Gabrielle knew Theo had only worked about a third of their contract, she had every right to hold him to the rest. Given he was injured trying to protect her and her employees she should give him a break, count this week off and call it good. But if she gave him a break he would leave. She didn’t doubt that for a second. He might want her but he didn’t want to get emotionally involved.
Well damn it, she was involved. As much as she hated to admit it her heart was already his. Whether he stayed another week or never came back to the apartment she would hurt when he left.
“And all because he is too pig headed to see what a good man he is.” She talked to herself as she climbed the stairs after work. He’d come home the day after their face off in the hospital. As difficult as he made it, she insisted on watching over him. The last thing she needed was his leg or arm getting infected. “Or worse the damn stitches breaking because he won’t listen and stop doing things.”
The last she said stopping at his door and listening. She heard the rapid repetition of him hitting the smaller of his two punching bags. Clamping her jaw she put her key in the lock and opened the door.
“What are you doing?” she yelled before she even closed the door.
“Working off frustration. My boss is holding me prisoner. At least in prison I got outdoor privileges and could run it off.”
He didn’t look at her. She hadn’t expected him to. He had been in a foul mood all week.
“You aren’t supposed to be running. You aren’t even supposed to be standing on it as much as you do. Do you want the stitches in your leg to pop?” She smiled when an idea to tease him with popped in her head. “Or is that the plan? Are you trying to get out of going back to work? You’re enjoying me taking care of you and want to be waited on some more.”
She hid a chuckle behind her hand when he barely missed getting hit in the head by the swinging bag when his gaze flew to her.
“What? I don’t expect you to take care of me now. I would never purposely cause you more work.”
Walking toward him she felt better about them than she had in days.
“Relax, Theo. I was teasing. I know anyone caring is the last thing you want. But,” she said, leaning her head forward and looking at him intensely, “You need to stop pushing so hard. Give your body time to heal, please.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound like I don’t appreciate your concern.”
Daring to step even closer she grasped one of his wrists. Only Theo would apologize for not wanting to inconvenience someone. “You didn’t. I understand your attitude. I’ve seen it before.”
He raised an eyebrow at that. “That sounds like you think you know me. You don’t.”
Gabrielle tugged on his wrist, pulling him toward one of the bar stools. “Sit let me check the dressing on your arm.”
“It’s fine.”
She sent him a sarcastic smile. “Humor me.” He sat and she started to take the bandage off his arm. She cringed when she pulled the dressing away and saw the sliced area. This one was definitely her fault.
“Don’t.”
Gabrielle glanced up and met his steely gaze. “Why?”
“It is not your fault. He came after me. He would have come after me whether you came in the kitchen or not.”
“If I hadn’t distracted you, he wouldn’t have gotten close enough for him to do this in the first place.”
He tipped his head in the adorable way he had and she almost forgot he didn’t want her near him. She almost leaned forward and kissed him silly. Something in those eyes told her not to.
“If I hadn’t told Kevin I stopped Jason from hitting you, Jason wouldn’t have gotten fired and come looking for payback. See there’s plenty of blame to go around, so let it go.”
Gabrielle taped the bandage back over his arm. “When did you talk to Kevin?”
“A few hours before Jason appeared at the restaurant. He stopped by to warn me to stay away from you. I told him not to worry, he’d get his wish.”
Her fury at Kevin’s nerve took a left turn with Theo’s last words. “Why? Are going somewhere?”
“Don’t worry, not until I fulfill my contract. But I told you before all this happened you should look for a replacement,” he said, standing. Gabrielle watched as he walked around her into his kitchen, grabbed a glass on the counter and started filling it with water. It was only half full when he stopped and looked back at her. “You have started looking, right?”
She shrugged and turned away. Why did even thinking of him leaving make her queasy? “I’ve been busy.”
“Gabrielle.”
His warning tone had little effect on her. Gabrielle knew he wouldn’t hurt her, not physically. He had no idea how much his aversion to being around her already hurt. But she had told him she was tough, and she would be. She would also be as stubborn as him if that was what it took to get through his thick skull. She decided it was time to fight fire with fire.
