Sing to Me

by Unknown

  “Is that why I’m here?”

  “No,” the attorney shook her head.

  Her secretary knocked before entering with a tray of tea. After he set the two filled cups in front of his boss and Liv, he left the office and Mrs. Barnes sipped the tea.

  “No, my dear. That isn’t why I made you come all the way out here to see me.”

  Liv set her cup on the saucer and stared at the attorney, silently waiting for the bad news to hit her like a smack of cold air in the dead of winter back on the great lake.

  Mrs. Barnes eyed her before she finally spoke. “It’s about your real family back in Hungary,” she said and waited for Liv to do something, like faint or lose her composure. When neither occurred, she sat forward on bent arms. “I told you awhile ago that I did some research and found them for you. We’ve kept in touch on and off over the years, and they’re understanding about the way you feel. Still, I received a call from your oldest brother, and I think it’s something you should know about.”

  “What,” Liv breathed.

  “His oldest son is ten and recently diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. They’re in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant, but so far they haven’t been able to find a suitable match.”

  Liv didn’t mean to grimace, but the thought of anything medical always made her queasy. The sight of her own blood caused fainting spells, and if it was anyone else who was injured, she was never more useless due to shock.

  “What do I have to do to help?” she asked.

  Mrs. Barnes smiled and opened a file folder. “Take this to the nearest hospital and let them test you. They’ll send the results back to me pronto, and I’ll let you know if you’re a match or not.”

  “How long will that take?”

  “I’ve asked for an answer by tomorrow morning, but it’s possible to have it by the end of the day. Right now, all you have to do is donate blood. If you’re a perfect match, the process becomes a bit more involved, but still simple and relatively painless.”

  “In Hungary or here?”

  Mrs. Barnes smiled. “The procedure is done here, or you can do it in Michigan. It’s up to you.”

  “I’d . . . I’d like to . . . if I’m a perfect match, I’d like to go there.”

  “I’d rather the transplant take place here, Liv. If you are a perfect match, I’ll be in contact with the child’s physician in Hungary and we can take it from there.”

  “Then, the boy can be brought here for the procedure?”

  Mrs. Barnes frowned as she shook her head. “I’m afraid he’s too ill for the long flight.”

  Liv pouted and her eyes stung. “It’s that bad?”

  Mrs. Barnes nodded and Liv frowned at the carpeted floor, trying to imagine a boy that age being cooped up inside a hospital when he could be outside playing and having fun. Then she realized that her own child would be seven if it had lived. She stared at Mrs. Barnes in wide-eyed disbelief, causing the attorney to sit up with concern.

  “I’ll do it,” Liv said. “I’ll do whatever I’m asked to do if it will help.”

  She rose from the chair and accepted the paperwork from Mrs. Barnes. They talked on their way to the door, and Liv left the office with her nephew and lost child on her mind.

  Neal sprang up from a metal bench attached to the outer wall of the office and smiled as he rubbed his hands together. “That didn’t take too long,” he said. “Is there anywhere else you need to go? Shall I take you there? We can talk on the way.”

  “Neal,” Liv said and hesitated before looking up at him. That time, not even his amazing looks were enough to affect her by distraction. “Where is this hospital?” She held up the paperwork for him to read, ignoring the worried look he offered.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Liv, are you in some kind of trouble? Please don’t shut me out this time. Let me help you.”

  “You can take me to this hospital,” she said and started for the elevator. “The sooner I get there, the better I’ll feel.” After the doors closed, she exhaled a quiet bit of laughter. “I hope I’ll feel better and not worse.”

  “Liv.”

  She turned to face him and smiled weakly at the worried look he showed her. “It’s not me so relax. I just found out I’ve got a ten-year-old nephew in Hungary who needs a bone marrow transplant.”

  Neal exhaled aloud, but the obvious relief he felt to know she was alright didn’t last long and he frowned. “That’s awful,” he said. “Let’s hope you’re a perfect match, then. I’ll get tested, too.”

