by Honor James
“I said I didn’t want to be disturbed,” came the deep voice from the bed.
“Oh, I think you just might, Q. You’ll never guess who I finally managed to track down.”
Quinn’s head turned so quickly she was sure he’d give himself whiplash. But that thought flitted away as she found herself staring into a pair of the brightest blue eyes she’d ever seen on any person. “Susan,” he said softly, his tone reverent.
“Told you,” Jordan was saying to her, his voice soft. He put a hand on her back and urged her closer to the bed. “Go, sit, talk,” he whispered, the heat of his hand trailing away from her spine as she moved on her own.
Susan walked over to Quinn. She couldn’t believe it. He was awake! “Holy crap, you are awake,” she whispered and sat down on the edge of the bed, her hand moving to his wrist automatically taking his pulse even as she began to run through in her mind everything that he would need in order to get up and moving. “Your eyes were blue when you slept, but I don’t think that anything could have prepared me for just how blue that they were.” Okay so that was a silly thing to say, but she couldn’t think of what to say. For the first time she was alone with this man and she was at a loss for words. “Oh, hi,” she whispered with a blush. “I’m Susan. Susan Ellington. I took care of you for a little while.” More like the entire time he was in his coma, but that was neither here nor there.
He smiled up at her. “Quinn Brodie,” he said softly. “Nice to meet you, Susan. Finally I mean. I heard you, just so you know, when you were talking to me I mean.” He looked flustered all of a sudden and huffed out a breath. “Hi,” he said with a smile.
“Hi.” Susan straightened his bedding and then laid her hand on his chest. “How are you feeling? Any headache? Dizziness? Anything? Do you need anything? Heavens, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be asking you these things.” Especially when she was no longer his caregiver, which hurt her to a deep part of her soul. “I was floored when Jordan showed up at my friends place. He must have done some serious tracking to find me there, but I was floored because he said you were awake and wanted to see me. Are you okay? Did you need something?” she whispered now, trying to keep the conversation as quiet and intimate as possible.
“Just you, here,” he said softly. He moved his hand and curled his finger around one of hers. “I heard what...she did, it was wrong to blame you especially after what happened. I know I don’t have any right to ask, but I would like you to come back. You’d be working for me, not them, if you wanted to that is. Please?” he asked. Quinn even gave her a little bit of a pout to go with it.
“Quinn, she’s your mother,” Susan whispered, but heaved a heavy sigh. “I would love to come back. It would be a privilege to watch you get back to your full potential but I don’t think that I should. It would be a strain between you and your parents, people that you should get to know. They honestly do care for you Quinn.” Just not Susan, to them Susan was just another tramp looking for a dollar. “I understand why they were so frustrated, but I didn’t throw myself at your uncle. He’s a terrible man.” Horrid actually, she was also certain he had arranged for at least two of the women showing up with children that they claimed were Quinn’s to show up when they did.
“No, they are the people that gave birth to me. They have never been parents to me, I don’t know them and, frankly after what they did to you, I don’t want to.” Staring at her, he squeezed the finger he had in his grip. “I’m not staying here either, so you don’t have to worry about them or that man. I had Jordan do a few other things while he was searching for you including renting a large loft apartment for me and you, hopefully you,” he said. Now he was batting his lashes at her and his lower lip was further out in his pout. “Please.”
“Has anyone ever been able to tell you no?” Susan asked with a grin. Sighing she closed her eyes for a moment and thought about the life that lay before her. She had nothing, she could go on and do what she had been doing and try to rebuild her life but she knew it would be empty without him. “Okay.” She gave in finally. “But I would like to ask you to at least get to know them? Yes, they are your birth parents, but you still should get to know them. You only ever get one set of birth parents, right?”
He made a face and sighed. “Fine, I will agree to learn some more about them. But I will not promise to like them and I sure as hell will not allow them to bully you for something not your fault. That I can’t do, Susan,” he said. Tugging on her finger he smiled at her. “And, for the record, there’s only ever been one person that could say no to me.”
