Risky Negotiations (13 page)

Sure enough, as soon as she drove around to the garage side of the house, the doors opened automatically. And just like at her parents’ house, the door from the garage to the house was unlocked. She opened the door and stepped inside, hoping she didn’t get lost in the huge house.

“
Sal?” she called to the eerily silent house.

There was no answer.

She didn’t know where to look. She searched through the first level of the house, noticing the different rooms and itching to investigate further. But she forced herself to move from room to room, calling to Sal.

The second level, she knew had all the bedrooms. Did she dare go up there? What if nothing was wrong and he walked in to find her standing in his room? Could she just leave quickly and escape?

Something within her knew that all was not right. She decided to venture into dangerous territory and ascended the curving staircase to the second level.

She reached the second floor and looked down the long hallway to the right. All the doors were closed and dark except for one at the far end of the hallway. She walked quietly towards the light, wondering what she would find.

“
Sal?” she called again.

She heard a soft moan and quickened her steps. “Sal, is that you?” she called, reaching the doorway and pushing it open slightly wider.

“
Sal?” she said quietly.

She heard what she suspected was a moan, but wasn’t sure, since it was so soft.

And then she saw him. He was halfway underneath the covers with a three day beard and discarded tissues surrounding him. His eyes were closed but the skin around them was red and slightly swollen. There was a package of cold medicine on the bedside table but only two of the tablets were missing. “Sal? Are you ok?” she asked, sticking her head around the doorway.

He moaned softly again but otherwise was still. Laci rushed into the room and quickly assessed the situation. Putting her hand on his forehead, she felt his burning skin. “Sal, you’re sick!”

He quickly gripped her wrist when she started to pull her hand away. “You’re here,” he said in a groggy voice.

Laci smiled and bent down to look at him. “Yes. And you probably need to get to a hospital,” she said, pulling her hand away. It was easy this time because all the energy left him once again. She walked to the bathroom connected to the bedroom and scanned the items in the medicine cabinet. Apparently, Sal rarely got sick. The only items in the neatly arranged cabinet were shaving equipment and cologne.

She poured a fresh cup of water and brought it back to him. Peeling away the foil from two more cold tablets, she sat on the side of the bed and called to him. “Sal, you need to take some more medicine,” she said and touched his shoulder to try waking him up again.

Sal instantly jerked awake again and peered at her through slitted eye lids. “What are you doing here?” he asked, his voice barely a whisper. She suspected that his throat was as raw as his eyes appeared to be.

She bent down again, smiling into his rugged features. “Trying to get you to take some cold medicine. And then figure out what happened to you. Can you sit up?” she asked hopefully. She didn’t relish the idea of getting this extremely large man into a sitting position by herself.

In the end, there was no need to get him to sit up. He simply took the tablets in his hand then threw them back in his throat. Taking a small sip of water, he swallowed the tablets, grimacing as if in pain.

“
Do you have a sore throat?” she asked.

Sal nodded, closing his eyes but holding onto her hand as if he knew she was trying to escape him yet again.

“
What else?” she asked.

“
Headache. Aches everywhere,” was all he said before falling back to sleep.

She watched him for a few moments, wondering how such a strong man could be taken down by something as small as a germ. He seemed so invincible, so powerful, so in control of every situation.

Laci sighed and stood up as she took off her suit jacket. Draping it over the side of a chair, she watched the handsome man for a few minutes as he slept. He was extremely sick and wondered if he would appreciate it if she called an ambulance instead of taking care of him. She decided to see how the cold medicine worked in twenty minutes and then make a decision on the ambulance.

About an hour later, Laci brought some chicken soup up from the kitchen. It was only canned broth she suspected Sal’s housekeeper kept on hand for other recipes, but it was probably the only thing he would be able to keep in his stomach right now. She had looked around the kitchen and there were no dirty dishes so she wondered if he had eaten anything in the past three days. Probably not if he’d been feeling this bad for all that time.

“
Sal,” she called to him softly, putting her hand on his forehead to check his temperature. It seemed much cooler to the touch and not as clammy. “Can you wake up and eat something?” she asked, hoping he would respond.

He opened his eyes a little and took in her presence. Then he noticed the bowl of soup and hot tea she was carrying on a tray. “Not hungry,” he said and closed his eyes.

“
Sal, have you eaten anything lately?” she asked, putting the tray down on the table beside the bed.

Sal shook his head, not bothering to open his eyes again.

She touched his shoulder, shaking it gently to wake him up again. “Sal, I really think you should eat this. It is only broth but it will make you feel better. So come on, sit up a little,” she said in a louder voice. She meant business now.

“
Not hungry,” he said gruffly and tried to roll over to his other side, not bothering to open his eyes.

“
I don’t care,” Laci came back, more sternly this time. “Come on, open your eyes and focus for a few minutes, then you can go back to sleep.”

Sal did as she instructed and with a whole lot of nagging, she finally got him to eat about half the bowl of soup and drink some of the tea. She hoped the tea would give him a caffeine jolt, which the lack of was probably part of the reason why he was feeling so awful.

Once he finished, he rolled over and fell back to sleep instantly.