  Liv was ready to tell him it wasn’t necessary, but then she thought how stupid that would sound. “I need you to stare into my eyes, or I’m going to pass out.”

  “What?”

  Liv looked up to see the twist of confusion on his handsome face and laughed. “I suck at hospitals, needles, blood, broken bones, vomit, and anything surgical. I even creep out when someone sneezes near me.”

  Neal grinned, making her blush. “Fine. I’ll hold your sissy hand and then let them take my blood after I know you’ve survived such a simple procedure as blood-letting.”

  “Please,” she groaned, turning away from him and closing her eyes. “Don’t even say it. Don’t say anything, Neal. Just hold my hand until I tell you to let go. Can you do that?”

  “Hold your hand, or let go after you tell me to?”

  He laughed after she swatted his arm, and then he assured her that she would be fine in his capable hands.

  That brought back instant and unwanted memories of the fight they had and the long legged model she saw him with the day before. She turned to snarl at him when the elevator doors opened and Neal led her out of the building and to his SUV.

  They could resume their fight later, after she donated blood and wouldn’t end up passed out in his arms.

  “I hope,” she mumbled inwardly and cringed with embarrassment after he strapped her in and started around the back of vehicle. “Don’t let me do anything stupid in front of him. Please.”

  Chapter 15

  Neal entered the twelve-cot room with its sterile, white walls and rubbed his left arm, where a cotton ball was taped to a vein. He grinned at Liv as she lay atop a gurney with her eyes closed. It relieved him to see that her color had returned, but he wasn’t certain she was ready to sit up yet, much less leave the hospital.

  “Hey cutie,” he said as he used a foot to drag a stool beside the bed and sit down. “Feeling better now?”

  “Shut up,” Liv mumbled, making a sour face as she turned away from him.

  He laughed under his breath and patted her flared hip, liking that she offered such a tantalizing view of her backside.

  “It’s all in your head,” he explained while gently massaging her hip and thigh. “You did a terrific job thinking about something else, and if you hadn’t looked down, I bet you wouldn’t have fainted.”

  “It pinched,” she argued before turning her upper body in his direction and offering another of her nasty expressions. “Making fun of me isn’t helping.”

  “I’m not making fun,” he said with laughter in his tone that brought renewed blush to Liv’s cheeks.

  “Stop it before I puke,” she mumbled, turning away and closing her eyes in an effort to calm her weakening stomach.

  “Here,” he said and took the small cup of apple juice a nurse just handed to him with a smile. “Drink this and get your strength back.” He stood up and slid an arm behind her neck to help her, and then he held the cup to her lips. “Be careful,” he warned. “Drink it slow.”

  “I hate apple juice,” she complained but drank it down anyway.

  Neal smiled, liking that she did what she should even when the desire wasn’t there. “You’re a strong woman, Liv.”

  She sniffed, and the way she said she wasn’t made him frown, realizing that she was crying.

  “Hey,” he said and leaned forward to get a better look at her face. “What’s wrong now?”

  “I’m a coward, I’m weak, and I�
�m afraid of my own shadow. I’m useless, Neal. I bet I won’t be a match for that poor little boy, either.”

  He grinned and set a hand against the side of her face, using a thumb to wipe away one of her tears. “You’re wrong on all counts. You hate apple juice but drank it without thinking. You’re terrified of hospitals yet didn’t hesitate to come here and donate blood even knowing needles make you nervous. It took guts to come to see me even if you did jump to the wrong conclusions and leave before I had time to explain anything.”

  Liv glared at him, making him grin.

  “She’s just a friend, Liv. We’ve known each other for –.”

  “I so don’t care,” she hissed. “Especially not now, when I’m at my most embarrassing moment in front of you.”

  Neal frowned. “What’s to be embarrassed about? You warned me this might happen, so why be upset because it did?”

  “Neal,” she grumbled and turned away to pout at her fingers. “Go away.”