“I have no idea who that person was but they were stronger than me,” Susan said with a wry grin. “I will need equipment for your place. We will need to work you back into shape slowly. You’ve been in a coma for a long time and even with me working your muscles every day you have lost a shocking amount of muscle tone as well as weight. You were the devil to try to feed at times.” And she hated using the feeding tube, but far too often it had fallen to just that. “Have your doctors been by to check on you and give you a green light to start to do anything to start rebuilding your body?”
Jordan appeared by her elbow then, reminding her he was there, holding out a folder. “They were here and gave him a once over. He’s been give them thumbs up for starting his rehab now that he’s awake and aware. There’s been no brain damage, well…” Jordan chuckled. “No more than he had before the accident that is.”
Quinn managed to throw his friend the bird with a glower.
“They did put in some notes for the physical therapist about a few things to keep an eye on and a few other things as well,” Jordan said, still grinning. “I have all the equipment in the apartment already that was recommended by the top physical therapists in the country. If you need anything more there’s a credit card there for your use, in Quinn’s name, so go hog wild I say.”
Susan nodded and flipped through the case notes that the doctors put in as well as a list of the equipment that was suggested. “This is a fairly comprehensive list. I would also suggest a hot tub and a massage bed. I know, odd things but after a hard workout you would benefit from a hot tub or even one day a massage. I’m actually very good at them.” She had taken classes and had a license to be a masseuse, so why not share that with them? “So tell me about the loft? Where is it? How many bedrooms and will you be living there as well?” This question was directed at Jordan, another man she was attracted to. She was so screwed because she was hot for both men in the room with her.
Jordan shot Quinn a look before looking down at her. “Yes, I’ll be living there. I figure you’ll need a buffer now and again between you and cranky pants here. Plus it’s cheaper if I’m there, for me I mean, since Quinn bought the building. The loft is right downtown, next to various buses and the train system, too. There are several shops, bars, restaurants and whatnot in the area. We’re off the main drags in a quieter neighborhood so the noise is minimal. It’s a high-security building with a doorman for additional security. Several elevators, eight stories high and we’re on the top floor. The hot tub is already in but the massage bed I’ll have to get. There are four bedrooms, each with its own bathroom and it’s roughly two thousand square feet of space. Very open concept, lots of windows and a gourmet kitchen. All hardwood throughout so there are no rugs or carpets for him to trip over though I did pick up a couple of the mats the therapist suggested for when you are working with him.”
“Sounds perfect,” Susan said with a smile and then looked back to Quinn. “What’s the catch? You could have anyone. Any physical therapist out there. The best of the best. So why me?” That was the question of the hour right there. “Not that I’m complaining because I would dearly love to be able to do this, but I have to ask why me? What makes me so special that you sent your best friend out to hunt me down?”
“Because, you woke me up,” he said softly. “I don’t know how, or why then, but whatever happened that day brought me out of this. And because my first and only thought
was you, Susan. I can’t explain it yet but there is something about you that—” Quinn frowned as he stalled out and ended up shaking his head. “It’s going to sound stupid but, there’s something about you that resonates in me and I had to find you and I know I need you there through this process. I won’t say it will be easy, you know it won’t be and I am discovering that, too. And yes, I can be a grump, occasionally, but we know that you can handle me. Of that I’m sure.”
Susan nodded and felt her cheeks burning. The one and only thing she had done differently that day was after she had been fired, she snuck back into Quinn’s room and kissed him. It hadn’t been a tongue kiss but a kiss of desperation, desire, want and need. It had been a kiss from a woman who had fallen for a man. She didn’t tell him that though. She simply nodded. “Okay, looks like we are all going to be roomies then. Are you sure that your girlfriends won’t mind?” There had been a woman who came about every month to see Quinn, someone that his mother had told her time and again was his finance and the mother of his child. A child that Susan never saw, a child that never visited the mansion, but that was none of her business.
