A nurse came in and soon Suzy was floating again. As she was drifting away, she wondered when she’d started allowing Gray to call her ‘baby’ and had he always smelled sooo good.
Gray watched Suzy’s eyes grow heavy and soon the fight left her body. It was going to be a battle to convince her to move in with him until she was recovered. If he had his way, she’d be living with him permanently. This kicked things into overdrive a bit on the house front. He knew Suzy would use the excuse that he was living in the penthouse of Danvers to avoid moving in with him. He planned to take care of that in the morning. If there was one thing having money had taught him, things that usually took weeks could be accomplished in days or hours. He’d call a realtor tonight and look at homes first thing in the morning.
Gray noticed Beth fidgeting, clearly uneasy over being in the room with him. Beth was a stunning woman, but obviously not comfortable taking center stage. Suzy not only took it; she owned it. Giving her a smile, Gray said, “Beth, I’ll see that Suzy is taken care of when she’s released, you don’t have to worry about anything in that regard. I’d like to ask a question, though, why is Suzy so against contacting your parents? I’d think they would want to know about her accident.”
Giving him a shy smile, Beth said, “Our parents are a little…different. Actually, they’re a lot different. I get along ok because I don’t rock the boat, but Suzy has battled with them for all of our lives. They’re both professors, quite brilliant really. They live, eat and breathe higher education. Our mother is a history professor and our father a biology professor. I caved to pressure a bit, which is one of the reasons I’m a teacher. Suzy rebelled from early on, and they clashed at every turn. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure they love us in their own way, but they aren’t warm, nurturing people. If they came here now, they would spend the entire visit lecturing Suzy about her job, her clothes and how her lifestyle caused her injury.”
As if realizing that she’d been talking to a near stranger, Beth’s face flushed a pink shade. “Thank you for telling me, Beth, I appreciate the honesty. I’ll in turn be honest with you. I’m crazy about your sister and have been for quite a while. I realize that it will take some time for her to be able to trust again after the emotional damage that Jeff inflected on her, but I’m not going anywhere.
Beth appeared to study him for a moment as if testing the sincerity of his words. Finally, she seemed to come to some decision, and he could see her face softening. “Gray, I believe you. My sister comes across as fearless and unbreakable but that’s just a façade. Don’t get me wrong, I fully believe that she could conquer the world if she wanted to; very little stops her. She can, however, be hurt. Jeff did a real number on her, and I watched her fall to pieces over it. She got up and brushed herself off but make no mistake, inside she’s still torn apart. I know she has feelings for you too even though she has tried to fight it. With an affectionate smile, Beth added, “She can never hide anything from me. Don’t let my quiet demeanor fool you though, if you hurt my sister you will have two Denton sisters after you and that, my friend, would not be pleasant.”
Wow, Gray could see the family resemblance now. Beth practically glowed as she laid down the law to him. Gone was the quiet, shy person and in her place was a lioness protecting her cub. Even though she was calling him to the carpet, he couldn’t help being impressed.
“Beth, I know this sounds a bit cliché, but I only have the best of intentions where your sister is concerned. You have nothing to be concerned about. I intend to find a house that Suzy will be comfortable in while she recovers, and she’ll have everything she needs. If you would feel better living with us, I’d be more than happy to have you.”
The spark seemed to leave Beth as fast as it had come, and she returned to her former quiet manner. “Thank you Gray, but I’ll be fine. I will be over daily to help, though, and I’ll be here tomorrow morning to help you um….finalize your plans with her.”
Gray laughed as he read the underlying message in her expression, ‘good luck with that.’ “Thanks Beth. I plan to go look at houses early in the morning so if you could be here it would be great. We don’t want to leave your sister alone to inflict damage unto the nursing staff, do we? Also, please call me Gray. As she leaned over the bed to give her sister one last kiss before leaving, he stood, prepared to escort Beth to her car.
“Beth, I’ll see you out. Suzy would have my head if I let you walk to your car in a dark and probably deserted parking lot.”