It was then that she heard the low murmur of voices. She saw the couch was empty and followed the voices she heard into the kitchen.
Mal stood there cooking, with Addy leaning against the counter drinking a large mug of coffee.
“You said the doctor said she was okay, right? We don’t have much going on this week other than normal orders. After this weekend, Amanda wanted to take it easy.”
“I think you should try and keep her from being at work this week.”
She saw Addy nod. “I can do that.”
Irritation slinked down Amanda’s spine. She hadn’t let anyone rearrange her life in a good long while, and she wasn’t about to start letting people take over now.
“I think I can handle my own schedule.”
Addy jumped a little bit and looked guilty. Mal, damn him, just kept working on whatever he was cooking. He had probably known she was there the entire time. Freaking Seal.
“What are you doing out of bed?” Addy asked as she approached Amanda with concern darkening her large blue eyes.
“I…” She didn’t want to say she had to pee in front of Mal. “I was sick of being in bed.”
“You haven’t been there that long,” Mal said conversationally. “You have two choices. Go back to bed or lay down on the couch. Doc said to rest today.”
She frowned at his back. “I don’t think I put you in charge, Dupree.”
“Call me a natural leader then. You go, or I put you there.”
He hadn’t raised his voice, not even when he’d issued his threat. Amanda hated it just as much as she hated how her body reacted to it. Heat feathered over her flesh as she thought of the way his voice easily rolled over the words. She didn’t like it, not one bit. Somehow she needed some space. She opened her mouth to argue with him, but Addy slipped her arm around her waist.
“Come on. He’s making omelets that look as good as they smell. And you know how you like them.”
“Okay, but just so you know, I don’t have to spend the day in bed.”
Again, without turning around, Mal answered. “I think you’ll do what I tell you to do.”
Why did that turn her on so much? Probably because she had a concussion. Before she could answer him, Addy led her away to the couch. “I know you want to blast him. Save your energy for arguing later.”
“I don’t want to be treated like an invalid.”
“Ah, except for the fact that you are an invalid. A concussion is nothing to play fast and easy with.”
Amanda allowed Addy to sit her on the couch and then fuss over her. She knew it was her way, especially with someone who had been injured.
“I guess you decided not to call me because you hate me?”
Amanda recognized the sardonic humor in her friend’s voice.
“So, the visit with your father was bad?”
Addy set her hands on her hips. “He invited that guy again.”
Amanda chuckled. “The lawyer.”
“Yep. It’s like, I couldn’t make you a lawyer, so I’ll hook you up with one and hope that we succeed in getting grandbabies who don’t embarrass us.”
“Oh, Addy, he isn’t embarrassed by you.”
“You didn’t see the look on his face when he saw my hair.”
Amanda glanced up at the bright purple. “It is a bit shocking. How did Larry take it?”
“Larry?”
“The lawyer?”
Addy laughed. “His name isn’t Larry. I just called him Larry the Lawyer because, well, because.”
There was something in her voice that caught Amanda’s attention. “You like him.”
She pouted. “No, I don’t. “
“Yeah, you do. Well, you’re attracted.”
“It’s hard not to be. He reminds me of Channing Tatum. So there’s that. But his personality is just not what I look for in a guy.”
“And, considering I have met some of those guys, what are you looking for? They all seem to be…different.”
Addy’s eyes narrowed. “May I ask what you are implying?”
Amanda shrugged. “Nothing really, just that there is a thin line between love and hate.”
“Really? And that line is there between you and Mr. Hunky Seal?”
The snort escaped before she could stop it. “I would love to see his face if he heard you say that.”
“All I know is I get a phone call this morning, before six a.m. I might add, telling me you had been hurt and that you were taking the day off. When I said I wanted to see you, he refused at first.”
“He refused?” Amanda asked, her temper bubbling a bit. The man had nerve trying to order her friends not to come.
“I got the feeling that he wanted to make sure I wouldn’t bother you.” Addy crossed her arms and snorted. “As if.”
“You’re too old to use the term ‘as if.’”
Addy ignored the comment. “I was ready to blast him when I got here. Telling me what I can do, and before six a.m. and decaffeinated. But I got here and he looked so grumpy that I couldn’t help but ignore it.”
“I am sure it has nothing to do with the fact that he is gorgeous.”
“Like that would matter. The vibe I got from him tells me that he could care less about me.”
“What kind of vibe? And since you mentioned you don’t like guys telling you what to do, I would suggest that you rethink that. He’s not only military and a Seal at that, but he’s a Dom.”
Addy rolled her eyes again. “Not that kind, although for him, I might forgo that worry. No, I would say it was more a vibe toward you.”
It was Amanda’s turn to roll her eyes. “If there is any kind of vibe, it’s a brotherly one.”
“Uh, you have been without a man too long. Men do not, repeat, do not read me the riot act for not being reachable to you. Not the way he did it.”
Amanda didn’t like the way her heart jumped at the description. She shouldn’t be so damned happy that a man called her best friend and yelled at her in the morning. And it didn’t prove anything. Maybe he was just irritated and tired. Her couch couldn’t have been that comfortable.
