Something to Prove (21 page)

“What do you think this is? It’s not date central. We’re here to work, to run a business.”

“Hmmm—mmm.” He stared at her lips. “There’s no rule against enjoying your work.”

She held her arm out straight to prevent his progress. “We just talked about this.
If you plan on ever seeing me naked again . . .” His eyes lit. “Then you need to keep
your hands off while at work.”

He inched against her palm and the warm firmness of his abdomen pressed against her.
“How long?”

Her mouth dried up. “Huh?”

“How long until I get to see you naked again?”

Her laugh came out as a snort and she covered her mouth again. “Stop it. I hate that
you do that to me.”

“What? Make you laugh?”

“Make me forget who and where I am.” The words startled him almost as much as they
did her. If he didn’t have that ability, her words would always have been kept in
check.

He took a big step backward.

Now she’d done it. She’d ruined a great casual sexual relationship because she’d said
the wrong thing.

Then his smile broadened. “Until tonight then. My place or yours?”

She answered his smile with one of her own. “Mine has room service.”

“Okay.” He turned and headed for the door. With his hand on the knob, he said, “There’s
a boxing match this Saturday on pay-per-view. I think we should consider getting it.
We can advertise and bring more people in.”

“Sure.”

He swung the door open and walked through it without a backward glance.

Elizabeth opened her laptop and began Googling sports events. It was great that Colin
seemed on top of it, but if this was going to be a sports bar, she had to be on top
too.

CHAPTER 12

F
or the next few days, Colin and Elizabeth worked side by side and slept together each
night. He found the biggest problem he had with working with her was not that she
was bossy and controlling, but that no matter what she wore, he imagined her naked,
which gave him an instant hard-on. They worked so well together, he had moments when
he worried about whether he could hack it after she left. Whether he bought this place
or another, could he go it alone?

He tried not to think about how cold his bed would be after she left. After less than
a week of sleeping together he shouldn’t have those kinds of thoughts.

They’d done a lot of advertising to bring people in for the boxing match, and he’d
convinced a beer sponsor to send beer promo girls with prizes. Elizabeth chose a company
to work on the bowling alley and work would start on Sunday. Bianca had stopped by
and impressed Elizabeth enough to get hired.

All in all, his life was finally looking up. Now he just had to decide if he wanted
to expose Elizabeth to an O’Leary family dinner. Even if he invited her, she might
not agree to come. And he still worried about sending the wrong message to his family.

Maybe he’d wait until after tonight. If the boxing event was a huge success, she might
be distracted enough to agree. Plus, having baby Patrick at his first family dinner
might dissuade everyone from interrogating Elizabeth.

He decided not to examine the idea that he wanted her to come. That fell under the
same umbrella of missing her in his bed after she left.

All things better left for another day.

Elizabeth had already left his apartment to go into work. He’d tried to convince her
to wait for him, but she wouldn’t hear of it. She still insisted they drive separately
so no one would know they were sleeping together.

He really just wanted her to wait so that she might take a nap. She hadn’t been kidding
when she’d told Mike she would open and close the place. She’d been there around the
clock all week, and while she’d been doggedly productive, the hours had been taking
a toll on her. Even with spending a few hours at O’Leary’s and his time at Brannigan’s,
he was nowhere near as exhausted as she was.

She thought he didn’t know she was still consuming antacids, but he did. He’d tried
to get her to go to the doctor, but she just bought some over-the-counter pills that
didn’t seem to make much difference.

He turned on the ignition in the Jeep and his phone rang. With a glance at the screen,
he answered, “Yes, Elizabeth, I’m on my way now.”

“Good. Someone broke in last night.”

“What?” His tires screeched a little on the way out of the alley.

“The entire bar is trashed. TVs are broken, every glass smashed. I don’t know if we’ll
be able to open.” Her voice was tight, but controlled.

“Get out of there and call the cops.”

“They’re here now.”

He exhaled with relief, knowing she wasn’t alone. “I’ll be there soon.”

Speeding through the Chicago streets, he tried to figure out why it felt like their
bar had been targeted. First the missing alcohol and graffiti, now this. He pulled
up in front of the bar and ran in.

