“What the hell?” Gabe muttered irritably, pissed off at the intrusion.
Nurse Wanda parked the cart at the end of his bed and began to unload the various deliveries onto every flat surface in the room. “Looks like you have a few admirers,” she said, giving him a knowing grin. Then she turned her attention to Elle. “How are you, honey?”
Elle looked a little uncomfortable as she took in all the crap from his well-wishers.
“I’m good. Thanks, Wanda.”
“Oooh, look at this one,” Wanda said, holding up a ridiculously sweet-looking teddy bear with huge, teardrop-shaped eyes. She lifted the card and read aloud, “Get well soon, sweetums. Smooches, Beth.”
Gabe frowned. Beth? Who the hell was Beth?
Wanda picked up a vase of some kind of blue flowers and read, “To my little snookie-ookums. Feel better. Hugs and kisses, Amy.”
Okay, so Amy he remembered. She was the college student who’d picked him up at Mulaney’s a month or so ago when they’d gotten together to welcome his brother Kyle back to town. God, he’d gotten totally shit-faced that night. Fortunately, he’d only made out with the hot little blond. But apparently it’d been enough to make an impression on her.
“Oh, and look at this one—”
“Thanks, Wanda,” he interrupted, casting a glance at Elle, embarrassed by the ridiculous sentiments being lavished on him. Not that he wasn’t grateful people cared enough to send flowers and shit, but snookie-ookums? What the fuck was that about?
“I’ll leave you alone to go through all your…” Elle’s words trailed off as she gestured toward Wanda’s cart, a look of mild disgust and disappointment on her face. Then she forced a tight smile and handed him the little bouquet of wildflowers he hadn’t noticed she was carrying—wildflowers that were remarkably similar to the ones he’d left in her locker back in high school. “Take care, Gabe.”
“Elle,” he said, his stomach sinking at the thought of her leaving so soon. “Please don’t go. I—”
“I’ll see you soon.”
Before he could say another word, she turned on her heel and practically fled the room.
“Did you have a good visit with your friend?” Wanda asked as she absently moved some of the arrangements around to make room for more. “She’s a pretty little thing.”
“Yeah,” Gabe said, staring at the closed door, hoping she’d come back in. “Yeah, she is.”
“Was awfully worried about you last night, too,” Wanda told him.
This brought his gaze back to her. “Yeah?”
“Mmm-hmm.” Her lips curved up in a little smile. “And I’m guessing she wouldn’t call you her snookie-ookums.”
He actually chuckled a little, wincing at the pain in his ribs where one of Monroe’s bullets had struck his vest. “No. I’m sure she wouldn’t. She prefers jackass.”
Chapter 5
It’d been a mistake to visit Gabe. Elle had known it the moment she’d walked in only to see his perfect ass peeking out of his hospital gown. Then, when he’d turned around… Good Lord.
She once more pushed away the images of the two of them going at it like rabbits that had flooded her mind when she’d caught a glimpse of his erection. No wonder women were constantly throwing themselves at him.
And to think she’d been this close to breaking her own promise to not be one of them. She was pretty sure he’d been about to kiss her again when they’d been interrupted by Wanda and her cartful of crap from Gabe’s previous—or, hell, current for all she knew—conquests.
She gave herself a quick mental shake as she strode toward her black Honda Accord, but her steps faltered when she got closer and one of her tires was flat. Her embarrassment from her visit with Gabe was replaced by fury. “Are you freaking kidding me?”
She quickly did a mental map of all the places she’d gone that morning, wondering if she’d driven through a construction zone or over any road debris, but when she was within a couple of feet of her car, she noticed it wasn’t just a flat tire. A jagged scratch ran the length of her door where someone had keyed the paint job.
Clearly not an accident.
“Son of a bitch!”
It was like the universe was trying to smack her upside the head to clue her in that allowing herself to get even a little close to Gabe was a mistake. Clearly, she shouldn’t have gone to the hospital that day. The only bigger sign would’ve had to be in flashing neon, for crying out loud.
She heaved a sigh and fished her phone out of her pocket to call a tow truck. Then she phoned her Aunt Charlotte, leaving her a message to fill her in, leaving out the part about seeing Gabe half-naked and nearly kissing him.