Amanda shrugged. “You have a lousy track record with men, so I’m not listening to you.”
“I know enough to know that man has a thing for you. Guys like that don’t play nursemaid for nothin’.”
She opened her mouth to refute it again, but Addy popped up. “I have to go open the shop. You know we have nothing scheduled today other than regular shop hours.”
Before Amanda could stop her, Mal stepped into the room. “Doc said Amanda should stay home for the next couple of days.”
She shook her head and had to fight wincing. “Now, I can stay home today, but I need to go in tomorrow.”
The look Mal shot her told Amanda that she was in for a fight.
Again, before she could say anything, Addy agreed. “No problem. See, the boss here didn’t schedule anything big this week after the Washington and Michelson wedding.”
“Boss?” Mal asked. “I thought you were partners.”
“Yes, but Amanda runs the schedule. You don’t even think of changing anything without an hour conference with her. I mean, she schedules everything down to the minute. Then, throw a kink into the schedule and she will hunt you down and kill you.”
“Really?” Mal asked, and she could feel his gaze resting on her. Her face started to burn.
“Yes. You know, one time there was this groom who was military, and he was late to his wedding and she lost it on him. He wasn’t fully dressed when she burst into the groom’s room at the church and gave him a dressing down that would have frightened even the scariest of drill sergeants.”
“I thought you were leaving to open the shop?” she asked and winced inwardly at the prim tone in her voice.
“Right, boss,” Addy said with a smile. She leaned down, gave Amanda a kiss, then abandoned her.
She looked at Mal, who was still standing and watching her as if he were on a security mission an
d she was his detail.
“Eat.”
She frowned at him, but she wasn’t going to say no. She could already smell the gooey cheese and eggs, and her stomach rumbled. Mal watched her as she picked up the plate and started to eat.
“If you stare at me, it’s going to make me nervous.” He didn’t stop looking at her. “At least get yourself something to eat and sit down.”
He sat. “I ate earlier.”
She nodded as she gobbled up the eggs. She knew he would have been up at dawn, especially considering he slept on the couch. There had been enough room in her bed for him. Waking up next to him would have been much better than waking up alone.
Oh Lord, that wasn’t where her mind should be going. Thinking about Mal in her bed was not a good idea. It led to thinking about all kinds of silly things like…would her sheets smell like him when he left?
She cleared her throat. “Don’t you have to go in to work today?”
“I took the day off.”
“Oh, Mal, I didn’t mean for you to do that. I didn’t even know that you could take time off during a deployment.”
He shook his head and leaned back in the chair, stretching out his long legs. “No problem. I always have ‘use or lose’ leave come September, so it never hurts to take a few days here and there. And when I explained who you were, there was no problem.”
She nodded and took the last bite of omelet. Of course it was because she was Kyle’s wife. It was something she admired in the military. Whether you liked each other or not, you were a family of sorts, and especially with the Seals and other special forces. The constant deployments made it hard for many of the families to cope. A little help from other people in the group was usually normal. She just hadn’t expected it to last so long after Kyle’s death, but then Mal was different.
She swallowed the last bite and tried to ignore him. It was hard because he was staring at her as if he were worried she would pass out.
“What?”
“Just making sure you keep it down.”
She snorted. “No nausea here. I know the warning signs of a concussion.”
He cocked his head to watch her. “Had experience with it?”
“Two brothers who played football. And all three of those idiots used to beat the hell out of each other.”
He nodded as he stood and took the plate from her.
“I thought you should take it easy today. If you have some pain, the doc said it was okay to take the meds we got last night.”
She was about to refuse, but when she shook her head, pain radiated through it. "Maybe I'll take you up on that."
He nodded again and then left her alone to her thoughts. Which, with Malachai Dupree, was a problem. Now that Addy had put it in her head that he was somehow attracted to her, she couldn't get the idea off her mind.
She thought back over the last eighteen months and his support. Her folks had been great. Her brothers...not so much, but they were guys who had never handled her tears well. There had been a part of her that thought of moving back to the safety of Texas. Her parents were there, and that's where she went to high school. They had made no concrete plans about the business, so if she had decided to run back to Texas, Addy would have understood.
But there was one thing Amanda realized about herself in that year after Kyle died. She was too much like her father, which meant she was too damned stubborn to give up. Addy had helped, but the big part of her recovery had been through help from Mal. He had always been there when he could. Being a Seal, he was gone a lot, but he always checked on her when he was in town. And there were those pics from his travels and the Hawaiian weddings.
"Here you go," he said as he approached her with a pill and some water. "The doc said these might make you sleepy, so he wanted to wait at least twelve hours past the time of the accident."
She nodded as she downed the water.
"So what are your plans for me today?"
For a moment, he didn't say anything. He got a really weird look on his face. Heat swept through her body in embarrassment, tinged with arousal.
"What I mean is what am I allowed to do today?"
He rolled his shoulders and took the glass from her. "Not much. They wanted you to rest."
"Mal, I can really take care of myself if you need to check in."
"What do you mean?"
