Claire burst out laughing. She’d so missed seeing her friend at the office every day. Suzy could make her laugh when nothing else in the world could. From the expression on her friend’s face, she could tell that she was dead serious as well. “No, you can’t overcook them, Suz, I think they have a self-timer or something that lets you know when they’re ready. It’s pretty normal for a first baby to go past its due date so it could still be quite some time yet.” As she moved around trying to get comfortable in the chair, Jason walked up behind her and helped her put a pillow behind her back. He reached down and dropped a kiss on her lips, caressing her cheek with his hand before returning to talk with the men. Suzy was certain there wasn’t a dry eye at the table at the obvious love that sparkled between Claire and Jason.
Suzy cleared her throat and steered the conversation to Danvers. She got caught up on the latest gossip just as the steaks were finished, and Beth went to get the roasted potatoes and the salad from the refrigerator. Ella went to help her and soon they had the table set and everyone settled into a chair. Suzy sat between Claire and Beth with Nick on Beth’s other side, and Jason on Claire’s other side. Ella somehow ended up sitting between Nick and Declan. She looked like she hoped the deck would open up and swallow her whole. She saw that Beth had also noticed the same thing and neither of them could figure out a way to save Ella from the seating arrangement without embarrassing her.
Luckily, Nick could always be counted on to keep the conversation going and, as if he’d also noticed Ella’s discomfort, he took great pains to draw her into the conversation and make her comfortable. Suzy had to admit, Gray’s brother was an all-around great guy. She thought she caught Declan studying Ella a few times from under his lashes but it was so fleeting she couldn’t be sure. Ella was nowhere near in his league; he’d chew her up and spit her out and that Suzy would never allow.
The evening passed far too quickly and Suzy was sorry to see everyone leave. As she went into the kitchen to get a glass of water before bed, Nick’s back was to her and his conversation was completely out of character for the Nick she knew. “Listen, you nut job, you better never call me again. If it were me, you would be rotting in jail somewhere and if I have anything to do with it that will happen sooner rather than later. I meant what I said, don’t ever call me, the sound of your voice makes me sick.” With that last line, Nick roughly hit the end button on his call and swung around to leave the kitchen. Surprise colored his face as he saw an amused Suzy standing there.
“Wow, sounds like you have yourself a stalker there, Nick.”
A strained laugh erupted from him as he lightly said, “Yeah you know how it goes. Some women just have a hard time letting go of all of this. Sometimes you just can’t be Mr. Nice.”
Suzy laughed along with him, but was still unsure about exactly what she’d walked in on. Nick was far too nice and easy going to let someone push him to the point of the rudeness that she’d heard. Whatever this woman had done, it was bad. Maybe she should mention it to Gray when he returned; she hated to think that Nick had to deal with something that was obviously upsetting him so much. They both said their goodnights and Suzy settled in to wait for Gray’s call.
As her cell phone rang, a thrill shot through her body. If a ring tone could turn her on this much, imagine how it would feel to have Gray in her bed tomorrow night. She could practically have an orgasm just thinking about it. She answered the phone smiling as she heard Gray’s voice.
“Hey baby, how are you?”
“Hi yourself, I’m good, how about you?”
With a chuckle, Gray said, “I’m much better for hearing your voice. God I can’t wait to see you tomorrow. I wish I could have gotten an earlier flight out.”
“That’s ok, all that matters is you will be home tomorrow.” Dropping her voice to a whisper, she continued, “You better get some rest tonight because we aren’t going to get much sleep here tomorrow night, big boy.” Suzy smiled in satisfaction at the groan she heard on the other end of the line.
“You’re killing me babe. Everyone here probably already thinks I have some issues. I seem to keep a hard-on and I know you love it, you little witch.”
Suzy laughed, admitting, “You’re right, I do. Why should you be any better off than I am? I ache for you every minute of the day Gray; I need you inside me to ease that ache.”
After taking a deep breath, Gray said, “If we don’t change the subject, the people next-door might have something to talk about in the morning.”
“Yeah, I agree. Nick and Beth probably don’t want to hear me in here alone moaning. Oh, speaking of Nick, does he have some kind of girlfriend problem?”
“Baby, this is Nick we are talking about, so I’m sure he always has some girlfriend. As for problems, why do you ask? He hasn’t had anyone over has he?”
“No, nothing like that. I walked in the kitchen on him this evening and he was having a rather heated exchange with someone on the phone. He was threatening to have them arrested if they didn’t leave him alone. I think he might have messed with the wrong woman this time.”
Gray was silent for so long, she thought they had lost their cell phone signal. “Hellooooo, Gray are you still there?”