She turned and faced him directly. “Is there some reason you don’t want to work here? I mean, besides your aversion to me.”
“You know that is not the case,” he said, turning back to the sink.
“Do I?” she asked, walking up behind him. Sliding her hands over the t-shirt covering his torso she felt his back muscles tighten. “Every time I get the least little bit close to you, you pull away. Only once have you given in. And I don’t remember it being overly easy to get you to acquiesce then. You kept coming up with arguments. A man who hadn’t been with a woman in years, and you were fighting temptation every step of the way. I all but threw myself at you before you caved.”
He turned so quickly she fell against him. She immediately realized he wasn’t as unaffected by her nearness as she expected. His hands grasped her upper arms and started to push her back. Gabrielle didn’t let him. She moved her fingers up his chest and locked them behind his neck. “Are you really going to try and tell me we aren’t good together?”
“That’s not the point.”
“What is the point? We are in agreement in pretty much every aspect of the restaurant. We work well together taking care of the less fortunate. And you cannot tell me we were incompatible in the bedroom, because I won’t believe you. Unless, Kevin was right and it was just because you hadn’t--”
Theo crushed his mouth to hers stopping her words. He could not let her think she wasn’t desirable. Any man breathing knew better. As his tongue sought hers, the fire he’d managed to bank all week roared to life. If she knew anything about men, and she did, she now knew exactly how she affected him. When he broke the kiss he buried his face in her hair.
“I would want you if I had just spent a month in a bordello. You are everything any man could ever want. The problem isn’t you, it’s me. I didn’t deserve Lea, and I definitely don’t deserve you.”
“Why? Because a monster of a man, who knew nothing about anything, raised you and told you so? You have to know he’s wrong,” she said, leaning back in his arms. “Look at all you’ve accomplished. Look at the woman who loved you. Don’t you think Lea was smart enough to know what a wonderful person you are?”
Theo tried to put distance between them. Of course, Gabrielle fought him and refused to be budged. Fine, he’d say it to her face. “And see what it got her? Counting on me got her killed.”
“No. Trusting and living without fear in a world where bad people do bad things killed her. But my guess is she would have lived that way whether you were in her life or not. Wouldn’t she?”
This was not the discussion he wanted to have. “Fine, yes, she was a wonderful, smart woman. She was also stubborn, trusting, and determined to see the best in people. That does not mean the best is always there. Some people are just bad, Gabrielle. Haven’t you ever given up on someone because they weren’t worth the effort? I’m not worth the effort.”
“Then why are you still here?”
“As you so kindly reminded me in the hospital, we have a contract.”
She shook her head. Theo’s eyes were drawn to her hair when she did. Damn he loved the way the light glinted off its red highlights.
“If that were all that mattered, you would not have reacted to me the way you just did. You would not have come back here and let me take care of you this week. You would have gone back to your room at the gym and only come back when you could work. I do know you, Theo. I know a lot more than you think I do. I know more than you want me to.”
“And you call me stubborn.” He gave up the fight not to touch her. Stroking the back of his fingers over her cheek, he almost gave in and kissed her again. Then the heat of her skin registered. He pressed his wrist to her forehead. “You’ve got a fever.”
“Stop trying to change the subject.”
“I’m not,” he said, shaking his head. He cupped her face in his hands. What he’d mistaken for desire he realized was a fever. “Are you sure you are feeling all right? You really are warm. Do you have a thermometer over at your apartment?”
He had barely gotten the words out of his mouth when her eyes widened. She raced down his hallway to the bathroom. He followed, albeit a bit slower. She kicked the door closed when he reached it.
“Gabrielle, I’ve seen people sick before.”
“Not me,” she said, before another bought of retching took her.
Deciding to give her a moment of privacy he went to his room and grabbed a blanket from the foot of his bed. He figured she might be chilled when she finished. When he got back to the bathroom door he heard water running. He waited patiently for her to open it.
When the door opened the woman he’d been talking to in the kitchen was gone. Before him stood a very pale, slump shouldered, glassy eyed version of his Gabrielle.
My Gabrielle? Damn.
“Come here,” he said, holding the blanket open for her. She may as well have collapsed into him. She definitely didn’t fight him, at least not until he tried to pick her up.
