She knew when to stop and curled up in his arms as he kissed her. “Exquisite, my sweet. Wonderful.”
Chapter Fifteen
Two days later, Nevvie swore when she checked her calendar.
“What’s wrong, pet?” Tyler asked.
“Tommy’s got PT this morning. Home visit.”
Tom snorted in disgust. “Great. Physical Torture follows me to my own home. Fan-fucking-tastic.”
“Shut up, you. You’re getting it and you’ll like it,” she ordered. He glared. She realized what she’d said. “Well, you won’t like it, but you’re getting it, like it or not.”
Tyler stepped in. He knew Tom’s ire wasn’t at Nevvie. “Love, I can go to cardiac rehab by myself. I’ve been cleared to drive, you know.”
“But—”
“No buts. I’ll drive myself.”
Nevvie sighed. “All right. Are you sure?”
“Of course I am.”
Thomas watched them from the living room as they went through their morning routine. They checked on him one more time before heading to the bathroom. The brief surge of jealousy he felt both startled and shamed him. He loved them.
On the heels of that, rage that he was stuck in a body that no longer worked the way it had. Yes, he was damned lucky he wasn’t dead or more severely disabled, but they had to treat him like a fucking baby and he hated that shit with an ever-lovin’ passion. Fuck, he couldn’t even button his own goddamn shirts, could barely write his name.
Yes the doctors warned him about this, said it most likely would get better with time and rehab, but it still sucked.
And how was it going to be between them now? They’d asked him to sleep in bed but neither of them had tried to be intimate with him, afraid of hurting him, treating him like some fragile doll. Could he even have the kind of relationship with either of them that they’d had before?
Had they been doing it at night without him? Not that his body seemed interested in that anyway.
Jesus, what’s wrong with me?
He tried to watch TV and not think about why their shower was taking so long when Nevvie appeared wearing her robe, her hair wrapped in a towel.
Coming to check on him.
“Do you need anything?”
Guilt flashed over to irritation. “No, I’m fine, dammit.”
She blinked. Before he could apologize for the bite in his tone she nodded. “Okay, Tommy,” she softly said, then quickly returned to their bedroom and shut the door behind her.
Dammit. He’d done it again. He saw the pain in her face, caused by his words. She deserved better than that from him. She’d been through so much trying to hold it together for them when they’d promised to take care of her.
He heard a car outside and a moment later, the doorbell rang.
“Come on in,” he hollered. “It’s open.”
A young woman—jeez, couldn’t be any older than her early twenties—stuck her head in. “Hi, I’m with the home health care team. Mr. Kinsey?”
He pointed to his leg. “I sure as hell ain’t Pegleg Pete,” he quipped. “Come on in, honey.”
She blushed a little but walked in, a large tote slung over her shoulder. She crossed into the living room, sticking her hand out in greeting. “Hi, I’m Jennifer,” she said with a nervous smile.
She must be new at this. “Hi, Jennifer. Are you here for my daily dose of torture?”
She laughed. “I’ve heard it called worse but yes, I am.”
The bedroom door opened and Nevvie raced out. She was now dressed in shorts and a blouse. “Tommy? Are you okay?” She pulled up when she saw Jennifer. “Hi.”
“Nev, this is Jennifer from the home health care place,” Tommy explained. “The physical torturer.”
“Oh, good.”
Tyler walked out of the bedroom and kissed Nevvie. “I need to fly or I’ll be late. I’ll check the mail for you, love,” he said. He glanced at Thomas. “Have fun,” he said with a wink.
“Fuck you, Ty,” he groused.
“Later, if you’re good,” he joked as he left.
Jennifer apparently didn’t know what to think of that comment, so she acted like she didn’t hear it.
Nevvie shook her head at Tyler’s departure. “Did you need my help?” she asked the girl.
“Oh, no. I’m going to do a preliminary evaluation and then start some range of motion exercises with him today.”
Nevvie started to say something when the baby cried. “Okay, call me if you need me.” Nevvie disappeared down the hall, leaving them alone.
