“YOU CAN PICK ONE DRESS from your closet to wear today.”
I swung my gaze to the bathroom door, where Lucian was already dressed in a black three-piece suit. He looked sharp. Tall, powerful, and devilishly handsome. My cheeks heated when I thought about the night before and his cock pressed against me. His warmth wrapped around me. I hated that I didn’t pull away, and even more so that I didn’t want to.
“Thank you,” I answered.
He told me what he’d come to say, but he didn’t leave. Instead, he lingered for another minute, his eyes on my body. I was still wrapped in a towel, and even though he’d seen most of me already, I felt exposed. Nervous. But something else too.
After the first few days, I’d assumed he hadn’t taken an interest in me that way. His behavior was at odds with what I typically received from men. He didn’t eye fuck me. He didn’t try to touch me at every opportunity. And the initial ground rules he’d set in place left me with the impression that he felt he was more of a role model than anything else. But this was different. His eyes were darker. Warmer. More predatory and less protective.
I squeezed my thighs together. He cleared his throat. “Make sure whatever you pick is modest and appropriate for the office.”
And with that, he disappeared just as quickly as he’d arrived.
After applying the finishing touches to my hair and makeup, I settled on a form-fitting red Armani sheath dress and gold Valentino heels. The color combination worked well with my skin tone, and the hemline came to just above my knee, so he couldn’t say it was inappropriate.
I joined Lucian at the table for breakfast—oatmeal and fruit—and he read the paper while I attempted to corral my rampant thoughts. The silent war waged on until we arrived at the office, where he gave me a quick rundown of what he expected me to say when I answered calls while I settled into my space behind the desk.
“If anyone calls regarding Emmanuel’s case, I want them patched through immediately,” he instructed. “If I’m not available for some reason, then it’s imperative you take thorough notes of their name and contact information. Do you understand?”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “Yes, boss.”
“No more screwing around today, pet,” he told me. “I need you to focus on the work I’ve given you.”
“What am I supposed to do between phone calls?” I grumbled.
He pointed at a stack of papers and a pen on the desk. “I have some paperwork I need you to sign. Non-disclosure agreements. Work contracts. Even if it’s only temporary, you’ll need to fill it out.”
“Oh goody,” I joked.
“When you’re finished with that, you can make a list for me. Three things that you would do with your life if you could do anything.”
“Seriously?”
He arched a dark brow at me. “Have you ever known me to be anything but serious?”
“No,” I admitted.
“I want serious answers, Gypsy,” he reiterated. “Give it some real thought.”
I wasn’t in the mood to argue this morning, so I just shrugged. “If that’s what gets your jollies off, I guess I’ve got nothing else to do.”
He gave me one final glance before walking into his office and shutting the door.
If I’d learned anything from my brief internship at Lucian’s office, it was that real work was boring as hell. I kept glancing at the clock on the wall and wondering if something was wrong with it. The phone had rung a total of seven times, and in almost all the cases, it was a new client looking for an attorney. Per Lucian’s previous instructions, I had to turn them down because he wasn’t taking on new cases. It seemed a bit strange that he would only work one case at a time, but then again, he was super focused.
I spent a good part of the day rifling through the drawers of the desk I had access to, though I wasn’t surprised when I didn’t find any juicy tidbits lying around. The most exciting thing I found was a heavy-duty stapler, if that counted for anything.
Around noon, I realized that Lucian’s meal alarm was about to go off, and I decided I might as well bring it in to him. It would give me an excuse to stretch and at least eat up a few minutes of the day. I grabbed his chicken wrap from the mini fridge and a bottle of water and headed for his office. He didn’t answer when I knocked, but I could hear him coughing from the other side.
I waited for a few more seconds, but the coughing didn’t cease, and it sounded pretty awful. It wasn’t really my concern, and it probably served him right catching a cold, but I figured it wouldn’t kill me to do something nice for him and at least give him the water.
I opened the door and let myself in but stopped when I found Lucian doubled over the garbage can. There were bloody tissues in his hand, and his dress shirt was soaked through with sweat.
“Lucian?”
He looked up at me and shook his head. “Go away.”
My stomach roiled. I could go away, and I probably should, but something wasn’t right. As selfish as I might be, I wasn’t about to leave him alone if he was seriously ill.
“Here.” I walked around the desk and untwisted the cap from the bottle of water, forcing it in his direction.