“I’m not an invalid. You are,” she said, attempting a weak smile.
He shook his head and grinned. “Okay, fine. But you are going to bed.”
“Promises, promises.”
“Do you ever quit?” he asked, guiding her to the door with an arm around her shoulders.
“Not when it is something I really want,” she said, rubbing her head against him.
“What am I going to do with you, Gabrielle? You will not listen to reason. But,” he said, placing a finger on her lips when she started to interrupt. “We can discuss all this another time. Why didn’t you say something about not feeling well? I told you I didn’t need you waiting on me. You should have been taking care of yourself.”
He had grabbed her key chain on their way out of his apartment. Now in front of her door he unlocked, opened it and guided her inside. They barely crossed the threshold when she bolted down her own hallway. The blanket hung in his hands. Closing the door, he tossed the blanket on a chair before walking in the direction she’d disappeared. The door was open. Stepping inside, he pulled a washcloth from a towel bar and rinsed it under cool water. When she climbed to her feet he offered it to her. She shook her head and went to the sink.
Theo stepped back and let her rinse her mouth. After she dried her face he turned her to him. Gently he wiped the cloth over her face. “Feel better?” he asked when he finished.
“I’m sorry.”
Her head rested against his chest again. Theo wondered how he had ever pulled away from her before. He couldn’t remember anything ever feeling more right. Wrapping his arms around her he kissed her hair. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I didn’t really feel sick, just a little off the past couple of days. Really, this just came on. I wouldn’t risk getting customers sick. They might think it was the food. Not good for business.”
Moving quickly so she didn’t have a chance to protest, he picked her up and carried her to the bedroom across the hall. “Okay, where are those pajamas with the penguins on them?”
“Behind the door,” she said, lifting her arm halfway.
Looking behind it he found the pajamas she’d worn to fight the fire in. The red flannel with penguins made him chuckle. She had such a playful spirit. How did anyone resist her?
When he turned to hand them to her, she had sat down on the bed and fallen over sideways. “Come on, girl. You don’t want to go to bed in your clothes, it won’t be comfortable. Besides, I want to see you in these penguins again. They’re very sexy you know.”
“I’m sorry.”
Theo heard the tears in her voice. “Gabrielle, stop,” he said, stroking her cheek. “You’re sick. It’s okay.”
“But I’m supposed to take care of you.” Tears started spilling over her lashes.
He went down on his knees in front of her since the stitches in his leg wouldn’t let him squat. “Baby, I’m fine. I promise I won’t do anything I shouldn’t. Especially now that you need me, I’ll behave. Now let’s get you changed.”
He helped her to a sitting position. For probably the first time in his life unbuttoning a woman’s blouse didn’t turn him on. It did give him an unusually warm feeling but it wasn’t lust it was . . . no, he wasn’t going there. Before he reached the last button, Gabrielle bolted from the room.
After he got her back to bed and changed, he put a garbage can next to the bed so she didn’t have to run across the hall. She’d barely made it the last time she was so weak.
Around two she finally fell asleep. How she had kept getting sick he couldn’t imagine. He knew how she ate and she should have been empty an hour or so earlier. Poor thing must have been running on empty. He’d gotten a couple of saltines down her and she’d finally stopped getting sick.
She hadn’t wanted to lay down fearing it would upset her stomach again. He compromised by holding her propped up on the sofa. It bothered him that she was still so warm, but there was no way she could keep any medicine down.
Propping his feet on the coffee table he leaned his head back and tried to rest. The warmth of her feverish body lulled him to the edge of sleep. Before he fell completely over the edge her phone vibrated on the table next to him.
He’d picked it up when it fell out of her pocket when they changed her into pajamas. She stirred in his arms. Trying to keep her from waking all the way up he grabbed it and flipped it open.
“Your chef was lucky. You won’t be if you don’t close down.”
Before Theo could respond the caller hung up.
“Who was it?” she asked in a sleepy voice.
“Wrong number,” he said, pressing her head back to his chest. “Everything is okay, go back to sleep.”
He wasn’t sure how she could with his heart pounding against his ribcage. Now what the hell was he supposed to do?