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Her nearness made him want to pull her in for another kiss but, despite his still rather woolly-headed state, he was aware that it would be a highly inappropriate thing to do.
He growled with irritation, hating how weak and vulnerable he must appear to her right now. ‘This is ridiculous. I’m not a child. I can do my own buttons up!’
A small smile lifted the corners of her mouth and she raised an eyebrow at him. ‘Stop being so proud and let me help. If you won’t let me take care of you I’m going to have to tell the doctor that I can’t go home with you after all and you’ll have to stay in the hospital with the nurses fussing around you instead.’
He let out a harrumphing noise, but let her do the rest of the buttons up. Despite feeling annoyed that she was using his injuries against him, he was impressed that she hadn’t been upset by his shortness and obviously wasn’t about to let it put her off coming home with him.
Most women would have let him have his way and backed off, but it seemed that Elena wasn’t most women.
He drew the line though when she tried to help him get out of bed and firmly batted her outstretched hand away as he swung his legs out. He pulled on his suit trousers over the boxers he was mercifully still wearing, managing after a moment or two of pained fumbling to pull the zip up and hook the fastener, then sat for a moment to catch his breath.
‘Is this your address?’ Elena asked as he slowly levered himself up off the bed, fighting back a wave of nausea as he stood up and felt a heavy weight of darkness pressing down on his head.
He must have moved too quickly.
Blinking hard to clear his vision, he stared at the driving licence she was holding up, which was sandwiched behind a clear plastic window in his wallet.
‘That’s it,’ he said, taking a long breath to steady himself.
‘Okay, I’ll go and arrange for a taxi to take us home,’ she said, giving him a pointed glance that said, Take it easy until I get back.
He got the distinct feeling that this was only the beginning of his time being ordered around by this woman.
To his surprise, he found he didn’t entirely hate the idea.
* * *
The cab drew up in front of the building where Caleb lived and Elena swallowed hard, her stomach doing a slow somersault now they’d reached their destination.
It had been fine in the hospital while she was distracted by the practical aspects of getting Caleb home, but now they were finally here, and were going to be totally alone for the first time since the disastrous meeting this morning—where she’d had a worrying amount of trouble keeping her emotions under wraps—she was beginning to regret her rash promise to look after him for the next couple of days.
She was determined to follow it through though—because she owed him. If it hadn’t been for her he never would have had the accident in the first place.
The moment she’d sensed how determined he was to get out of hospital she’d made a snap decision. Not calling out his lie to the doctor about his memory being sound had almost been a step too far for her, but she’d told herself that if she stuck with him around the clock she’d be able to alert the doctors the moment he seemed to be even vaguely struggling. In the busy hospital he could have been left alone for long periods of time, but here in his house she’d be there to keep an eye on him every second of the day.
Unless he suddenly remembered that he hated her and sent her away, of course.
Her stomach did another sickening flip.
If that happened he’d be left alone in his apartment without anyone there to look out for him. And what if he passed out or fell and hurt himself once she’d gone?
She took a steadying breath then blew it out towards the sky, imagining it was her fears she was expelling as they exploded into a million pieces in her mind.
No. She wasn’t going to worry about that right now. Hopefully, if he did remember what had happened between them, the fact that she’d helped bail him out of hospital and offered to stick around to take care of him would at least make him pause before chucking her out. If she was really lucky, her presence here might even prove to him that she was genuinely sorry for what had happened in the past and that she was serious about wanting to make amends for hurting him.
That she still cared about him.
Not that she’d ever really stopped, even when she’d pushed him away.
‘Elena?’ Caleb said beside her and she could tell from the tone of his voice that he was wondering what the heck she was doing, still sitting here like a lemon when they’d reached their destination.
‘Are you sure you want to come in with me?’ he asked brusquely. ‘You don’t have to, you know. I can take care of myself from here.’
She turned to fix him with a stern glare. ‘No, you can’t, Caleb; you heard what the doctor said. You need someone around, especially if you’re still feeling a bit confused.’
He shrugged as if it was neither here nor there to him whether she stayed or not, but she could have sworn she saw a flash of a smile in his eyes.
‘Okay, let’s go,’ she said, opening the cab door and telling herself that the best thing all round was just to take one step at a time and deal with any consequences as and when they came.
Caleb’s penthouse apartment was breathtaking, and exactly the sort of place she would have expected him to choose to live. Light poured in through the large warehouse-style windows, bathing the stylish but comfortable-looking furniture in soft spring sunlight. The colours he’d chosen to furnish the place were earthy and muted in a warm and comforting way, with terracotta tiles on the floor and dark tan leather and stained wood sofas and tables gathered in the middle of the vast space. It was a really restful room to be in and Elena let out a breath as she felt herself relax a little.
She was still acutely aware that she was here under false pretences, but she reassured herself that this was about making sure Caleb was safe and cared for; it had nothing whatsoever to do with her trying to persuade him to listen to her business proposal. She’d deal with all that once he was fully well again. There was no way she’d take advantage of his lapse in memory.
She was here as his friend, nothing more.
His only friend, by the sounds of it.
Judging by the fact he didn’t have anyone obvious to call upon when he was in the hospital, she guessed she wasn’t the only one he’d kept at arm’s length.
The thought of how alone he was made sorrow well heavily in her gut.
She knew she should have sought him out before now. She’d wanted to, had for years, but she’d never quite plucked up the courage to face him again—until it had been absolutely essential. That made her a coward, she knew that, but she’d always been afraid of how out of control Caleb made her feel and she’d needed every ounce of strength over the intervening years to build a successful career for herself. It wasn’t easy being a woman in a male-dominated arena.
At least that was what she was telling herself.
The passion of his kiss earlier came back to haunt her as he walked past her into the living area and she caught the unique scent of him in the air.
Moving quickly away from him, she marched into the kitchen diner at the other end of the large room, aware that her heart was racing, and pretended to be admiring the high-tech gadgets he had in there to give herself a moment to pull herself together.
‘Can I make you something to eat? Or drink?’ she asked, turning back to look at him. He was standing by the largest sofa, watching her with a perplexed sort of frown.
‘You don’t need to mollycoddle me, Elena—I can fix my own food. In fact, I should be cooking for you to say thanks for bailing me out at the hospital.’