Chapter Eleven
Wakeup Call
“I’ll be fine, Maya.” I coughed into the phone and pulled the blanket further up my body.
“You sound awful. I know you say you’ll be back at things tomorrow, but I think you should take another day. Your cold would go away a lot quicker if you took it slow. Setting up that dinner party last night when you had a fever was really dumb.”
“Thanks, Mom. I’ll consider taking tomorrow off if you’ll leave me alone and let me fall back to sleep,” I whined into the phone.
“Fine, fine. Feel better,” Maya said before disconnecting the call.
I tossed the phone on the bed next to me and coughed so hard my head throbbed. I blew my nose and added the tissue to my overflowing garbage can next to the bed. I absolutely hated being sick. I had felt it coming on for days and rather than take care of myself, I ran myself ragged.
If I thought I worked a lot B.G. or before Grant as I have since dubbed it, I now worked an inordinate amount of time. It was the only way to keep myself busy enough so that I didn’t think about him. Especially because some of the time I found myself missing him and some of the time I found myself disgusted with him.
They say it’s a fine line between love and hate.
Being in his apartment was torture. Smelling him everywhere was torture. The only thing that stopped me from dropping him as a client was the fact that my mother’s bills were, in fact, outrageous. Maya offered to take over his workload, but I assured her I would be fine. I wasn’t really ready to let go yet.
Closing my eyes, I sniffled and chose to believe it was because I was sick and not the fact that I missed him so deeply. The fact that he felt betrayed that I would think he considered me a bimbo had me perplexed. Could I have mistaken the whole thing? I was wrong about the Corinne situation. Then again, how did I know he was telling me the truth anyway? Men said things all the time just to get laid.
Besides, we were doomed from the beginning. I should have never allowed myself to get involved with him in any way, shape or form. It was best to keep things on a platonic and business level.
I closed my eyes and fell into a fitful sleep where I tossed and turned and coughed.
Someone knocking on the door had me cursing. The last thing I wanted to do was get up to see who it was. I rolled over and put a pillow over my head willing whoever was on the other side of the door to go away.
When the knocking didn’t stop, but rather grew more insistent, I stumbled out of bed in my t-shirt and shorts, and opened the door without looking through the peephole. I was too tired and weak to follow my typical protocol. At this point, I would welcome someone hacking me to pieces and putting me out of my misery.
“You had me worried half to death,” Grant sighed as he pushed his way past me holding a brown paper bag. “I thought maybe your fever went too high. Don’t ever do that to me again, Elizabeth.”
“Um, what?” I asked, unable to keep up with what was happening. How did he know about my fever?
I hadn’t seen him since I left his apartment that night, and he looked just as good now as he did then, in his blue jeans and tight black t-shirt underneath a leather coat.
“Maya told me you were sick with a fever. When you didn’t answer I was afraid you had passed out from it. Now go get back into bed and I’ll bring you a bowl of soup.”
“What?” I still wasn’t comprehending his presence here. And Maya really needed to stop doing Grant’s errands when it was late enough for him to be home. She and I were going to have a little talk when I was feeling better.
“You. Bed. Me. Soup.” Then he swatted my ass and pushed me towards the bedroom.
Reeling from his playful and worried behavior, I padded back to my bed and crawled under the blankets. True to his word, Grant brought in a tray with a bowl of soup and a cup of hot tea. He settled on the edge of my bed and leaned back on his elbows, looking like he was planning on staying a while.
I picked up my spoon and slowly sipped the broth, enjoying the way it coated my sore throat.
“Grant, I’m not sure what you’re doing here. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the soup. It’s just we didn’t part on the best of terms and I don’t think it’s a good idea that you’re here.”
He closed his eyes and shook his head. “I really hoped you would have changed your mind after our last conversation.”
“Well, I didn’t,” I said snottily.
“Elizabeth, just enjoy your soup. We’ll talk more about us when you’re feeling better.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” I grumbled. “Does this mean you’re planning on staying?”
He nodded his head and gave me an adorable grin. That’s when I realized I just gave away the fact that I was resigned to him staying. Shit.
“I just don’t feel like arguing. I’m too tired.”
“Whatever it takes, beautiful. Now finish your soup.”
“I can’t with you staring at me,” I whined and glared at him.
He burst out laughing rather than shrinking back from my annoyance. Bastard.
“You’re adorable. Now eat up. I will punish you if you don’t.”
That was the perfect thing to shut me up. I picked up my spoon and avidly ate the delicious chicken soup. The whole time I chose to ignore his chuckling.
My eyelids were droopy once my belly was full. Grant took the tray back out into the kitchen. When he came back, he walked around the bed and scooted across it until he was next to me. He put his arm behind my head and then rolled my body until it rested on his.
“What are you doing?” My voice was muffled by his shirt. I put my hand on his stomach and attempted to push my body up, but his arm tightened to hold me in place.
“Go to sleep. You could barely hold your eyes open a few minutes ago, so rest.” His other hand came up and started stroking my head. I had to admit that felt nice. Really, really nice. It reminded me of my dad whenever I was sick as a girl.
My eyes drifted shut. My mind turned off, and I fell asleep in Grant’s arms. For the first time in weeks, I slept soundly.
?????
Oh yes. Right there. Oh my God. Oh please don’t stop.
My head thrashed on the pillow, and my legs widened to allow the hand between them better access to continue doing the most divine things there.
“That’s it, beautiful. I want to feel you come,” I heard Grant’s disembodied voice say.
I turned my head towards the sound and moaned. I loved when he talked dirty to me. And oh God, I was about to come.
My eyes flew open and I realized that I wasn’t dreaming. I was worked up and ready to have an orgasm in real life.