The girl sat next to Thomas on the couch, asking questions, making notes on a form. Fifteen minutes later, she put her clipboard down. “Okay, let’s see what we’ve got.” She looked at his leg and started carefully checking his range of motion.
“How long you been torturing people, sugar?” he quipped. “You don’t look like you’ve been out of school long.”
She smiled. “I’m three months out of my internship.”
“So how does a girl get into this kind of gig? Are you a closet sadist or dominatrix?”
She blushed again, reminding Thomas of how Nevvie used to blush when she first came to work for them years earlier, flushing at their compliments and endearments. “I couldn’t have made it in nursing school. A friend of my mom’s was doing this, it seemed interesting.”
He chatted with her while she worked. She wasn’t nearly as cute as Nevvie but…
The way she paid attention to him, it wasn’t like the nurses in the hospital with cool efficiency and practiced rapport.
They neared the end of the hour. Nevvie had been in and out, taking care of Adam and working in his office on stuff for the business. The session had been painful, but not nearly as bad as he’d expected. Jennifer tried to be as gentle as she could and still do the exercises.
“Well,” she said. “I’ll be coming in three times a week at first, then we’ll see how you do and progress from there.”
“So you’ll be back the day after tomorrow?” He didn’t understand the uncomfortably expectant thump in his chest at that thought.
“Yep.” She started packing her things, then finally asked the question he’d expected. “Was that really Tyler Paulson? The man here earlier?”
“Yep, that’s Ty. The evil genius himself.”
“Wow. I’ve read all his books. I thought I’d heard that he was… Um, well that’s really neat. Are you friends or related?”
Thomas blinked, not understanding her question at first.
He certainly didn’t understand his response. “We’ve known each other for a long time.”
“His wife’s pretty. Seems very nice.”
Dangerous territory here, Tommy boy. What the fuck are you doing? “Yes, she is. That’s Nevvie.” Say it. Say it, stupid!
Jennifer smiled. “Well, I need to get to my next appointment. I’ll see you Wednesday, day after tomorrow. Same time.”
He nodded, stunned. “Okay. Looking forward to it.”
She stood to go while his heart hammered in his chest. What the fuck? What the fuck was wrong with him? He wasn’t even attracted to her.
As Jennifer prepared to leave, Nevvie appeared, Adam on her hip. “All done?”
“Yes, Mrs. Paulson. I told Thomas I’d be back the day after tomorrow, same time. Three times a week at first.” She looked at the baby. “He’s adorable. Wow, he’s got Mr. Paulson’s blue eyes, doesn’t he?”
Nevvie smiled while Thomas cringed inside. What had he done? What was he thinking of doing?
“Yes, he does,” Nevvie said. “Ty’s spooky blue eyes. Right, Tommy?”
He swallowed hard. “Yeah, he sure does.”
* * * *
Thomas hated himself, withdrew into an angry shell. They wouldn’t want him anymore anyway, would they? Ty could have the girl, he already had the baby. He knew damn well Adam was Ty’s biological son. No Kinsey baby ever had eyes looking like that. And he was the spitting image of Ty without a doubt. It
didn’t matter how much he loved Adam, he technically wasn’t that baby’s father.
Nevvie and Tyler tried to talk to him that afternoon and evening and he blew them off, focused on the TV. When Nevvie brought Adam out to him for dinner, he shook his head.
“No, just leave me alone, please. I’m…I’m in pain from this morning.” Thomas tried to ignore her hurt look.
“Are you sure? He wants to spend time with his daddy.”
Then go take him to Tyler, he thought, but bit it back before he could say it. “Not tonight.”
She sicced Tyler on him a little later. The evil genius sat on the coffee table and stared at him until Thomas finally looked at him.
“What do you want?”
“What’s wrong?” Tyler quietly asked.
“I want to be left alone, that’s what’s fucking wrong. I want to be able to walk to the goddamn bathroom to take a piss without needing a fucking crane to get off the couch. I want my life back.”
