“Well, I’m here and there’s not that much else to do,” he reasoned. “So, to my way of thinking, I might as well make myself useful.”
“That’s another thing,” she said, picking up on the fact that he was still in Austin. “I’m keeping you from your practice.”
His eyes met hers for a long moment. And then he said, “Maybe I like being kept.”
Lila felt herself growing warm and she didn’t think that she was having any sort of a relapse. At least not the kind that involved the flu.
She did her best to steer the conversation in the initial direction she’d intended.
“What I’m saying is that you don’t need to take care of me anymore. I’m getting better all the time.”
“That’s because of all the excellent care you’ve been getting.”
Lila smiled, shaking her head. Everett had always had a way with words. “I won’t argue with that.”
“Good,” Everett said with finality. He had brought her that day’s TV schedule earlier for her to look through. He picked it up now and thumbed through it. “Now what would you like to watch this afternoon?” he asked. Watching TV after lunch had become a ritual for them the last few days, something he felt that they both looked forward to. “There’re some pretty good old movies on the Classic Channel and I found a station that’s streaming a lot of those old sitcoms you used to like watching.” He named a couple of specific programs.
Hearing them cited, Lila looked at him in surprise. “You remember that?” she marveled.
“I remember a lot of things,” he told her. He had committed a great many things to memory about her, Everett thought.
Lila could feel her heart racing even though she fiercely ordered it not to. She’d been this route before and she knew exactly where it ended. Nowhere, leaving her with an ache in her heart. She did not want to go there, not again.
But somehow, she just couldn’t seem to convince herself to turn away, to choose a different path. She tried to assuage her conscience by telling herself that this was only for a little while.
Lila shrugged in response to his question. “I don’t know, you pick something,” she told him. The next moment, she threw back her covers and swung her legs down. “I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?”
“I need to use the bathroom,” she informed him with as much dignity as she could muster.
All the other times she’d felt the need to go, Everett had taken her arm and walked her to the bathroom as if they were out for an evening stroll. It was obvious to him that this time around, Lila was attempting to assert her independence. Not that he could blame her. In her place, he’d try to do the same thing.
Everett took a step back, allowing her space so she could get out of bed. However, he still kept a watchful eye on her.
On her feet now, he could see that Lila was still rather unstable. She took a single step and her right knee buckled.
Everett’s arms were around her instantly, keeping her from landing on the floor. When he drew her back up, her body slid ever so slightly against his.
It was only for a second, but it was enough. Enough to send sparks flying between them and throwing old longings into high gear.
Everett caught his breath, silently ordering himself to remain steady instead of pulling her closer to him and kissing her the way he wanted to.
Instead of making love with her the way he desperately wanted to.
Only extreme self-control kept him from acting on the impulses that were urgently telegraphing themselves throughout his whole body.
“I know you wanted to do this alone, but maybe I should just walk with you to the bathroom this one more time,” he suggested.
“To keep me from doing a pratfall?” she asked ruefully.
Her ego stood as much of a chance of being hurt as her body, so he tactfully rephrased what she’d just asked. “So you don’t risk bruising anything if you do happen to fall,” he told her. “So, is it okay?” he asked, waiting for her to give him the go-ahead on this.
She sighed and then smiled at him. She realized Everett was trying to spare her feelings. “Well, the old saying is that pride always goes before a fall and I don’t want to fall, so I guess I’ll have to just tuck away my pride and let you walk me to the bathroom one more time.”
Everett laughed softly. “Good call,” he congratulated her. “You’ll be doing solo runs again before you know it,” he promised.
Sitting on the edge of Lila’s bed, Everett set aside his stethoscope. He’d just finished giving Lila her latest examination.
“Well, your fever’s gone,” he told her. “You’re keeping your food down and your color’s definitely back. And when you talk, you no longer sound like someone who starts their mornings with a shot of scotch and a cigarette. Although I have to say that I was getting kind of used to hearing that sexy voice. I might actually miss it,” he admitted, smiling fondly at her.
“Well, I won’t,” Lila assured him with feeling. “I thought I sounded like some kidnapper placing a ransom call.” She looked at him hopefully. “Does this mean that I’m being cleared for work?”
Everett nodded. He closed his medical bag and set it on the floor.
“Our little unofficial holiday is over,” he told her, then in case there was any doubt, he added, “Yes, I’m clearing you for work.”
Lila didn’t take her eyes off him. “And you’ll be going back to Houston?”
“I will,” Everett confirmed. He knew he had to be getting back, but there was a part of him that didn’t want to leave.
If he were honest with himself, he’d admit that he’d used nursing Lila back to health as an excuse to spend more time with her.
The last thirteen years had been filled with work, at times almost nonstop. He knew now that he had been trying to fill the emptiness—the gaping void that losing her had created—with work. Work and the occasional woman. None of them ever measured up to Lila simply because no one had ever even come close to making him feel the way Lila had.
