Wait for Me (10 page)

Emma nodded and watched as he walked away and shut the bedroom door.  A smile crept across her face.  Without an audience, she was free to play in the kitchen again.

****

Twenty minutes later Lucas was practically salivating from the aroma coming through the bedroom door.  She was simply making eggs, how could they smell so good?  He opened the bedroom door and stepped out into the living room and saw Emma fluttering around the kitchen.  “It smells great in here.  What are we having?”

Emma looked up and smiled at him; her whole face lit up and Lucas felt like he’d been kicked in the gut.  What would it be like to come home and have her look at him like that every day?  He shook his head instantly at the thought; that was never going to happen because someone like Emma deserved a man who could take care of her, not one who could barely take care of himself.

“Well,” she said, interrupting his thoughts, “ I made us some western omelets, home fries and you had a loaf of Italian bread that I toasted to go along with it.  And,” she said, her voice trailing off as she walked toward the front door, “the best part of the whole thing?”  Emma reached into one of the bags she’d left by the door and pulled out some sort of food storage container and held it up like a trophy.  “Dessert!”

That piqued his interest for sure.  “You were bringing dessert to the spa?” he asked with a barely contained laugh.

“No,” she said with only a hint of defensiveness.  “I was actually bringing this to your mom.  She loves my homemade brownies so I had a batch in my freezer that I was going to surprise her with.  Since I’m not going to see her, there’s no point in them going to waste, right?”

Lucas had heard the stories of Emma’s baking skills; both his parents had been singing her praises on that front for what seemed like forever. 
Knowing that she had put a lot of work into their dinner, he didn’t want to seem overly enthusiastic about finally trying her famous dessert.  “That sounds great,” he said.  “But let’s eat this dinner before it gets cold.”

There was a small dining set in the kitchen and Emma had the table set and ready for them.  The fire was roaring in the fireplace and the television had been shut off.  Lucas stopped for a moment and realized there was music coming from someplace.

“You have a great music collection,” Emma said as if reading his mind. “I hope you don’t mind that I put something on.  I always have music playing at home when I cook.”

“No, that’s fine; it’s kind of nice actually.”  He waited until Emma took her seat and then took the chair opposite her.  The table looked perfect, the food looked and smelled amazing and this was all very…cozy.  He was treading into dangerous territory and didn’t think that there was anything left he could do to stop it.

So he decided to embrace it.

“So, if you weren’t stuck here with me right now, what would you be doing?” Lucas asked as he cut into his omelet
.  He had to bite back a groan because it was so good and the last thing he needed to do right now was sit here making sounds of pleasure while trying to engage in a normal conversation.

“Well, I’d like to think that I’d be getting a full body massage right about now.”

“What?” he asked, nearly chocking on his food.

“The spa?  Remember?  If I wasn’t here right now, I would have been indulging in all kinds of pampering.  I’ve never gone for a massage before; I’d like to think that it would be amazing.  Or maybe I’d be enjoying a cocktail while I got a pedicure.”

“I highly doubt that a health spa would serve cocktails.”

“Maybe,” Emma replied with a shrug, “but in my mind I’d be in a fluffy white robe with an exotic drink in one hand while my feet were getting pampered.”

There was no way he wanted to continue this particular conversation because now all he could imagine was Emma in a fluffy white robe with nothing on underneath and him giving her a foot massage.  He cleared his throat and took a long drink of the juice she’d put out for them before speaking again.

“So what are these papers that were so important that my father couldn’t wait until he got back to see?”

Emma froze.  She knew that William hadn’t wanted his sons to know what he was working on but in all fairness, she still had no idea what it was either.  So technically, she wouldn’t be betraying a confidence because she honestly didn’t know what they were and that was exactly what she told Lucas.

“That seems a little odd; he tells you everything,” he commented.  “He didn’t mention anything before he left yesterday?”

“It was really kind of weird,” she replied honestly.  “I mean, he was getting ready to leave, it was before lunch and all of a sudden he threw it out there that he was expecting some papers.  When they arrived, he made it seem as if they were urgent.  Thus my trip up here to the wrong house.”  Emma laughed at the words but Lucas knew she was only trying to make light of their situation.

“That’s another topic all together.  My father is sharp as a tack; I find it hard to believe that he simply just forgot his own address and accidentally gave you mine.”

“What would be the point?  Why would he want me to go to the wrong house?”

“Who knows?  I know it bothers him that I live up here alone and I don’t invite anyone over; not him, not my mother or brothers, no one.”

“So you think he wanted me to come here first just to check on you?  That seems a bit excessive.”  She made a face at the thought and it really angered her a bit that her boss would deceive her this way.

“At this point, it’s anyone’s guess.  I hate that he put you in this situation where you went on a bit of a wild goose chase and ended up getting hurt.”  He stopped speaking and looked over at Emma intensely.  “Which reminds me, how are you feeling?  You haven’t said anything all day about your head or your ankle.”

“My head is down to a dull ache that is very manageable and my ankle is a little tender but fine.”  She toyed with her hair to cover the lump on her forehead and Lucas reached out to tug her hand away.  “Lucas…”

He studied her for a long moment.  “It looks much better.  You were lucky; it could have been much worse.”

She simply nodded.  “I know.  Thank you for taking care of me.”

“Well it seems as if you got the opportunity to return the favor today,” he said and Emma laughed.  “What?  What’s so funny?”

“We have got to be two of the worse patients ever!  I mean, here we are, two people who clearly have injuries and all we did was fight about them!”

“In my defense, I’m a guy,” he said simply.  “And guys do not like to admit to any weakness.”