“Please talk to us. We’re worried about you.”
“I just told you what I want. Leave. Me. Alone.”
He mentally swore at Ty’s hurt look but refused to apologize. He wanted to be left alone. They asked what he wanted, he told them, and they didn’t give it to him.
Before Nevvie went to bed she came out to check on Tommy one last time. “Can I get you anything?”
“No.”
He didn’t miss the hurt in her eyes, the way they suddenly looked too bright, like unshed tears were building up, struggling for release.
“Okay, Tommy,” she softly said. “I’ll leave the door open. If you need me, call me. Are you sure you don’t want to be in bed with—”
“I’m fine.”
She nodded, then with her head bowed, she turned and left. He’d hurt her feelings he knew, but wouldn’t take the words back.
He settled in for a long, restless night channel surfing.
* * * *
It turned out Tyler had cardiac rehab on Wednesday morning. He’d stayed mostly clear of Thomas all day Tuesday, but sat on the couch next to him before Jennifer arrived.
“Are you all right, love?”
“I’m fine. I just want life to get back to normal. That’s all.” That wasn’t all but he damn sure wasn’t going to admit that he looked forward to Jennifer’s visit.
He didn’t even want to admit it to himself.
“Can I get you anything? Something to drink?”
“No. Just go to your appointment.”
With wounded eyes, Tyler leaned over and kissed him. Thomas guiltily kissed him back.
Nevvie walked into the kitchen with the baby. Tyler was about to kiss her good-bye when the doorbell rang.
She walked with Tyler to the front door and they let Jennifer in.
“Back to torture the patient some more, are we?” Tyler joked. Thomas knew from the forced joviality in Tyler’s voice that he still stung from their earlier exchange.
She smiled. “That’s me. I wanted to tell you, Mr. Paulson, I love your books. I’ve read all of them.”
“Why, thank you! That’s very sweet of you to say.” He leaned over and kissed Nevvie and Adam. “Do I need to stop at the store, sweetheart?”
“No, I’ve got everything I need for dinner tonight.”
“Right. Then I’ll see you later.” He left.
Jennifer looked at Nevvie. “It must be neat having a famous author for a husband.”
She shrugged. “He’s a normal guy, just like Tommy, just like everyone else. It’s his job.”
Thomas cringed, worried Nevvie would say too much, then he mentally kicked himself for thinking that.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
Nevvie walked into the kitchen and plopped Adam into his high chair. “I’ll leave you alone with Mr. Grump in there.”
Jennifer laughed. “I’m not usually a welcomed visitor, that’s for sure.”
Thomas nervously chatted with Jennifer during their session, not sure how much Nevvie could hear. She had the small under-counter TV turned on and talked to Adam while she fed him, making silly baby voices and faces at him. She was a great mom, a wonderful wife. She deserved better than him.
She deserved Tyler, not the stress of taking care of someone like him who could barely walk.
By the end of the session he knew he was overtly flirting with Jennifer, pushing the envelope. He enjoyed making her blush, enjoyed the way his heart raced, wondered why he was going this far and if he’d crossed the line yet. Nevvie had taken Adam back into his office after she fed him and couldn’t hear them in the living room.
He’d sussed out Jennifer didn’t have a boyfriend. So what if he flirted with her? It was just words.
She was almost finished with his exercises. They were alone in the living room when he blurted it out after another of his double-entendres made her blush.
“You don’t mind that I’m a flirt, do you, baby girl?” He’d never called anyone but Nevvie that.
She smiled, finally met his eyes. “No, I don’t mind, Thomas.”
He knew he held her gaze a little too long. “Call me Tommy, sugar. No need to be so formal. Hell, the way you get to handle my body, we might as well get to know each other.” Okay, he hadn’t overtly lied to her, but he certainly led her to believe that Nevvie was Tyler’s wife, cementing that over this visit with a few well-placed comments. Not his fault she misunderstood, was it? She couldn’t get involved with him anyway, he was her patient. A little friendly flirting, right? No harm, no foul. Nothing could—would—ever come of it.
