Page 44 of House of Scarlett
Twenty-Six
Scarlett
“Fucking piece-of-shit motherfucker.”
The curse is whispered,but the voice speaking it is deep enough that it rouses me from sleep. I blink open my eyes, but I feel like my head is swimming.
Did I get hit by the extra-tired bus?
Normally, when I first open my eyes in the morning, I’m wide awake. I don’t hit snooze and usually just pop right out of bed. But today should definitely qualify for snooze-button consideration. I lean over to look at the antique brass clock beside my bed.
That is dead because I forgot to wind it.My cell phone is MIA and ...
“Fucking piece of shit. Seriously?” The whisper comes again, and I remember why I feel like hell and why there’s a man in my house.
Because he’s taking care of me after my surgery. The surgery I had to have after my appendix decided it didn’t want to be in my body any longer.
“Motherfucker.” This whisper is so low, it might as well be a growl.
Carefully and quietly, I roll to the side and wrap the robe that I slept in around me. Getting up produces a few twinges in my abdomen, so I gingerly inch off the bed until my feet finally touch the chilly wood floor. It only takes me a half dozen steps to see the source of the hushed swearing.
Gabriel.
He’s hunched over a laptop at my kitchen table, and his dark blond mane is wild and sticking up at the ends like he’s jammed his hands through it a dozen times. Add in the cursing, and it’s enough to tell me he’s frustrated as hell about something.
“Can I help?” I ask quietly.
I didn’t want to freak him out, but he jolts out of his chair and spins to look at me. He’s a few motions away from being in a fighting stance, so I think it’s fair to say my quiet approach didn’t work.
I hold up both hands. “Just me.”
“Shit. Sorry,” he says as his posture relaxes immediately. His hair is still unruly, though, and I want nothing more than to close the distance between us, smooth it away from his face like he did to me last night, and press a kiss to his jaw.
The fact that I most definitely have horrific morning breath is helpful in stopping me from becoming too familiar. Next time, though ... I might as well take advantage of having him in my space.
So what if he learns he’s madly in love with me and can’t stay away after seeing me up close and personal in the midst of my healing glory?I could think of worse, and more realistic, things.
“You feeling okay? You want to sit down? I saw you have a shit ton of different kinds of tea. I can make you a cup, but you’re going to have to tell me which kind, because I got stuck between Lemon Berry Vanilla Swirl and Fall Pumpkin Chai Spice. And just for the record, I have a dick, so I don’t know what either of those things taste like.”
It’s a miracle that my knees don’t give way, because that statement carries such an unexpected swoon factor that I’m not even sure what to do with myself.Tea.That’s right. I need to pick some tea.
“Lemon Berry works for me. But I’ll make it. No problem.” I glance at the laptop in front of him, which still has the clear plastic sticker stuck to the silver lid. “Is there something I can do to help you, though? I heard you ... being frustrated.”
His gaze darts to the bedroom door and back to the computer before landing on me again. “Shit. I didn’t mean to wake you up. Although I guess this is better than you freaking out after I toss this thing out the goddamned window.”
I move closer and peer down at it, but I’m only giving it part of my attention, because the heat radiating off Gabriel’s body steals the rest of it.
“New computer?” I inhale that woodsy spicy scent, and I want to curl into him and just soak it up, along with his natural warmth.
“Yeah, mine took a crap and Zoe bought me this one. But it’s nothing like my old one, and I can’t figure out how to open the spreadsheet Q sent over. I’m about out of options except for sending it back to Zoe.”
I tear my attention away from the man to look at the computer again. The little apple with a bite taken out of it tells me everything I need to know. “Did you have a Mac before?”
“No. Never.”
“Did Zoe ask you if you wanted a Mac now?”
He shakes his head. “She just said she was getting me something that wouldn’t get viruses so I could—” His words cut off abruptly as he pinches his lips together.
