Part 13 (1/2)
”Rosalie never said anything about going to the hosp-”
”I can't imagine why.”
Nick spun around and plucked Mrs. Ronaldi's coat off the couch, put it on the stunned woman's shoulders, and herded her out the door.
”I'll have Lee call you when she feels better.”
Nick let out a breath of relief when he got Mrs. Ronaldi out of the building and the security door closed behind her. She hadn't recognized him. Thank G.o.d.
When Nick returned, he found Dave at the front window with his paws on the sill, growling at the retreating Mrs. Ronaldi.
”Some watchdog you are. Where were you when the battle-ax was hounding Lee?”
Nick grabbed the bag of Thai food and brought it into the bedroom.
Rosalie still had her head buried in the pillows. She uttered a m.u.f.fled, ”Is she gone yet?”
”Oh, yeah. She's gone all right.”
Nick sat on his side of the bed, digging through the contents of the bag. Rosalie groaned as she sat up and reached for both sets of chopsticks. She broke one set apart and rubbed them together to remove the splinters.
She looked better than she had when he'd first walked in. The death-mask look must have been from shock.
Obviously, introducing him to her mother had not been on the top of her list of things to do. Nick pushed the hair off her cheek, watched it curl around his finger, and decided not to think about why that bothered him. He pulled the silken strand down, let go, and watched it spring back while Rosalie stared at him wide-eyed.
”I told your mother you'd call when you felt better.”
Dave jumped on the bed and laid his head on Nick's knee.
Rosalie bussed a kiss on Nick's cheek. ”Thanks.”
”For what?”
Rosalie set the first pair of chopsticks down while she concentrated on pulling the wrapper off the second set. ”Oh, I don't know, making coffee, filling the refrigerator, straightening up the apartment. Where did you put everything, anyway?”
Nick dropped a couple of napkins on Rosalie's lap. ”You know, there are these amazing things called drawers and cabinets, even closets.”
”I have a fear of closets. When I open them, something heavy falls on my head.”
Nick opened the box of pad thai and handed it to Rosalie. ”No digging for shrimp this time.”
”I'm not guilty of excavation. I told you, all the shrimp were right on top. Poor shrimp distribution was not my fault.” She grabbed the first shrimp she saw and popped it in her mouth, before handing him his chopsticks.
Nick took a shrimp from the container. ”The secret to proper closet usage is to hang the clothes, put the heavier things on the floor, and put the lighter things on the shelves-or invest in a cargo net.” He popped the shrimp in his mouth.
”Why didn't I think of that? Where does one buy a cargo net?”
She opened another box and dug in. ”Oh, man, how did you know I love red curry and roast duck?”
”The last time I ordered it, I didn't get so much as a bite.” Nick pa.s.sed her the spicy eggplant salad and grabbed the roast duck.
Rosalie ate a few bites and then opened the sticky rice with chicken. ”I thought this was for Dave.”
”It is.”
”He's only supposed to eat vegetarian sticky rice.”
”Oh, come on, Lee, the boy needs real meat. It's chicken. Chicken won't hurt him.” He took the box and set it between Dave's front paws. Dave scarfed down the contents before Rosalie finished her argument. Smart dog.
”You're spoiling him. I know you gave him lasagna last night.”
”What are you complaining about? I gave you some, too.”
”No wonder Dave loves you. His emotions are driven by his stomach.”
”Maybe it's because your taste in men has improved, which doesn't do much to recommend me. It sounds as if there was no way to go but up. Besides, I'm a loveable guy. I've never had to resort to bribery.”
Rosalie gave Nick a doubtful look. Great. His own girlfriend... or whatever Rosalie was, doubted that he was loveable. It amazed him how one look from Rosalie could make his ego feel as battered and bruised as if it'd been run over and dragged for miles by a crosstown bus.
”How'd you sleep?”
”Fine, until Mama dropped by. What a way to start the day. Awakening with my mother at the door might be a marginal step above awakening with a horse head sharing the sheets, but only because it's less messy.”
Nick swallowed hard and stared into the box of red curry and roast duck.
”Thanks for that mental picture.”
Rosalie handed him a box of pineapple fried rice, took back the duck, and looked pleased with herself.
”You did that on purpose so you could steal the duck.”
”It worked, didn't it?”
”If you wanted more, you could have asked.” ”What's the fun in that?”
”Oh, and spoiling my appet.i.te is a regular trip to Disneyland.”
”Aw, poor baby.” She took the box of rice from Nick, set it on her bedside table, and scooted closer, nudging Dave off the bed.
In less time than it took to register that he was in trouble, Nick was wading knee-deep in it. She had her arm around his waist, her breast flattened against his side, and her hand sliding down the center of his cable-knit sweater toward Old Faithful. She nibbled on his earlobe and whispered, ”Feel better now?”
No, better would not be the word he'd use to describe how he felt. h.o.r.n.y, conflicted, frustrated-yes, those would sum it up. Nick could hear Mike laughing at him-again, not a good thing, when the object of your l.u.s.t is sucking on your ear-though it did have the necessary effect on Old Faithful, which deflated almost as fast as it had inflated. Nick got up and stood at the foot of the bed. He had to get away from Rosalie or risk tossing Dr. Know-it-All's orders right out the window, along with the laugh track running rampant in Nick's head.
What was going on? When Rosalie touched Nick, he stiffened up-and not in a good way. Maybe all this togetherness had killed the s.e.xual interest, on his part, anyway. Hers, like a creature in a horror movie, seemed to have awakened from the dead in attack mode, and all she got was a pat. She couldn't believe he'd patted her shoulder.
”Lee, why don't you try to get some sleep? You look tired.”
”I'm not tired. I've been sleeping for over a week. I've never slept so much in my life.”
”Do you want to watch TV? I got a few movies.”