Elizabeth stood in the middle of the room talking with a uniformed cop. Colin glanced
at the cop, but didn’t recognize him. Elizabeth’s back looked like it had a steel
pole running through it. Another cop stepped in front of him to stop his progress.

Elizabeth called out, “It’s okay, officer. He’s my partner.”

Partner. He liked the sound of that, especially when it came from her mouth. She walked
away from the cop she’d been speaking to and met Colin.

“Are you okay?” He reached out and then dropped his arm, knowing she’d yell at him
for touching her.

“No, I’m not fucking all right. Look at this place.” She’d lost what control she’d
had in talking with the police and the comment came out as a harsh whisper.

He did as she said and looked around. Three of his TVs were smashed, and glass from
the barware littered the floor. Puddles of alcohol pooled on the bar and dripped down
the side.

He checked the time. One o’clock. If he called in Mike and they busted their asses,
they might be able to open.

“How much longer will the cops need?”

“I don’t know.” She turned and walked away, effectively shutting him out.

He found the cop who had tried to stop him from coming in. “Excuse me, officer. How
much more time will you need here? I’d like to start cleaning up and restocking so
we don’t have to lose a night of business.”

“The detectives are talking in the corner. Those are the guys you want to ask.”

“Do you know how they broke in?”

“Through your storeroom.”

Storeroom? How the hell would someone get in through the storeroom? Colin found the
detectives and heard them snickering. One commented on the alarm not functioning.

The alarm worked. He’d set it himself last night when they left. “Excuse me, detectives?
I’m one of the owners and I have a few questions.”

After another lengthy conversation, Colin found that although the alarm appeared to
be working, it wasn’t actually connected to anything. The siren itself had been disconnected.
Furthermore, the locks on the doors hadn’t been broken. Someone had gotten in on the
bowling-alley side of the building and come up through the basement.

As the police wrapped up, he called Mike, Erin, and Marissa and asked them all to
come in immediately. Then he went to find Elizabeth. In her office, she was doubled
over in her chair. He hurried to her side. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

She struggled to straighten.

“You need to go to a doctor.”

“Shut up.” Her words held no vehemence. “Who do we call to cancel the promotion tonight?”

“We can’t cancel. This event will be good for us. I have everyone coming in now. If
I need to call in friends and family, I will, but we’re going to be open tonight.”

She shook her head like she wanted to disagree with him. She just looked beat. “How
are we going to replace everything in a few short hours?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll figure it out.”

Elizabeth moved slowly toward the door and he walked with her, afraid she’d lose her
balance. She gripped the door frame with one hand and her stomach with the other.

“Hey.” He touched her cheek, not caring who saw or if she got mad.

With a sudden burst of energy, she pushed away from his touch and bolted across the
hall into the bathroom.

A glance over his shoulder told him the cops were gone and they were alone. He stood
outside the bathroom door, worried about her. He pushed the door open about an inch
and heard her retching. He didn’t ask permission to enter. He needed to make sure
she was okay.

Seeing her kneeling in front of the toilet was bad enough, but then he saw that she
had vomited blood. When she leaned against the metal wall of the stall, he squatted
in front of her. Panic pounded in his chest. Blood was never good. “You’re going to
the hospital right now.”

“No, I’m not. I’ll be fine.” Her face was pale and her voice weak.

“You’re not fine!” He stood and tried to calm himself. “Throwing up blood is not fine.
Eating more antacids than you do actual food is not fine. Pretending that nothing
is wrong is not fine. Now, you either stand up and walk to the car to go to the hospital,
or I’m going to carry you out of here.” He offered his hand, knowing that she’d take
it instead of risking him following through on his threat.

She looked frail and walked with a wobble, but she stayed on her feet. “What about
the bar? We need to close up and let people know we won’t be open tonight.”

“Mike will be here any minute.”

Right after the words left his mouth, the front door opened and Mike walked in.

“See? Everything will be fine, including you.” He propped her up near the door and
talked to Mike to let him know what was going on. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.
Get everything cleaned up, and I’ll work on getting deliveries of new inventory. Can
you handle that?”

“Sure. Is she okay?”