The way she still did.
“But I’ll still be coming back to Austin a lot,” he told her, never breaking eye contact. “To see Schuyler and help her out with some things,” he added, not wanting to scare Lila off. He paused for a moment, then, despite the advice Schuyler had given him, he asked, “Is it all right if I call you when I’m in town?”
After the way that he had put himself out for her, she hadn’t expected Everett to ask permission to call her. She assumed he’d think he’d earned the right to call her any time he wanted to.
“How can I say no to the man who nursed me back to health?” she asked, trying to sound as if she was amused by his question.
“I’m not asking you to see me as the man who nursed you back to health,” Everett pointed out. “I’m asking you to see me—” he paused for a moment, looking for the right phrasing “—as an old friend.”
The silence between them grew until she finally said to him, “I couldn’t say no to that, either.”
“Glad to hear it,” he told her.
He let out the breath he’d been holding. Honestly, he really hadn’t known what Lila would say in response to his question. He wouldn’t have put it past her feelings of self-preservation to tell him that seeing each other again wouldn’t be a good idea.
But now that she had agreed, he saw that there was something far greater than self-preservation going on between them.
He could feel it.
And it was not just on his end. Nor was it just wishful thinking.
There was something tangible and real pulsating between them, ready to spring to life at the slightest bit of encouragement.
But even with all that, Everett knew he had to tread lightly. One wrong step and it could all crumble right beneath him, sending him plummeting head first into an abyss.
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“Hi, are you free for dinner tonight?”
“Everett?” Lila was immediately alert. She’d answered her cell phone just as she’d walked in her front door, thinking it was someone at the Foundation working late, calling with a question.
But it wasn’t.
“I didn’t expect to hear from you this soon,” she said.
It had been six days since she had gone back to work and he had returned to Houston.
“Well, I’m only in Austin for a few hours,” he explained, “so I thought, if you’re free, you might want to get together.”
There it was, she thought. Her way out. He was handing it to her.
If you’re free.
That was all she had to say to him. That she wasn’t free. That her evening was already spoken for and she had somewhere else to be. And knowing Everett, he would accept that, murmur his regrets and that would be that.
The problem was, she didn’t want to take this way out that he was handing her on a silver platter. She wanted to see him. The truth of it was, after seeing him every day for almost a week, she missed him.
She knew that she shouldn’t feel this way. Knew that she needed to cut Everett out of her life before he became a habit. But then on the other hand, this was only going to be dinner. And dinner would last for a few hours at most, nothing more. She knew that Everett was far too conscientious to lie to her, especially for some ulterior motive. If he said he was only here for a few hours, then he was in Austin only for that time.
Those few hours might as well be spent with her, she thought in a moment of weakness.
“I am free,” she heard herself saying, sealing her fate, at least for the next few hours. “We can do dinner if you like. And I promise not to pass out this time,” she added with amusement, remembering the last time they were in a restaurant together.
“Oh.” He pretended to sound as if he was sorry to hear that. “Too bad,” he told her. “I was looking forward to playing the hero, sweeping you into my arms and carrying you to my car.”
“I think being the hero once would be enough for any guy.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Everett speculated. “It’s kind of addictive if the hero has the right damsel in distress to save.”
That definitely conjured up an image, Lila thought. “I never envisioned myself as a damsel in distress,” she told Everett.
“I wouldn’t have thought of you as one, either,” he admitted. “I guess the world is full of surprises.” Then he changed topics. “Well, like I said, I’m only in Austin for a bit, so where would you like to go?”
“Seeing what happened the last time when we went to the Italian restaurant, how about Chinese food?” Lila suggested.
“Sounds good to me,” he told her. He would have said the same thing if she had suggested strolling through the park, eating ice cream cones. He just wanted to see her. It had been six long days during which time he had forced himself not to call her just to see how she was doing. Or to hear the sound of her voice. He didn’t want Lila to feel as if he was crowding her, or worse, as if he was stalking her.
But it hadn’t been easy.
He had spent six days with her when she’d been ill with the flu and he had quickly gotten used to seeing her everyday. Not seeing her was hell now, but he couldn’t behave like some privileged adolescent who was accustomed to having his every whim indulged—no matter how much he wished.
This was too important for him to risk messing up again. So he treaded lightly.
“If it’s okay, I can be at your place in half an hour. Or is that too soon? Do you need more time?”
“Actually, I need less if you’re close by. I just got home from work and I still look very businesslike, so I don’t need to change.”
He preferred the temptress look he’d seen on her, but to remain safe, he thought that it was best to go along with the business suit.