Then why the fuck had he slipped his wedding band off and put it in his pocket?
She smiled again. “Okay, Tommy. Thanks.”
* * * *
Thomas lived for the appointments. Somehow his luck held. Three weeks later, Jennifer still didn’t realize the truth of their home life. The few times Tyler didn’t have cardiac rehab during Jennifer’s visits, he would stay out of their way during therapy. Sometimes Nevvie would leave Adam home with Tyler and go to the office, relieving Thomas that she wasn’t there to catch on.
He lived to flirt with Jennifer. She loosened up, flirting back openly now, filling him with a new kind of excitement he hadn’t felt in a while.
And guilt.
But he shouldn’t feel guilty, right? No touch, no harm, no foul.
He’d started sleeping in the guest room instead of on the couch with the excuse that he didn’t want his leg to get jostled. He ignored Nevvie and Tyler’s hurt looks when he refused to sleep in the bedroom with them despite their repeated requests. He didn’t know if Nevvie and Tyler were having sex or not. Then again, he hadn’t given them much reason to want to have sex with him, had he? And he refused to be their pity fuck.
* * * *
Nevvie knocked on the guest room doorway one Monday night. Thomas sat propped up in bed, reading. She’d noticed he’d been in a good mood all day, which was odd. She thought he’d be in a horrible mood after his PT appointments, but every time seemed to be almost…cheerful afterwards.
“What is it, Nev?”
“Can I talk to you?”
He put his book down. She shouldn’t feel like this, feel like she had to climb a wall to get back to her husband.
She carefully sat on the bed next to him and reached for his hand. She felt as much tenderness in him as a store dummy. “What’s going on, Tommy?” she quietly asked.
“What?”
“This,” she said, indicating the guest bed. “Do we ever get to sleep with you again?”
“Do you want to?”
She felt shocked, hurt. “Of course we do! Why the hell do you think we keep asking you to sleep where you belong? What is going on with you?”
He jerked his hand free. “I don’t want my leg to get hurt.”
“This is more than your leg. You’re pushing us away. You’ve barely said more than five words to Tyler in the past couple of days, you don’t spend time with Adam, and you practically ignore me. Ta
lk to us. Please? You’re not just sleeping in a different room. It’s like you’re living on another planet.”
“I’m fine. I’m just trying to adjust.”
“How long do you keep pushing us away? We’re waiting for you to let us back in. We aren’t going anywhere.”
Thomas wanted to put his arm around her and pull her to him, love the hurt from her face. And yet he also hated himself for thinking ahead to Wednesday.
To Jennifer.
“I’m not pushing you away,” he lied.
She stared at him for several minutes, then finally leaned in and kissed him. “Just know that when you’re ready to have us back, we’re waiting for you, Tommy. We love you, and we miss our tough guy. We want him back.”
He couldn’t stop the words. “Well, you don’t get a tough guy back, do you? You get a guy with a fucking leg that’s got more metal than bone in it,” he spat.
She flinched, hurt, startled by his angry tone.
“Wait, Nev, honey—”
Before he could reach out and grab her hand and apologize, she sobbed and ran from the room.
He closed his eyes and swore. She deserved better than him. She deserved someone who had his shit together.
She deserved Tyler.
Chapter Sixteen
Thomas wanted space, he got it. Nevvie left for the office early the next morning, leaving Tyler at home with him and not returning until nearly dark. Tyler’s quiet, hurt looks all day tore at his heart, but what could he say to him?
Wednesday morning, Nevvie was already gone when Thomas got up. Tyler heard him and came in to help.
“Where’s Nev?” Thomas asked.
“Does it matter? Do you really care?” Tyler quietly asked, carefully helping him limp to the bathroom. “It’s not like you’ve taken a great interest in her in the past several weeks. There’s only so much she can take, love. She needs a break until you’re ready to let her back in. Getting rejected by you hurts her. She’s about ready to stop trying, I think.”
Love Slave for Two Collection [Box Set 7] Page 76
