Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
“What the hell are you doing here?” Declan demanded of Linus Wynter as the other man stepped into the hallway from the direction of the kitchen.
Declan was still slightly on edge from his earlier conversation with Danny.
A conversation he had no intention of worrying Fawn with the details of until, or if, he needed to.
Because if Danny’s suspicion should prove to be correct, then Declan was no longer sure it was safe for Fawn to remain in his apartment with him.
Linus shrugged. “It was either me or Thea who came to check your apartment was suitable for guests. I thought you would prefer it if it was me.”
Declan’s jaw tightened. “You might be one of the bosses at Wynter Security, but this is my home, and this is the second time you’ve invaded my privacy without asking me first.” The first time had been when the younger man came to collect those things he had brought Declan in the hospital.
And yes, it had been helpful having his own stuff then, but Linus still should have asked first. As he should have done so now.
Linus nodded. “I get that, and I apologize if I’ve overstepped.
Again.” He grimaced. “But that first time, it was only so that you had the things you needed to be comfortable while you were in hospital. This time, once I knew you were definitely being discharged today, I thought it would be a good idea for me to come over and tidy up a bit before you and Miss Meadows arrived.”
Declan’s years in the military ensured that his apartment was never untidy. In which case, he didn’t understand?—
“I thought I would just check everything was…in order and things put away appropriately,” Linus continued. “Before Miss Meadows arrived?—”
“Fawn,” she invited, sounding slightly bewildered by their exchange.
“Linus,” he returned, his gaze still fixed on Declan. “Before Fawn got here,” he corrected with a pointed glare at Declan.
“If you’re trying to say you’ve made sure to hide his porn collection, then just say so,” Fawn dismissed cheekily as she put their bags down.
“I don’t have a porn collection,” Declan bit out from between gritted teeth.
“Girly magazines under the mattress?”
“No.”
“Why don’t you?” she returned pertly.
“Probably because I’m not fourteen.”
“But you were once— Never mind,” she dismissed when she obviously took note of his increasingly glowering expression.
Declan had never felt the inclination to watch porn, let alone have a collection of it or magazines with naked women in them.
He might have looked at a few of the latter during his early years in the military, but they had originally belonged to fellow servicemen and been passed on to him.
He’d looked at some of them, but they’d never really done anything for him.
He admired women’s bodies, in all shapes and sizes, as much as the next man, but he preferred to see and be with a flesh-and-blood woman rather than look at images that had, in all likelihood, been photoshopped so that the woman no longer looked remotely natural.
Currently, there hadn’t been a woman in his bed for longer than Declan cared to think about.
Which was maybe the reason he kept finding himself physically aroused by Fawn Meadows?
Declan really wished he could claim that was the case. Unfortunately, his response to Fawn, one that could be bloody inconvenient in his physically diminished condition, was an embarrassing anomaly he had no explanation for.
“I also had groceries delivered, and I’ve put them away for you,” Linus announced, his grin telling Declan the other man was enjoying himself.
At Declan’s expense. “I believe you’ll find there’s now enough food supplies in Declan’s fridge and cupboards to feed the two of you for the next week at least,” he told Fawn.
She returned his smile. “I thought one of the first things I was going to have to do when I got here was order in a delivery of groceries.”
“All done,” Linus reassured.
Fawn continued to smile. “Thank you.”
“Yes, thank you,” Declan echoed sincerely.
He now realized exactly what Linus meant by his comment that he had come to Declan’s apartment because he was ensuring “things were put away appropriately” before Fawn got here. Declan had much more to thank the other man for than bringing over groceries.
Linus’s pointed comment had let him know that the younger man had put away the few but revealing photographs Declan kept in his apartment.
Not of porn.
But of something—some one who was important to Declan. They were images that would only result in Fawn asking questions if she were to see them. Questions Declan wasn’t prepared to answer. From anyone.
The only reason Linus knew about that someone in Declan’s life was because he had been the one to do a security check on Declan before he started working for Wynter Security two years ago. Linus had proved then how good he was at his job.
Without Declan even having to ask, Linus had chosen to keep that very personal, and totally unrelated, information about Declan to himself.
Declan would go so far as to say he and the other man had become friends because of it in that totally male way that meant they didn’t meet up away from work, but it required little effort to be friendly toward each other if they did happen to meet in a social setting or by accident.
Or by design, as had happened today on Linus’s part.
“I mean it, thank you,” Declan repeated sincerely.
He really hadn’t given those photographs a thought when he was told he could go home, and then Fawn had revealed she would be accompanying him.
“When you get back to your office, could you connect up with Danny Walker, a member of my team?” he prompted Linus.
The younger man eyed him curiously. Both men knew that Linus didn’t have an office, as such, that he could and did use his tech skills wherever they were needed.
“No problem.” He nodded, obviously picking up on Declan’s silent message.
“I’d stay away from your private gym for a while if I were you,” he teased when he obviously saw Declan’s wince as he moved farther into the apartment.
“I intend to,” he assured.
Much as he hated to admit it, even to himself, the effort of washing and dressing earlier, followed by sitting upright on the drive to his apartment, after a week of necessary inactivity in the hospital, had tired him out.
“I’ll leave the two of you to it, then.” Linus straightened. “I’ll be in touch, if necessary,” he told Declan. “It was nice meeting you again, Fawn.” He nodded before stepping into the elevator.
“Time for your medication,” Fawn announced briskly as soon as the elevator carrying Linus had begun its descent to the reception area.
Declan scowled. “The painkillers make me sleepy.”
“Then I would say they’re doing their job,” she dismissed cheerfully. “It also fits in nicely with the nap you’re about to take.”
