A lot.
*
Chapter 18
Mira
The violent urge to puke out my guts ripped me from my sleep, as it had for the past many days now. I rolled out of bed and ran for the bathroom, making it to the toilet just in time.
It took me more than twenty minutes before my stomach finally settled down enough that I realized I was wearing the same clothes as I'd been in the night before, rather than my sleep attire.
I frowned at the toilet seat as I rested my forehead against it. Come to think of it, I had no recollection of going to bed last night. The last thing I remembered was the boring alien movie Blaine forced me to watch. I must have fallen asleep on the couch. Which begged the question-how had I made it from the sofa to my bed?
The only logical explanation made me pull my head back up with surprise. Blaine must have carried me. Huh.
A dry heave made my contemplations come to a halt as I crouched over the toilet again, but nothing came up this time. Probably because my stomach was completely empty.
Maybe I should bite the bullet and go see a doctor. If it was a stomach bug, it was really persistent. And perhaps I should also stop having wine with dinner-it probably wasn't helping things.
When my stomach finally settled down again, I cleaned my teeth and changed into fresh clothes before I went downstairs to forage for my usual breakfast-crackers and ginger ale. To my surprise, Blaine was in the kitchen when I came down, sitting by the counter on one of the bar stools and eating a bowl of cereal. If I hadn't felt so queasy, I might have appreciated the way his chiseled chest strained against his T-shirt or his triceps flexed when he lifted the spoon.
"Morning," I grumbled as I shuffled to the cabinet that held my stash of crackers.
"You look like shit," he said. Just what every girl wants to hear first thing. "Are you sick again?"
"Still."
His dark brows pulled into a frown. "I'll get Rob to make you an appointment with our doctor. Are you too ill to work today? I just got a call about a meeting this afternoon."
Despite how poorly I felt, I perked up at that. I missed using my brain, and there was only so much sudoku a girl could play before going bonkers. Sitting in on business meetings might not be as stimulating as seeing patients, but it beat hanging around the house all day.
"Yeah, I should be fine in a couple of hours. Can we go look at some shops after? There's this artisan confectionery shop I've been dying to go to."
A hint of a genuine smile played over Blaine's sensual lips. "Perhaps. We'll see if you're feeling well enough."
I made a grimace at him as I sat down with my box of crackers. "Yes, Dad. And I'll also clean my teeth and look before I cross the road."
Blaine laughed and patted me on the shoulder before he got up to put his bowl in the dishwasher. "Be ready at three-I'm getting Rob to drop you off."
I stared into my box of crackers in silence for a while after I'd heard the front door close behind him. After he gave me Walter, my wonderful Lipizzan gelding, I knew things had changed between us. Nothing was said, but it felt different. Calmer. Like we had a mutual respect and understanding.
It was what I'd wanted, of course-to gain his respect and with it, his trust. But I hadn't expected it to feel like this. Like everything just fit into place, somehow.
Perhaps it was my frustrating, physical attraction to him that made it seem like something deeper, just because we got along now. Yeah, that was probably it-my mutinous ovaries trying to make it out like there was more going on between us so they could get a chance at throwing themselves at him again at the earliest convenience.
Traitorous little bastards.
I grabbed a cracker and stuffed it in my mouth, savoring its bland saltiness and the immediate, calming effect it had on my nausea.
Getting along with Blaine was a vital next step in my plan. I had to keep my goal in mind, or I would never be free again.
But why did my heart suddenly cringe at the thought of betraying him like that?
"So Blaine says you're sick. You look okay though-what's up?"
I glanced at Rob out of the corner of my eye as he navigated the big Range Rover through the city streets. There was something oddly endearing about having the burly bodyguard seemingly concerned about my health, even if it was a somewhat surreal experience.
"Just a lot of nausea and throwing up. It comes in waves-right now, I'm fine and dandy."
"Mmmhm," he hummed. "Does it come at any specific times?"
"Usually the mornings. Why, do you need to know to book my appointment with the doctor?"
"Yeah," he said, not taking his eyes off the road. "It'll help. Okay, love, looks like we've landed."
I ducked my neck to look out the front window just as we drove underneath a big professional-looking building and into its parking basement.
"Blaine's got an actual office?" I asked, somewhat surprised by the grandness of the location. Somehow, I'd expected us to drive up to a seedy motel room with stains on the carpets and the blinds pulled.
Rob chuckled. "Yeah, the Steels like to keep up appearances for the law and such. We do most business meetings here. At least, the pleasant ones."
I shuddered at the implication that the "less pleasant" business meetings needed to be somewhere else-somewhere the law wouldn't know about.
Rob parked up and waited for me to fumble the seatbelt off so he could escort me to the elevator. He pushed the button for the fifth floor and, when the doors opened a few moments later, stepped out as if to check the floor was clear of threats. Then he nodded to me and waved a few fingers at me, motioning for me to join him.
I smiled broadly at him. "You're taking your bodyguard duties very seriously, huh?"
He snorted. "Love, if something happens to you under my watch, I'm dead. Can't leave the missus as a widow with two wee ones, now can I?"
"I'm sure Blaine likes you a whole lot more than me," I said, patting his arm reassuringly. "You'll be fine, even if some rival family suddenly decided to burst through the Steel's office building and kidnap me for no apparent reason."
Rob gave me a long glance. "Yeah. Sure. I guess you don't know what happened to the two men who were on guard duty the night you decided to slip out?"
My heart gave an uncomfortable lurch. I hadn't even thought about it. "W-what do you mean? What happened to them?"
"Nothing they won't recover from," he said, giving me a small shrug. "But then, they didn't let someone snatch you-you went off by your own choice. Don't underestimate him, love. He's fiercely protective of you, and has a bit of a nasty temper."
I opened my mouth to ask him what the heck he meant by that, but just then Blaine walked through the door leading into the hallway and I lost my train of thought. He'd changed into a black, tailored suit that fit him like a glove and a blue striped tie, and I was completely taken aback by my own body's reaction to the sight.
My heart sped up, making my pulse hammer in my throat, and my traitorous ovaries seemed to melt in my abdomen, making my nether region clench with sudden and intense desire. To my excruciating embarrassment, I felt my panties start to dampen.
For fuck's sakes! He was just a man in a suit. Okay, an incredibly handsome and sexy-as-hell man, but still. There was no excuse for my body to react this way at the mere sight of him.
"Thank you, Rob. I'll take it from here. You go home to your family, I'll drive her home later."
It wasn't until he spoke, his voice unusually gruff, that I realized his forehead was locked in a deep frown and his gray eyes seemed darker than normal. Clearly, he wasn't happy about something.
"Sure thing, boss." Rob nodded at us before retreating to the elevator. When the doors shut, Blaine turned to me.
"Are you ready?"
"Yeah," I croaked, willing my body to calm the heck down.
He put his hand on my shoulder, which didn't exactly help matters, and guided me through the door and into a lavishly decorated waiting area, complete with a busy-looking secretary in her mid-forties.
"I had no idea you moonlighted as a respectable business man," I joked in an attempt to alleviate my own discomfort at his closeness. Even through my clothes, I felt his hand on me like an electric pulse that heated my skin and made my heart pound heavily behind my ribs.
Blaine didn't answer, but stepped back and motioned for me to shrug out of my coat. I obeyed, and he helped me out of it and handed it to the secretary, who seemed to magically appear by his side the moment he held out his arm.
"I'll have to warn you that this might not be a very pleasant experience for you," he murmured once she'd disappeared through another door with my coat. "When my father set up this meeting, I didn't realize who the contact would be."