Colin shook his head. “She thinks she is, but I’m taking her to the hospital.”

He put his arm around Elizabeth’s waist. She must’ve really been feeling like crap
to not push him away.

Once in the car, she turned to him, and said, “This is a total waste of time. I know
what’s wrong with me. I already talked to my doctor, but he wouldn’t prescribe anything
without seeing me. I thought I could wait until I got home.”

Colin glanced at her out of the corner of his eye as he pulled out into traffic. “So
now you’re an MD too?”

“I know my body. I have stomach ulcers. They’ve been under control.”

“I guess all that stress and lack of sleep is catching up to you.”

“Stress doesn’t cause ulcers. It just aggravates them.” Her arm wrapped around her
middle again.

He reached out and patted her thigh. “We’ll be there soon.”

Unfortunately, they had to wait at the hospital. Stomach ulcers apparently weren’t
a huge emergency. If only he could convince his heart and nerves of that. He paced
in the waiting room, avoiding contact with the sick people sprawling in the chairs.

“I’m fine. Go back to the bar.”

“I’m not leaving you in the hospital alone.” How could she even think he’d leave?
“Do you want me to call someone? Your parents?”

Her eyes widened. “God, no.”

The woman was impossible. His entire family would kill him if he was at the hospital
and didn’t call. The antiseptic smell infiltrated his senses. He needed escape. “Sit
here. I’m going to make some calls.”

She waved a hand to dismiss him. He walked through the automatic sliding doors and
breathed in the fresh air. Being at the hospital for Patrick’s birth had managed to
erase some of the horrid memories he associated with hospitals, but he still hated
the place. He pulled out his phone and called the one person he never wanted to ask
for help.

“Hi, Ryan. I really need a favor.”

“What now?” He sounded tense, but at least he didn’t hang up.

“My bar was broken into last night. Liquor, TVs, and barware were all destroyed. I
need to get deliveries within the next couple of hours so that we can open on time.
We’re airing the boxing match, and we have sponsors coming.”

Ryan sighed.

“I know I’m asking for a lot, and I swore I wouldn’t need your help, but to top it
off, I’m at the hospital right now with Elizabeth.”

“What happened?”

“She thinks she’s fine, but she was throwing up blood less than a half hour ago. I
can’t leave her here alone. I’ve got a manager and waitresses at the bar cleaning,
and I’ll get back there as soon as I know what’s going on here.” He ran a hand through
his hair. “I could really use your help.”

“I have some favors I can call in. Anything specific I need to know?”

“I’ll take whatever you can get me.”

“Have you called the family?”

Colin stopped his pacing. “No, just you. Why would I call anyone else?”

“A woman you care about is in the hospital, your business is attacked, and you don’t
think you should let the family know? Maybe you have been gone too long.”

How did Ryan know he cared about Elizabeth? He’d never mentioned anything more than
them being partners. “Yeah, well, Elizabeth doesn’t know them and wouldn’t want them
here. I could probably use a couple of extra hands at the bar, though.”

“You go take care of Elizabeth. I’ll make the calls to everyone else.” There was another
pause. “I still can’t believe that you’re running The Irish.”

Colin chuckled. “It’s called Brannigan’s Sports Bar now. Wait till you see it.”

“Give me a call if you need anything else.”

“Hey, Ry?”

“Huh?”

“Thanks. It means a lot.”

“That’s what family’s for.”

The conversation had been short, but it was the least stressful interaction they’d
had in a long time.

While Colin was outside, a nurse called Elizabeth into an exam room, if that’s what
it could be called. She was sick of this stupid crap. She hadn’t had an attack like
this in a year. She explained her symptoms, filled out all of the required paperwork,
and gave them the number to her doctor. It was Saturday, so they’d get the emergency
line, but Dr. Walsh would call back.

The burn in her stomach rose up, and she grabbed the yellow plastic pan the nurse
had left. She threw up again, hating the taste of bile and blood. She rinsed her mouth
with a sip of water, afraid to swallow.

She wished they would listen and just prescribe the antibiotics that would fix this.
She sat on the uncomfortable bed and willed her stomach not to heave anymore. The
curtain that gave her little privacy moved aside and the nurse returned.