Laci left him alone but slept in the room next to him that night. She was worried that he might need something and would try to do it himself. She felt a little guilty when she went into his closet and found a soft, flannel shirt of his to wear. But once she was snuggled down into the incredibly comfortable bed, her guilt dissolved in a wash of pleasure. Wearing his shirt made her feel close to him in some way.

About midnight, she heard movement and jumped up to find out what was wrong. She rushed into the room to find him standing in the middle of the room in just his pajama bottoms. He was staring at her suit jacket she’d forgotten to move.

“
Are you ok?” she asked, standing in her bare feet, still groggy from the deep sleep she’d been in.

“
You’re here,” he said, looking at her from her messed up hair tangled all over her shoulders right down to her bare feet and toes curling into the thick carpeting.

“
Of course I’m still here. Do you need something?” she asked. She knew she shouldn’t be, but she was acutely aware of how sexy he looked without a shirt on. His eyes were still rimmed with redness and he was obviously very sick. Dammit all! She thought to herself, it wasn’t fair that any man could be that incredibly gorgeous as sick as he was. There was even a slight sheen of perspiration on his forehead indicating that his fever had gone up again.

She moved closer to him, intending to get him back into bed. “You probably need more cold medicine. Why don’t you get back into bed and I’ll get you some water” she said and moved towards the bathroom.

Amazingly, he followed her directions and got back under the covers. She walked into the bathroom and poured him a glass of water. Walking back out to the bedroom, she braced herself for getting near him.

He took the offered glass and watched her the whole time he drank the water. “What are you doing here?” he asked, handing her the empty glass.

“
You’re sick. You need help.”

Sal didn’t say anything at all. He simply watched her as she pulled the covers back up to his waist. She would have covered his chest up as well, but he held the sheets when she reached his waist.

“
Try to get some more sleep. You still look pretty rough,” she said. She could tell he was fighting the fatigue setting in. She turned off the light and walked back out of the room, closing the door just enough so the hallway light wouldn’t bother him.

The sun was shining into the room when she woke up the next morning. She looked around, wondering where she was. It took her several minutes to figure out that she was sleeping in a beautifully decorated, feminine room. The walls were a soft purple and the furniture was covered in various shades of mauve and purple, blending perfectly with the walls to make a harmonious look designed for relaxation. The comforter was made of silk and was filled with down so it puffed up all around her.

It had been dark the night before and she had been too worried about Sal to turn on the lights once she’d found a bed so near to him. She hadn’t taken the time to look around her before her head hit the pillow. But now she was able to appreciate the decorator’s touch and was impressed. Someone had taken a lot of energy to make this room into a comfortable living space. Laci wasn’t sure if it was a guest room or one of the family member’s old room.

She moved across the hall and checked on Sal. Laci found him still asleep but without a fever this time. It was odd putting her hand against his forehead in the full light of day. Even though she was caring for him while he was sick, she still felt the incredible pull towards him.

After gently waking him, she nagged him into taking more cold medicine. She asked him to let her take him to the doctor, but he refused and promptly fell back to sleep.

Laci called in to her office and told them she needed to take some vacation time and probably wouldn’t be in the next day either. She rushed home and picked up a change of clothes and was back at Sal’s house before he woke up.

The next twenty four hours were about the same. She read the newspaper or stole a book from his vast library while he slept. Every few hours, she would wake him up to nag him into taking more medicine, or teased him into drinking some fluids. She also kept the tea coming in the morning, hoping the caffeine would help his headache and body aches. It was difficult since he was such a grouchy patient, but she didn’t mind his bluster. She could see signs of improvement and that gave her peace of mind.

Laci didn’t examine her feelings at all during those two, long days. She knew that would be a dangerous exploration and she didn’t want to go down that path, afraid of what she might find.

The morning of the third day, she woke up and was suddenly aware of Sal’s presence in the room. She sat up and looked towards the door. And there he was, dressed in jeans and a tee-shirt, his face cleanly shaven but still looking extremely haggard. And unfortunately for her groggy mind, sexy as hell!

“
What are you doing out of bed?” she asked, sitting up slightly, afraid to swing her legs over the side of the bed since she was wearing one of his shirts to sleep in with nothing else. She’d gone home for a change of clothes but had forgotten to bring something to sleep in.

“
I wasn’t sure if you were still here,” he said, tucking his hands into his pockets. His expression was sheepish but hopeful.

After a moment of silence where they both stared at each other, she replied, “I am.”

He nodded, a slight smile on his handsome face. “I can see that.”

That smile immediately increased her blood pressure. How could the man be so appealing when he looked so awful? “How are you feeling?”

“
Okay,” was all he replied, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

“
Hungry?”

“
Very,” he nodded.

She could tell by the look in his eyes he wasn’t referring to food. Ignoring his obvious sexual hunger, she asked, “Want me to make you some breakfast?”

Sal took his hands out of his pockets and pushed a hand through his hair. “Not really.”

“
Have you taken some more cold medicine?”

“
I took some about an hour ago.”

Laci didn’t understand why they kept talking in short sentences, but the tension was rising and she couldn’t figure out how to break it.

“
If you’re feeling better, I’d better get back to work,” but she didn’t move from her sitting position in the bed.