“I don’t have any girlfriends,” he said, frowning at her before he looked to Jordan.
“Hey, don’t glare at me, I told her you didn’t have time for that and those girls you did know were better friends than girlfriends due to the high maintenance,” Jordan said.
Quinn looked back to her and shook his head. “I swear, Susan, no girlfriends will be showing up. So don’t worry about it. And if any do show up, claiming to be my girlfriend, you have my permission to throw them out the window. I’ve also given a list of people that are and are not permitted into the building to the doorman and the security there.”
“Actually I did that. You know, with you being all immobile and shit,” Jordan said.
Sighing, Quinn looked to the ceiling and then gave his friend a look that spoke volumes. “Fine, Jordan gave them the list I had made up. Better?” he asked.
“Much,” Jordan grinned.
“Asshole,” Quinn muttered under his breath. “Anyway, the point of this is, if you have anyone that you want to have access to in the building, friends, boyfriends, whatever, we’ll add their names to the list. All visitors are escorted in the building by security, no ifs ands or buts.”
“I don’t have boyfriends. You have been my life for the last several years, you and Jordan,” she told them both honestly. “But your mother, she said that you have a fiancée and she has your child. I don’t understand.” Clearly Susan was mistaken on something because she was completely at a loss for words. “So you have no children, right?”
“Uh, no,” he said. He looked to Jordan who was shrugging and looking confused as well. “I have no children, absolutely no fiancées and no girlfriends, promise. You didn’t happen to get a name did you?” Quinn asked curiously.
“No but I saw a glimpse of her when your mother brought her in here one night. She has long brilliant red hair. She’s utterly drop dead gorgeous and probably almost as tall as you.” As opposed to Susan. She was maybe five three in shoes and had dark brown hair. It was straight and shiny but that was about it. “She had unusual eyes as well. I think they had to have been contacts. Her eyes were this violet color.” Susan’s were a nice plain-jane hazel.
Quinn was shaking his head but Jordan’s sharp inhale had her attention. “Margot,” he said softly, his eyes on Quinn.
“Margot?” Quinn asked, still shaking his head slowly. Then he stilled and his eyes went wide before narrowing. A look of such hatred fell over his face Susan actually felt the need to move. Not that she could with the way she was boxed in.
“Margot von Hoote, not her real name, trust me,” Jordan said. “She’s a skank of the worst order and she’s been trying to get into Quinn’s pants since the first time he told her to fuck off. Exact words too, sorry,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder.
“That conniving, vicious bitch,” Quinn said, sounding really angry now.
“She’s always trying to pull one scheme or another. A few years ago she actually tried to claim that Quinn had drugged her and raped her. It didn’t play out well for her. She’s the sort who cries wolf just a little too often,” Jordan explained. “If the hooker is pregnant, it’s not Quinn’s and a DNA test will prove she’s a whore like we’ve been saying since day one. Sorry about the language,” he muttered.
“No, she’s not pregnant now. She’s saying before your accident she was pregnant. She has a child, your parents know all about the child but I’ve never seen a photo of it, nor has she ever brought the child here. It’s been the oddest of things honestly.” She squeezed Quinn’s hand and added, “I believe you Quinn. We will get you out of here as quickly as possible so that we can get you up and moving. After that you can go back to life, right?” And she would once more be at loose ends, but that was then and this was now.
“Maybe,” he said. He gave her a small smile and looked to Jordan. “When’s it arranged for?” he asked softly.
“This afternoon. So I’m really glad I managed to find her because, honestly, if we had to keep putting up with Nurse Ratched I’d have fucking quit.”
“You can’t quit, you’re my friend not an employee,” Quinn said, a grin curling his lips now.
“Fuck you, I can quit whenever I want.” Jordan crossed his arms and huffed out a breath. “It just happens I don’t feel like quitting at the moment.”
