patient; it obviously hasn’t done a thing for your disposition. If you fall and break your neck along with your ankle, I don’t want to hear any complaining.” With that remark, Beth walked over to the bed and leant down so that Suzy could loop an arm around her neck. “
Geez,
and I thought I was the fat one, does this cast add like fifty pounds or something? I thought it was a soft cast.”

Beth got an obscene hand gesture for her comment. “You’re not fat Beth. If you get any thinner, I’ll be able to hold both your feet together and pick my teeth with you. Now zip it and let’s get this party started.”

Flattered by her sister’s assessment of her thin size, Beth was ready to carry her over her shoulder if necessary. They made it to the bathroom and she helped Suzy sit on the shower seat. “Umm, how are we supposed to keep the water off your bandages?”

Crap, she hadn’t thought ahead. After making it this far, she wasn’t going to be denied a shower. “Ok, unroll the bandages Beth, as soon as we finish, we can just put them back on. We are two pretty intelligent women; I know we can do this.”

“Suzy, I don’t know. I think there is actually a reason for them.”

Waving her hand impatiently, Suzy said, “Suck it up, sis, and start unrolling. What’re they going to do if they find out, break my leg or something?”

“Alright, but please note that I’m doing this under protest.” Beth started with the ankle first, trying not to show her reaction to the swollen and discolored nature of her sister’s usually dainty ankle. It looked like it could pass for one of Barney’s ankles or
cankles
now. Beth was starting to feel confident as she made quick work of the ankle bandage and turned her attention to removing her night-gown. When she was half way finished, Suzy suddenly screamed and her face turned white. “Oh God, did I hurt you?”

Suzy’s hand was trembling as she raised it as if to brace herself. Suddenly, the bathroom door flew open and Gray stood in the doorway, disbelief on his face. “What in the hell are you doing? Have you lost your mind? Beth
go
press the button and tell the nurse to get in here, now!” Even though his tone was hard, his hands were gentle as he grabbed her robe off of the hanger on the wall and gently wrapped it around her shoulders. He ran his hand down her cheek, his eyes bright with something that she couldn’t look away from. “Baby, what have you done? I can’t leave you alone for a minute, can I?”

At that moment, Beth returned with a nurse in tow. She brushed them both aside to survey the damage. “Ms. Denton, what were you thinking? You could have seriously injured yourself. Let me call another nurse so that we can lift you back into bed.”

“No,” Suzy mumbled. She looked at Gray in the doorway, and lifted her arms. No matter how much she denied her feelings for him, she knew he was her safe haven. She needed him right now like she needed to breathe.
It’s probably just the drugs; no way does he look this good all the time, that wouldn’t be fair to the rest of the male population.

Gray gently lifted her and took slow steps until he deposited her back on the bed. The nurse left and returned with more bandages and pain medication. Soon she was drifting away as the nurse began the task of replacing what they had removed.