“I—”
“Declan,” she cut in gently but firmly. “You’re a forty-three-year-old man who, even after a week in hospital, has the defined muscles and physique of a man half your age.
But you’ve also recently survived being shot.
Which means you have absolutely nothing to prove to anyone.
Certainly not by refusing to take medication and resting to speed up the healing process when you need to. ”
She was right, and Declan knew it. But that didn’t stop him from finding it galling that this slip of a woman appeared to be taking charge of him.
Although…
He might be interested in having this bossy woman so sexually aroused that all she could demand from him was More, Declan and Harder, Declan .
“Why are you smiling…?” Fawn prompted suspiciously when she saw the grin of anticipation that was now curving Declan’s sexy lips.
He glanced at her, eyebrows raised. “You really don’t want to know.”
The gleam in his eyes caused Fawn to bite back her instinctive rebuttal to that claim.
Because, as with his conversation with Danny earlier, she really did want to know. But this time, there was something that appeared…almost wicked in Declan’s deep-blue gaze, and warned her against pursuing the subject.
But it didn’t stop her from wondering what Declan’s thoughts had been to have put that challenge in his eyes and a sexy curve to his lips.
She kept thinking about that smile, and the reason for it, as she made him a cup of tea so he could take his medication.
And as she checked through the contents of the fridge before suggesting she would make chicken pasta later for their dinner.
She was also still thinking about it when, ten minutes later, she stood alone in the kitchen drinking her own tea, Declan having taken himself off to his bedroom.
Which, apparently, was the first door on the right along the hallway.
He had also suggested, before closing his bedroom door, that she could choose any of the three guest bedrooms for her own use.
Fawn picked the suite opposite Declan’s.
She was here as his carer, after all, which meant she needed to be close by in case anything happened to him while he was resting in his room during the day or sleeping in there at night.
It had only been a week since the shooting, which meant his wounds could still become infected and cause him to feel too ill to call for her.
Or Declan could become dizzy and fall over as he got out of bed to use the bathroom.
The guest suite Fawn chose was beautifully furnished in cream and gold. The adjoining bathroom, Fawn discovered when she went in there to change into her casual clothes, had the same color décor as the bedroom in the marble tiles on the floor and surrounding the huge shower and sunken bathtub.
This suite was bigger than her whole apartment.
The one she shared with River.
Thinking of which…
Fawn made sure the door to the bedroom was pushed almost closed—she needed to be able to hear if Declan called for her—before she took out her cell phone and pressed the first number saved under contacts.
“Hi, River,” she greeted, the call having been answered on the fourth ring.
“Missing me already?” he teased.
“Surrounded by all this luxury?” she scoffed. “I don’t think so.”
“What luxury?” River prompted curiously.
“Well, turns out Declan Quinn lives in the penthouse apartment at the top of a very tall building in the most expensive part of London,” she revealed.
“I’m staying in one of four large ensuite bedrooms that are all bigger than our whole apartment.
I’ve also heard a gym mentioned. I haven’t had chance to take a good look round the whole apartment yet, but I did notice that the TV in the sitting room is half the size of one of the walls, and it’s a big-ass wall. ”
“I thought you said the guy you’re taking care of was employed as a bodyguard and the company he works for were paying you to look after him?”
“He is and they are.”
“Then how can this guy afford to live in a four-bedroom penthouse apartment in London? With a gym.”
“I’m not really sure…” To be honest, Fawn had initially been too overwhelmed by her surrounds, and still distracted by Declan’s conversation with Danny in the car park, followed by Linus waiting in the apartment when they arrived, to wonder how Declan could live in such an amazing—and no doubt very expensive—apartment.
But now that she had time to think about it, River had posed a very good question.
Maybe she would ask Declan about that later?
Then again, maybe she wouldn’t.
Yes, Declan had those lovely warm Irish-blue eyes, and a killer smile, and he was the epitome of a gorgeous silver fox. But none of those things, or the obvious way he valued his privacy, encouraged her to ask him personal questions.
As far as she was aware, Declan hadn’t been forthcoming about his life with any of the hospital staff in the ICU or on the ward.
Fawn was pretty sure Declan was only accepting her presence in his apartment now because he knew it would have upset Thea Morgan if he didn’t. That, in turn, would have caused Fergus Wynter, Declan’s employer, to be displeased too.
One thing she did know about Declan was that he valued his job and the people he worked with. By default, that now included the well-being of the now fiancée of one of his employers.
“How are things going with you?” she prompted River lightly.
“Same old, same old,” he dismissed.
Fawn could hear the strain in his voice despite his best effort to sound upbeat. “The money I get from this job should be enough for us to buy what you need to make life a bit easier for you.”
“For now. Sorry!” he groaned. “I’m really sorry. But this situation sucks, big-time. Not least because I’m the man and so I’m supposed to be the one taking care of you, not the other way around.”
“And that’s exactly what you would do if our positions were reversed.”
“Yeah, I would,” he confirmed huskily.
“I know that. So, for now, let’s just deal with what we can on a day-by-day basis, okay? Starting with putting all the extra money I earn from this job into buying what you need.”
“Okay,” River agreed quietly, followed by, “I have to go now. As you know, my regular Wednesday afternoon date is calling.” Once again, he was attempting to be dismissive.
But Fawn still heard the heaviness in his tone. “Not for much longer,” she vowed. “I love you, Riv.”
“Love you too.”
“Speak to you tomorrow. But you know to call me if you need anything before then.”
“Will do.”
Fawn only released a heavy sigh and allowed the silent tears to fall once the call had ended.