  “No,” he said and waited for a reaction. When there wasn’t one, he stood upright. “I invited you here so that you’d attend the ceremony with us,” he said. “I told you I’m unable to renege on any promises I make, and I told you I’d promised Shauna months ago that I’d take her. If I had reunited with you before then, I definitely wouldn’t have told her I’d do that, either. It’s simply bad timing and nothing more. And for the last time, there’s nothing between us.”

  “You had sex with her and discovered you’re not compatible?”

  He exhaled laughter that made her blush, and then he shook his head, exhaling a loud sigh. “When I first met her, yes. Six years ago to be exact. We were both pretty drunk at the time, too. It never happened again, but a friendship did develop as a result.”

  “I think it’s funny how you get jealous over absolutely nothing, and yet you say things like that without thinking how it makes me feel.”

  “Jealous?”

  Liv turned to face him again, and that time he didn’t smile at the upset expression she wore. “I’m not jealous,” she hissed. “I’m not stupid, either.” She rose up in anger, ignoring Neal’s swift arm movement behind her, holding her steady in case she swooned. “Do you ever bother looking in a mirror? Were you completely oblivious to the things going on inside the elevator at the office tower? Or, do you think so little of my intelligence that it wouldn’t occur to you that I know damn well how famous, popular, and attractive you are? Like I wouldn’t know you have women throwing themselves at you right and left. Like I’d be stupid enough to think I’m the only one you’ve –.”

  She stopped before saying anything else that would make her look as bad as she felt.

  “Liv,” Neal grumbled. “I never said you were stupid, and I’m sorry if I said or did anything to make you think I would. My being famous has nothing to do with us, though. And just because you see a lot of nonsense online and in magazines doesn’t make it true.”

  “You already said that,” she argued, pouting at him. “It’s all beside the point. I had to hide my face from a camera phone, Neal. I’ve told you already how I feel about being linked to you. It’s bad enough we’re together in this city. The sooner I can get back to Michigan, the better. Your life and career are here, and mine is back there. It needs to stay that way if we’re going to continue to be happy.”

  Before Neal could respond, the nurse returned with the paperwork Liv brought with her and another warm smile for them both. “You’re free to leave now, Miss Beckman. Your attorney should have the results tomorrow.”

  “Thank you,” Neal said and took the papers before Liv could.

  She snarled at him and slid her legs over the other side of the gurney, waiting until she could feel the tips of her toes touch the floor before she dared rise from the mattress. She waited for the room to sway, or for her stomach to lurch toward her throat, and when neither occurred, she slid her purse strap over a shoulder and started for the exit.

  “Hungry?” Neal asked as he drove out of the hospital parking lot.

  “No,” Liv snapped in reply, making Neal grin.

  “I could go for a nice, juicy steak.”

  “Good for you.”

  “Where are you staying?”

  “Why?” she asked as he fished the hotel card from her purse. He got a good look at it before she snatched it away and shoved it back inside her purse, slapping his hand as well.

  Neal made a face and clicked his tongue. “Liv,” he grumbled, coasting to a stop at a red light. “That isn’t the right place for someone like you to be staying.”

  “Suits me just fine,” she said and folded her arms at her chest while gazing out the window, intent on ignoring him even when she wasn’t and couldn’t resist replying to everything he said or asked.

  “It does not,” he argued. “You can stay with me or check into a better class of hotel. The choice is yours.”

  “Is it?” she asked in as condescending a tone as she could muster. His having just invited her to his place made her stomach rise the way she had anticipated it doing back at the hospital, but in a good way. “Sounds more like an ultimatum to me.”

  “Okay, an ultimatum then. So, which will it be?”

  “I said I’m fine where I’m at.”

  “Yes, you did. I’m not, though, so my place it is.”

  “Which is the only reason you’re unhappy with my choice of a hotel. You said you don’t think I’m stupid, and yet –.”