“You always look good no matter what you have on.” And sometimes even better the less you have on, he added silently. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
Chapter Thirteen
Lila felt as if she had suddenly blinked and just like that, found herself going back to square one all over again. She was experiencing feelings of excitement and wariness and that in turn had created knots in her stomach.
Big ones.
But not quite big enough for her to call Everett and tell him that she’d changed her mind about having dinner with him.
Despite saying that she didn’t need any extra time to get ready because she was still dressed for work, Lila impulsively flew into her bedroom for a quick change of clothes. She didn’t want to look as if she was going to a business meeting. She wanted to look as good as she could possibly look.
Like a woman who was going out to dinner with a man who had once owned her heart.
Not that she planned on letting him own it again, she maintained as she quickly pulled the pins out of her hair. Instantly, the changed hairstyle made her appear more carefree. Her auburn hair cascaded around her face instead of being neatly pulled back, out of the way.
Her practical attire gave way to an attractive, form-flattering dress. She had just slipped on a pair of high heels that could have never, by any stretch of the imagination, been called sensible, when she heard the doorbell ring.
The sound instantly had her heart accelerating.
Showtime, she thought.
Hurrying to the front of the house, she stopped just short of the front door in order to catch her breath. She pulled herself together, doing her best to look as if she was totally nonchalant about the evening that lay ahead of her.
Everett would probably see right through her, she thought. Even so, she felt that she still had to keep up the charade.
Taking in one more deep breath and then slowly releasing it, she opened the door.
“When you say fifteen minutes, you really mean fifteen minutes,” she said as she smiled up into Everett’s handsome face.
“A man’s only as good as his word,” he responded. “You know, we don’t have to leave right away if you’re not ready yet.”
“Do I look like I’m not ready yet?” she asked.
Despite her coy bravado, Lila couldn’t help wondering what it was that Everett saw when he looked at her. Had he been hoping she’d be wearing something more appealing? Sexier?
Don’t borrow trouble, she warned herself.
Everett’s eyes slowly washed over the length of her. There was nothing but approval evident in his eyes. “You look, in a word, perfect,” he pronounced.
Lila smiled at the compliment, secretly pleased although she tried her best to appear indifferent. “Then I guess I’m ready.” Taking her purse, she walked out of the house, then paused to lock up.
Everett’s Mercedes was waiting in her driveway.
“By the way,” Everett said as he held the passenger door open for her, “I know you said we were going to a Chinese restaurant, but if I’m driving, you need to tell me the address.”
She waited for Everett to get in on his side. Once he buckled up, she gave him the address, adding, “It’s about half a mile past the Foundation. A lot of people from work like grabbing lunch at Gin Ling’s.”
Everett thought for a second. “I think I know which restaurant you mean,” he told her. He remembered seeing it when he’d driven to the Foundation. “That’s the one that’s built to look like a pagoda, right?”
“Right.”
Gin Ling’s was doing brisk business when they arrived. They had to wait a few minutes to be seated.
Thinking that Everett might grow impatient, Lila told him, “We can go somewhere else if you don’t want to wait.”
Everett made no move to take her up on the suggestion. “Do you like eating here?” he asked her.
She wouldn’t have suggested coming here if she h
adn’t. That wasn’t the point. “Yes, but—”
“Then we’ll wait,” he told her, adding, “I’m not in any hurry. I like making the most of the little downtime I get.”
There was a reason why she had mentioned the idea of going to another restaurant. “I just don’t want to make you late.”
Everett looked at her as if he wasn’t quite following her. “For what? I don’t have a plane to catch,” he reminded Lila. “I’m driving back to Houston.”
“Doesn’t all that driving make you tired?” In his place, she’d find driving back and forth between Austin and Houston exhausting after a while.
However, Everett shook his head. “On the contrary. Driving relaxes me.”
Relaxing made her think about falling asleep at the wheel—not that Everett would ever admit that he was in danger of doing that. But she didn’t want to think that he ran the risk of having something happen to him because of her.
“Still,” she told him, “I don’t want you so relaxed that you just slide right out of your seat.”
“Never happen,” Everett assured her. Still, her comment made his heart lighter.
She was clearly worried about him, he thought, and that felt particularly encouraging. Because that meant that there were still feelings there. Feelings he intended to stoke and encourage.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I like staying in one piece as much as the next man. If I ever feel too tired to drive back, I’ll rent a motel room and sleep until I feel up to driving. And, don’t forget, there’s always Schuyler,” he reminded her.
A hostess came to show them to their table. Lila fell into place behind the woman with Everett following right behind her.
“Sorry, I was just remembering how stubborn you could be,” Lila told him as they were being shown to a cozy booth.
“Not stubborn,” Everett corrected, waiting for her to slide in before taking his own seat opposite her. “Determined.”
Lila smiled. “Right. Determined,” she repeated, humoring him.
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