Snorting out a laugh Quinn looked at her again. “I’m leaving this afternoon for the apartment. Jordan will be picking up a car for you and him to use should you need it, emergencies or whatever. So if you want to go with him once they drop me off at the apartment I think I can manage a couple hours without you so you can get some things for our comfort there.”
“Or he could take me now and I could get everything settled in there and we can come back and get you this afternoon? It would be good for you to be able to get up and walk with our assistance, if only to the front door and a wheelchair,” she retorted. “This way you can say goodbye to your parents and let them know where you are moving to and I can run Jordan ragged and he won’t be embarrassed by how hard I work him around you.”
“Well I fully agree with you running Jordan ragged,” Quinn told her.
“Hey!” his friend protested.
“But you won’t need to return here. The hospital arranged for an ambulance to move me as the doctor advised me not to do anything upright until you’ve worked with me some. Or before I do something like sit up,” he smiled. “But go, I will get there and you can meet me over there. Jordan knows where it is and the timing of everything so he can ensure you are there to meet me as we arrive.”
“Okay.” Susan looked up at Jordan and grinned. “I don’t have a lot. Just a couple of suitcases. I sold off everything when I moved in here.” She then looked back to Quinn and smiled. “I’m so happy that you are awake.” She wanted to hug him, how freaky was that?
“Me, too,” he said with a laugh. He tugged on her fingers lightly. “Come on, give me a hug and then get out of here. Otherwise I’ll likely talk your ear off and you’ll change your mind. God, I’ve been out of it so long and have so much I want to talk with you about but, we have time now.”
Susan didn’t hesitate, she moved so that she could wrap her arms around Quinn and sighed happily when he wrapped his around her. Pressing her cheek to his she breathed in the scent that was all man and hugged him as tightly as she dared, her breasts pressing to his chest, her nipples becoming harder as she thought of the feeling of him.
Pulling back she swallowed and blushed lightly. “I’m happy you’re awake. We will see you soon. Be good okay?”
“I’m always good,” he said, his smile angelic.
“Bullshit.” Jordan coughed the word into his fist.
“While you’re out,” Quinn said. “If you happen to lose Jordan, that’s okay. Just keep his cell phone since my number and directions to the loft are in it. I really wou
ldn’t be too upset if he went missing for a couple of days.”
“Nah, I kinda like him, too, so I will keep him along with you.” Susan muttered before she could filter her words at all. “I will see you soon. Just be ready for a workout from me.” She told him as she rose, her hand still in his. “Quinn, you have to let my hand go.”
His whole demeanor changed and he stared at her, fear in his eyes. “You will come back, right?” he asked softly.
Jordan put a light hand on her back and stepped in closer to her. “I’ll make sure she’s there, promise,” he said to his friend.
But Quinn was still looking at her, searching her face and waiting for her answer.
“I promise you that I will return to you, Quinn Brodie.” Leaning in impulsively, Susan brushed her lips lightly against the corner of his mouth. “Now be good. We will see each other soon,” she whispered in his ear, words for him alone.
The breath he released was ragged and warm against her skin. “Thank you,” he murmured back. “Go, have a good day and I’ll see you later,” he said, his voice normal again. Quinn slowly let her hand go, reluctance clear in the movement but a look of determination in his eyes. Then he smiled again. “Go.”
“If you need anything you call and we will come back as quickly as humanly possible. I mean it.” She didn’t like leaving Quinn alone, but she did need to pack what few things she did have and tell her friend thanks for allowing her to remain. “Soon, Quinn, promise.”
He nodded and Jordan urged her out of the room.
Chapter Six
“He’ll be fine,” Jordan said again. He’d been reassuring her since they’d left the massive house and Quinn. “He has a houseful of people to look after him and Hadley will keep anyone Quinn doesn’t want to see away. He might be going on three hundred, but that man is bloody spry.”
“I can’t help but worry about him. I don’t know why but there it is. I do worry about him. I like Quinn, especially now that he’s awake and actually talking and it’s not me imagining what he might or might not say at any given moment in time.”
