Drop Dead Gorgeous by Linda Howard Read Free Book Online Page A

Mom at the foot of the bed, Wyatt on my right. It was a comforting sound. I couldn't see the clock to know how long I'd slept, but it didn't matter, because I wasn't going anywhere.
    My head still hurt as much as before, but the nausea was marginally better. I began thinking of everything I needed to do: call Lynn and arrange for her to handle Great Bods on her own for at least a couple of days, get Siana to water my plants, get my car retrieved from the mall, and other pesky details. I must have stirred, because Wyatt immediately sat up and reached for my hand. "Are you okay?" he whispered, so he wouldn't wake Mom. "You didn't sleep long, less than an hour."
    "Just thinking," I whispered back.
    "About what?"
    "Everything I need to do."
    "You don't need to do anything. Just tell me, and I'll take care of it."
    I had to smile to myself, which was the only way I could smile since it was dark and he couldn't see me. "That's sort of what I was thinking, trying to remember everything I need to get you to do."
    He gave a faint snort. "I should have figured."
    Because it was dark, I got the courage to continue. "I was also thinking that I don't know how you could look at the mess I am and ever want me again." I kept my voice very low, because, hello, my mother was right there in the room, but I was listening to her breathing with one ear and it hadn't changed, so she was still asleep.
    Wyatt was silent a moment, just long enough for me to start feeling sick to my stomach, as if I needed that on top of how sick I already felt, then he gently stroked a finger down my arm. "I always want you," he murmured, his voice as warm and dark as the room. "How you look at any given time doesn't have a lot to do with it. It's you, not your body—though I like the hell out of your ass, and your tits, and your sassy mouth, and all the parts in between."
    "What about my legs?" I prompted. Man, was I feeling better. I was improving by the minute. If he kept talking, I'd be walking out of this joint in another half hour.
    He gave a low laugh. "I like them, too. I especially like them around my waist."
    " Shhh ," I hissed. "Mom's right over there."
    "She's asleep." He lifted my hand and pressed a warm, damp kiss into my palm.
    "You wish," came the sharp comment from the foot of the bed.
    After a startled moment Wyatt began laughing, and he said, "Yes, ma'am, I do."
    I love that man. I was considerably cheered by our little dark-time talk, which was a relief, because it's a lot of work to feel sorry for yourself . I squeezed his hand and happily went back to sleep. So what if my head still hurt? Everything was okay.
    I hadn't been asleep more than ten minutes when a nurse came in and turned on the lights to ask if I was awake. Figures.
    ----
    Chapter Five
     

     
    Wyatt left shortly after dawn to go home, shower and change clothes, and then head to work, where I figured he would spend more time than he should looking at parking lot tapes trying to get a tag number for the Buick. He'd gotten some more sleep, though anything longer than a short nap was difficult with a nurse coming in every so often to make certain I wasn't dying from a brain bleed. I wasn't—a relief— but neither was I getting much sleep.
    Mom stirred around seven, left the room and came back with a cup of coffee that smelled heavenly—but which she didn't offer to me—and got busy on her cell phone. I did the same, calling Lynn at Great Bods to inform her of my latest mishap and to make arrangements for her to fill in for me for at least the next couple of days. My head hurt so much, I figured it would take me at least that long to be functional.
    Talking and eavesdropping at the same time is an art, one that requires practice. Mom can do it effortlessly. When I'd been a teenager, I'd been as good as she was at it, out of necessity. I was still good, but out of practice. From the conversations I overheard, I learned she had a closing on a house that day and was showing another