  “Not to have sex,” he interjected and started under the green light. “Although another night like the one we shared at your place wouldn’t be such a bad thing, would it?”

  “The worst,” she grumbled and looked away to hide the excitement his words just caused her to feel. Butterflies replaced the upheaval, and she could feel her heart against her chest now. Damn him and his perfect choice of words. And with that accent and deep voice, he could say practically anything to make her change her mind about wanting to avoid him.

  Neal’s hand patted her knee before gripping it, forcing Liv to look at it before she shot him a warning glance that had no affect on him. He smiled instead and started to rub her thigh.

  “I think there’s a knife in my purse,” she said and started to rummage when Neal laughed aloud, startling her.

  “Unless you drove all the way here from Michigan, I highly doubt they let you carry a weapon aboard the plane my love.”

  Upset, Liv shoved his hand away and turned her upper body toward the window, more determined than ever to ignore him now. The touch of his hand on her body made her quiver with desire, and the urge to ask if he really thought their night of lovemaking had been all that magical for him was great. She fought to resist both, though. It still mattered too much that they weren’t compatible, and until she was out of Los Angeles, there was no way she would risk being caught on film with him.

  When she felt his hand envelop hers, she was forced to look in that direction. An inward smile arose, liking the way it felt to be touched by him again. Their eyes met, and he offered one of his award-winning smiles in return before he winked, stopping at another light.

  “You’re killing me,” she said, blushing at his second outburst of laughter. He tugged gently at her hand, and she responded by resting her head against his shoulder. “I mean what I say about it not working for us, Neal. We can’t be together the way you want.”

  “We can, and I’ll make it work if you give me half a chance to prove it to you.” He set an arm around her shoulders and rubbed her arm. “We were made for each other, Liv. The fact that we have obstacles in our way proves it was meant to be.”

  “Obstacles are put up to block a path.”

  “No,” he sang in a way that made her giggle, and as he stepped on the gas again, he added, “They’re meant to be jumped over on the path to glory.”

  Liv swatted his chest, teasing him about being passé. “You keep reminding me how much of a coward I am.”

  “And, I keep telling you you’re not,” he said and pres
sed his lips against her head. “You’re cute, cautious, sexy, and extremely intelligent while being overly intimidated by too many things. Not that I want or intend to change anything about you, because I adore you just the way you are. I always have.”

  “You haven’t known me long enough to say that,” she argued. “It worries me that you’re basing these decisions on looks instead of substance, Neal.”

  “What about you?” he asked. “Do you even like me, Liv? Am I spinning my wheels here?”

  She blushed, not liking that she’d just led herself into a corner of discomfort and didn’t quite know how to respond. Of course she liked him. She was crazy about him in fact. Crazy enough to want to ignore the nagging voice inside her and take a chance on love. If it was really love Neal offered and not just a tantalizing sex-partner arrangement for an undisclosed amount of time. The thought of having him dump her at some point for another bed partner hurt enough to make her cringe and return to her place at the door.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  Liv shook her head and gazed out the window. “I think you already know the answer, Neal. It’s too easy to fall for a guy like you, and I’m sure it’s already happened dozens of times in the past. What’s not to like? You’re charming, a perfect gentleman, and you genuinely care. You’ve taken better care of me than I’ve ever been before, so that alone makes me want to keep you around for at least a little while.”

  “Only a little while? Why not a lifetime?”

  Liv turned to him with a defensive look in her eyes even though she smiled at him because he was smiling. “It isn’t funny,” she warned. “I’m dying inside because of you, and despite what you think about me and my way of looking at things, I’m still right and you’re wrong. We can’t make this work, so forget it. Just drop me off at the hotel and go your merry way. Please.”

  Neal’s dull groan made her want to laugh, but the tears she fought to resist won out and her gaze returned to the window.

  “Even if I agreed with your depressing outlook, I still can’t bring myself to return you to that hotel. And, I can’t promise to behave, but I’ll do my best to keep my hands off you at my place.”