Emma had to agree with that summation.  “Okay, noted. In my defense, well,” she hesitated, “I don’t have one.  I simply don’t like people fussing over me.”  With that she saw that they had both finished their meals.  “Was your dinner okay?”

“Fishing for compliments?” he teased.

“Always,” she said with a saucy smile as she stood and began clearing the dishes.  “How’s the knee doing?  Do you want to put the heating pad on it now?”

“That would be great,” he replied and then wanted to bite his own tongue.  “I mean, thank you for thinking of that.”

Emma knew it bothered Lucas to ask for help and so she decided to put him to work on something minor just so he’d feel useful.  How about you find something for us to watch on the TV while I finish cleaning up in here and then I’ll go and get the heating pad from your bedroom?”

“How did you know I used one?”

“When I was snooping for a toothbrush earlier, I found it in the linen closet.”  When she realized she had just admitted to snooping, she blushed.  “Sorry.”

“No need to apologize; a proper host would have thought of getting that stuff for you.”

“You’ve been very proper, Lucas,” she said lightly as she wiped down the table and Lucas’s eyes went dark.  He had been trying to be proper; he’d been kicking himself after every time he touched her.  The last thing he wanted was her gratitude for his ‘properness’ dammit.  But as she finished her task, completely oblivious to the dialogue going on in his head, Lucas knew the best thing to do was to put distance between them.

Within minutes, they were seated on one of the
sofas; Lucas at one end with the heating pad on his knee and Emma at the other end, her legs stretched out on the sofa between them and a plate of warmed brownies within reach. “What kind of stuff do you like to watch?” he asked cautiously, certain that she was going to request a soap opera or some sort of Jane Austen movie.

Reaching over, she took the remote from his hands and scanned the channels until she found a James Bond marathon.  Lucas looked at her as if she were crazy.  “What?  What’s wrong with 007?”

He shook his head.  “Nothing; nothing at all.  I just never met a woman who willingly wanted to watch a James Bond movie; let alone a marathon.”

“Now I have to admit, I’m a sucker for Sean Connery but I certainly have no problem with Daniel Craig either.”

There was no way he was going to debate why she chose one over the other and decided to just let himself relax and enjoy an action packed movie with the beautiful girl.

It was a sensation he hadn’t experienced in far too long.

They were well into the third movie when Lucas noticed Emma’s eyes were starting to close.  She had reclined further on the sofa and somehow her feet were now in his lap and he was gently massaging them.  When did that happen?  She looked so relaxed and so comfortable that he hated to do or say anything to disturb her.  Considering his options, he decided to just pretend that he hadn’t noticed that she was nearly asleep and put his focus back on the movie.

Emma, on the other hand, was doing her best to stay awake and wanted to purr with delight at the touch of Lucas’s hands on her.  She was doing her best to not react but his hands were truly magic. 
She snuggled down lower on the sofa and almost smiled when Lucas automatically shifted to accommodate her while never taking his hands from her feet.  Sighing silently, Emma decided to give in to the urge to close her eyes and just enjoy the sensation.

She felt as if she had just closed her eyes when Lucas softly called her name.  Emma wanted to open her eyes, she truly did, but she was so comfortable and her eyes just felt so heavy that all she could do was murmur his name quietly back to him.

His name on her lips washed over Lucas like silk and he bit back a groan.  It was well after midnight and his legs were starting to cramp from sitting in the same position for so long.  He had long since taken the heating pad off but what he really needed to do right now was get up and move around.  When Emma didn’t wake up, he carefully lifted her feet from his lap and shifted so that he could stand and then placed them gently back on the sofa.  She sighed and curled onto her side and Lucas smiled.  The woman slept like the dead.  Waking her the night before to check for a concussion had been no small task. 

He stood and watched her for a few moments and smiled as she hummed in her sleep.  He tested his knee by taking a few hesitant steps and then lifted it to his chest several times for good measure.  Yup, the ice and heat always did the trick.  If only he could get to a point where it wouldn’t be necessary to use them at all.  Ever.

Have the surgery.

That nagging little voice in his head told him daily to have the surgery but Lucas always chose to ignore it.  He knew what he was doing.  What was the point to opening himself up to more invasive procedures when he’d never get back all that he lost?  What could he possibly gain from putting himself through all of that again?

The freedom to not have to sit for hours on end alternating heat and ice while you’re in pain.

“Shut up,” he mumbled as he headed to the kitchen to get himself something to drink.  It was too late for a beer so her opted for some water and leaned against the countertop while he looked in the direction of the sofa.

Emma.

What was he supposed to do now?  He hated to wake her but he’d feel like crap if he just covered her and left her on the couch while he took the bed.

It’s your bed…

“I know, I know,” he said softly out loud.  Still the thought bothered him.  He may live on his own and be a little rough around the edges but he was still a gentleman.  Flexing his leg again to be sure that he was okay, Lucas put his glass in the sink and headed back over to the couch and stared down at Emma.

“It’s not like I haven’t done this before,” he said with a sigh and reached down to scoop her up into his arms.  She curled into him with a sigh and Lucas felt her warm breath on his neck and groaned.  He was a glutton for punishment.

It was one thing to carry Emma when she was unconscious and hurt; it was another to carry her to bed while she was all warm and sleepy and know that he wasn’t joining her in the bed.  He thought of their kiss earlier and had to force his mind instantly into another direction.  He had wanted her desperately right then and there and if he were honest, he’d admit that he wanted her the same way right now. 

But she was asleep.

“Lucas,” Emma whispered sleepily against his neck.  She slowly lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him through slumberous eyes.  “What are you doing?”

Looking down at her sleepy face, Lucas couldn’t help but smile.  “You fell asleep on the couch and I wanted you to be comfortable.”