I glanced down at Grant’s head laying on my chest and gasped when his finger did this twist thing that very well could be illegal in thirty-nine of the fifty states. And that’s when I came long and hard. The moan that escaped out of my mouth was low and guttural, it was that good.
It had been three weeks since Grant and I had sex and I hadn’t taken matters into my own hands that whole time. That was what I was choosing to believe was the reason for my coming so hard.
He placed a soft kiss over my shirt and looked up at me. “Are you ready to talk yet?”
I huffed indignantly. How dare he use sex to get his way with me.
“I don’t think so.” I crossed my arms, which served to push him away a bit.
“Elizabeth, what am I going to do with you?” He shook his head at me like I was a disobedient child.
“Um, I don’t know. Leave me alone?” I sarcastically suggested.
He laughed so hard at my words that he clutched his stomach.
“I don’t know what you think is so funny.” I gave him a scathing look, which only seemed to make him laugh more.
“You’re absolutely adorable, love. How are you feeling?”
“Better. Thank you.” I blocked out his new term of endearment. He was just doing it to throw me off balance. Why, I had no idea. I was just another woman to him.
“Good. I’m glad. I have to get going. I have a prior commitment that I wasn’t able to reschedule. Now be a good girl and give me a quick kiss before I go.” He scooted up the bed, and his mouth hovered over mine. I sucked my lips in and turned my head.
“Oh, Elizabeth. I’ll wear you down yet.” He kissed the tip of my nose and then he was gone, leaving me more confused than before he came.
This was a definite wakeup call. I needed to keep my distance from Grant Morgan.
?????
“Hi, babe! I brought you some wonton soup from down the street. Your fave,” Maya called out when she let herself into my apartment.
She plopped down on my bed and set the bag down on the floor.
“What were you thinking?” I asked in disbelief.
“Um. I’m not sure I understand. Thinking about what?” She cocked her head to the side in confusion.
“Telling Grant that I was home sick. You need to stop telling him stuff about me!” I pounded my fist on the bed next to me to emphasize my point.
“You can’t hide from that man forever. I talked to him and I must say he got a taste of something he liked with you and he most definitely wants another. I just figured that seeing as how you need to get laid on a regular basis and loosen up a bit that I’d help that along.”
“You know what happened. You know that he treated me like one of his common whores. You should be offended for me. What kind of best friend are you?”
“The kind who looks out for her friend. I happen to believe that you misread the situation. That’s all I’m going to say.”
“Oh my God. You know something don’t you? Spill it. Now.”
“Nope. Not going to happen. You need to figure it out on your own. Did you ever think that you spend so much of your time trying to control the people and situations around you that you miss the finer details of things? I knew after one conversation with Grant Morgan that he had more than just a sexual interest in you. He sent his personal driver for you when your mom was sick. Hello? Do you still not see it?”
I had to admit I was more than a little surprised when I learned from Madison that she had nothing to do with scheduling a car service for me that night. Apparently, George is Grant’s full-time chauffeur, and he sent him to me so I wouldn’t have to ride the train home. It was a sweet thing to do.
“It’s all in the name of a little tail.” I brushed off her comment and went back to the fact that he was a typical man just looking to get off and get gone.
“If you believe that, I feel sorry for you.” She picked up the bag of food and started pulling out cartons. “But I feel more sorry for Grant. I don’t think he realizes how hard headed you are.”
“Well, isn’t this nice. My best friend sides with the man who screwed me over.”
“Oh my God!” Maya shouted. “Stop saying that! I swear I’m about to have you committed.”
“Can we change the subject? I’m done with this one and I’m still kind of sick.”
“With pleasure. All your stops got done today. Oh and the Jensen’s are home now and grateful at the state of their apartment. They said they’d be giving you a bonus for all the trouble you went to in order to get it back to the condition it was in before the flood.”
I smiled at that. I didn’t expect a bonus when I did what I did. I just knew how I would have felt being on another continent while my apartment flooded. I wanted them to not have to worry when they got home.
An added benefit to that is that I’d be able to possibly afford to give Maya a Christmas bonus for helping me out when I couldn’t handle my workload.
“Awesome.” I ate a wonton from my soup. “I should be back to normal tomorrow. We need to talk about Thanksgiving. I’m planning on taking a train up to my mom’s. Are you going home?”
“Yeah. My aunt Collette is flying in from Paris so it will be Thanksgiving in the Hamptons for me. I’ll be back on Saturday though if you want me to handle anything over the weekend.” She expertly wrapped some Lo Mein noodles around her chopsticks.
“That would be great. I really wanted to get a good pulse on how my mom was doing. She says she’s doing well, but if I need to hire a nurse for her than I will.”
“E, can you really afford that?”
“No, but it’s my mom. I can’t leave her to fend for herself. My dad would roll over in his grave if I did.”
“Okay. Just know if you need some help, I have some money stashed away. Your mom is like my second mom so it wouldn’t be a hardship.”
I set my food aside and reached out to give her a big hug. “Thank you. You have no idea how much that means to me.”
Leave it to Maya to get me all choked up.
“Have you talked to Matt lately?” I asked Maya.
“Just a bit. He’s been busy with the new office and making friends. He’s doing well though. Is he still not returning your calls?”
“I got a text back the other day. He still thinks it’s best he gets a clean break.” I missed Matt’s friendship. I always thought when we ended things, we’d at least remain in each other’s life. I still held out hope that once the sting of my rejection wore off that he’d come around.
“Give him time, babe.”
“Yeah.”
“I think we should watch the Real Housewives of New Jersey marathon that’s on tonight,” Maya said while flipping through the channels on my television.
“Yes, please.”
Catty fights, incessant bitching, bad hair, and ridiculous characters. Just the way a Thursday night should be spent. It was the best way to forget about sickness, perplexing man whores, and the loss of a friend.