He looked up at me like he wanted to yell at me, but I didn’t think he could. Instead, he took a long drink and wiped his mouth.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“It’s nothing,” he growled. “Just a touch of bronchitis.”
I remembered when Birdie was little, she got a few fevers that terrified me. I was so certain I would lose her each time that I wouldn’t even sleep until she was better. She always tried to put on a brave face for my benefit, and even though I was hardly the nursing type, it seemed like Lucian was also downplaying how awful he felt. Sure enough, when I rested my hand against his forehead, he was burning up.
He seized my wrist. “Go back to your desk, Gypsy.”
“You have a fever,” I snapped. “You can’t work like this.”
“I’m fine,” he insisted. “Now leave.”
But he wasn’t fine. He launched into another coughing fit, and I stood by helplessly. It caught me off guard to see such a strong-willed man suffering. He was accustomed to controlling every aspect of his life, but right now, he couldn’t see that he was being ridiculous.
“Fine.” I walked around the desk and rummaged through his jacket pocket until I found his car keys. “I will leave, and you can either come with me or stay here. Your choice.”
“Gypsy.” His voice was a warning, but I ignored it as I fled from the office and down the hallway.
His black Dodge Demon was parked in the company lot, and I jogged in my heels to get there before he did even though I was fairly certain he wouldn’t be running in his condition. I was already behind the wheel with the engine fired up when he made an appearance at the driver’s side door.
“Get out,” he ordered.
“No.” I pointed at the passenger side. “You get in. I’m driving.”
“You are not driving my car.”
“Don’t you mean our car?” I smirked. “What’s yours is mine, honey.”
“You can’t handle this much horsepower, pet.”
“Bullshit I can’t.”
We glared at each other, and he broke into another coughing fit before doubling over in pain. I got out of the car and approached him the way one would approach a wild animal.
“Lucian.” My voice was soft, and I couldn’t remember being soft with anyone besides Birdie. “Please get in. Let me take you home.”
Finally, he looked up at me and nodded, his eyes filled with defeat. I wrapped my arm around his side and helped him into the passenger seat. I could tell he didn’t like it, but at this point, he really wasn’t in a position to argue.
I returned to my seat and drove the entire way home with him bitching about every little thing I did. Lucian did not like being out of control, and that was a fact. But I let him have this one because he was weak and tired and cranky as hell.
I helped him into the house until he shrugged me off and insisted he would be fine before collapsing onto the sofa, which was as far as he could make it. I offered him a couple of Tylenol from the kitchen and a glass of water, along with a cool cloth for his forehead. It was all I could really do. I expected he would be better in a couple of hours.
But he wasn’t.
He wasn’t better even after four hours, and by the time the moon came out, his fever had spiked to a dangerous level. He was delirious but still managed to respond when I roused him.
“Lucian, we need to go to the hospital. This isn’t normal.”
“My phone,” he croaked.
I fished around in his pocket for his phone, and he gestured for it. He typed out two texts before dropping it beside him and sinking back into the couch.
He wasn’t moving, and I didn’t know what to do. I checked the last message he sent, and realized he’d asked Ace to come over. But Ace wasn’t the only one to show up. When the doorbell sounded, and I answered it, I was surprised to see the same priest I’d been confessing my sins to for the last year.
“Father Hawk, what are you doing here?”
“Lucian texted me,” he explained. “I’m here to take him to the hospital.”
“Oh.” I opened the door and let him inside. “Thank you. I’ll just grab my shoes, and we can go.”
He stopped and shook his head. “I’m sorry, but you can’t. He just wants me to take him.”
“But—”
“Don’t argue,” Ace said as he strode into the house. “You know by now it’s a waste of time. Besides, you’ll have me here to keep you company.”
I glanced at Lucian on the couch. I guess it didn’t matter that he didn’t want me there with him as long as he was going to see a doctor. But it didn’t change the fact that I was worried about him, and I didn’t even know why. Maybe it was just basic human decency, or maybe he’d found a way under my skin already. Regardless, I couldn’t deny the strange need I felt to go with him.
“Just take him to the hospital,” I pleaded. “He needs to go.”
Father Hawk and Ace loaded him into the car while I watched from the doorway. By this point, he was barely conscious, and I couldn’t say a word to him. Even if I could have, I didn’t know what it would be.
I hardly knew the guy. We were married, but that was just a piece of paper, really. That technicality didn’t make me feel any better when I watched Father Hawk drive away with my new husband.