"My dad was at the Pentagon, so I know what they expect of you. You can go to work."
He pursed his lips then rolled his shoulders again. She got the distinct feeling he was irritated, but she didn’t know why. "Trying to get rid of me, Forrester?"
She snorted. "No. It just makes me feel weird getting waited on."
"Something wrong with that?" he asked.
"I'm just not used to it."
"Are you telling me Kyle never pampered you?"
She snorted again, but this time it was to hide the pain. "No. No, he wasn't into romance that much."
Not with her, anyway. He apparently ran up a bunch of bills sending someone flowers. There was also a weekend in New York. She was so happy to pay those off for him after he died. She noticed that Mal was watching her, and she decided it best to think about something else. Kyle's cheating had been something she refused to let anyone know about.
"Why don't we watch one of those SyFy movies?"
He smiled like she knew he would. "Sounds good. Did you record the newest one?"
She nodded and snuggled down on the couch. "Sure did."
Their mutual love of the campy movies had been a surprise and a delight. They had spent many nights sharing popcorn and laughing at the crazy antics on the TV.
He sat back down and grabbed the remote to start the movie, and Amanda settled back against the pillows. If this was all she was going to have, it would be enough.
Chapter Four
Mal watched her sleep. It wasn't hard to do. She had tried to stay awake, but she'd only made it through the first fifteen minutes of the movie.
She looked good. The color was back in her face, and she no longer looked that fragile. Still, he was worried. A hit like that wasn’t the best thing in the world. He knew he was overreacting, but there were things he couldn’t handle and this was one of them.
He needed to know she was okay. It was the same with his family. He couldn’t even fathom one of them getting hurt. Chris knew it and had ordered the family to keep quiet about Jocelyn’s problems a few years back. They had eventually told him, but he had been going through Hell Week at the time. Mal had been pissed, but he had understood. He knew his brothers in the Seals would be under fire, that there was always a chance he would lose one of them. One thing he needed was to know those he cared about were safe.
He leaned back in the chair and thought about getting a little catnap in. He hadn't slept much the night before. The doc had said Amanda would be okay, that the concussion wasn't that bad, but Mal couldn't keep from peeking into her room every thirty minutes to make sure she was still okay. It had been almost too tempting. She had a huge bed, and seeing her lay there snuggled against her pillows had made him want to slip in beside her, pull her close, and snuggle there with her.
But he didn't have that right. The need had been almost overwhelming, but Mal knew that his role was as a friend and nothing more.
He was dozing off when the front door buzzed. He glanced over at Amanda and noticed she hadn't budged. He padded to the door and looked out the peephole. Dylan, her brother.
Mal opened the door.
"She's okay?" he asked without saying anything else. Mal moved out of his way as Dylan stepped over the threshold of the apartment. The worry in his expression was easy to see. "Mom and Dad said it wasn't that bad."
Mal nodded toward the couch. He saw the man's shoulders relax.
"Let's talk in her bedroom so we don't wake her up," Mal said.
The major followed him in, and Mal closed the door.
"The doc said a mild concussion, although she lost consciousness for a few secon
ds after it happened. He took an MRI and everything looked okay other than that, but she needs to see her doctor next week. She rested all night."
"I appreciate it. Mom was going to fly up here, and Dad and I talked her down."
"You were in San Antonio?"
He nodded. "I had TDY at Fort Sam that I extended a few days so that I could spend some time with the folks. They've been complaining none of us come down there anymore, so I thought this would be perfect. Of course, I should have known something like this would happen. Amanda always did have the worst timing."
“Amanda didn’t cause this,” he said.
It wasn’t until Dylan gave him an odd look that he realized how mean he had sounded. He didn’t have the right to get pissed at her brother, but the thought that she had no one here to watch out for her when he was gone was irritating Mal. He had thought he could count on Dylan, but apparently his support was sketchy at best.
“No, she didn’t. You’re sounding like it’s worse than you let on.”
It wasn’t. It was a bump on the head. It was just the idea that if he had been deployed, she wouldn’t have had any kind of backup apparently. Amanda was the kind of woman who was always there for people, but when she needed someone, she hadn’t had anyone to call.
He pulled back his temper. She wasn’t his so he shouldn’t be getting so damned angry on her behalf.
"She's fine. She has some meds," Mal said as he slipped into the bathroom and then returned with a bottle of painkillers. "I gave her one about thirty minutes ago, so she should be good to go."
"Mom and Dad really appreciate you taking care of her. She thinks she doesn't need anyone, but she does."
He studied her brother for a moment, and then it hit him. "You took that horrible job because of her, didn't you?"
Dylan sighed and settled on the bed. "Yeah. Don't get me wrong. It will help my career, but I still would have taken the job if it ruined it. Amanda's...well you have to know how she keeps everything beneath the surface."
"Yeah," Mal said.
"Mom wanted to move up here, but then they were worried that if they did, Dad would be lured back in to the Pentagon and politics. He just can't resist it, and it isn't what they want now. So this job popped up and I got it."
A Little Harmless Military Romance Bundle (A Little Harmless Military Bundle) Page 23
