Reckless In Love(17)

"I'm going to call Magnolia Gardens on Monday to put Mom's name on the  waiting list. I know she'll love it there. The gardens are gorgeous."

"How long before she'll get in?"

Her own sense of guilt almost made her imagine for a moment that there was censure in his words. "Maybe a couple of months."

"Do they have good doctors?"

They were adequate, but honestly, she was more concerned about the  environment her mother would live in. "They're good, but they can't do  much for Mom except manage her pain."

He switched lanes on the freeway before saying, "I've been doing some  research on the Internet. There's a hand surgeon at Stanford who's the  top in his field in severe degenerative osteoarthritis. And an  orthopedic surgeon down in Santa Cruz specializes in ankles."

Staring was all she could manage. Charlie didn't blab to everyone about  her mother's problems, but she had told a teacher or two, her dean, the  secretary. None of them had tried to help before, though. Only  Sebastian, who had immediately jumped in.

"I can't tell you what it means to me that you thought of her, even  before you met her. But I've taken her to all the doctors. She's past  anything they can do." At least nothing she could have afforded beyond  what Medicare paid for. Charlie couldn't stop another stab of guilt.

They'd reached their exit, and he let the car roll to a stop at the  light. "There could be new surgeries, new treatments that have been  developed in recent months. Maybe it won't help. But it couldn't hurt to  see the doctors." He looked so earnest.

For her mother's sake, she had to let Sebastian try. Somehow she'd find  the money to pay for consultations with these new specialists. Putting  her hand over his on the steering wheel, she looked straight into his  eyes, held him there a long moment even though the light changed. "Yes.  Let's try."         

     



 

But the new worries about money were already twisting inside her by the  time he said, "I'd like to help with Magnolia Gardens too-see if I can  grease the wheels to get your mom in earlier."

It wasn't his fault that a chill ran down her arms. Sebastian was the  kind of man who would always offer help when he thought it was needed.  But he'd already given her a humongous check. She couldn't take any  more. Even her mother wouldn't approve if she took money from him she  hadn't earned.

"The check you gave me will more than cover her move." And only a few  months after that, but she'd somehow figure that out too. "You're doing  enough already."

As it was, she didn't know how she'd ever pay him back.





CHAPTER TEN


Charlie clearly hated seeing her mother in pain, hated Shady Lane, hated  that she couldn't take care of her mother herself. But Sebastian could  help her with all that. If she let him. Maybe he'd pushed too hard about  her mother's condition, but what good was his money if he didn't use it  to help a woman in pain? Especially when it meant a great deal to him  that for one afternoon, she had made him feel he was part of their  family, for a little while at least.

That evening, after Charlie politely turned down his request to have  dinner together again, Sebastian returned to his drawing. In fact it was  that politeness that told him she'd shut down on him, just put up a  wall to all the heat and sparks between them.

In his workroom, he downloaded the app she'd shown him. He was up on  most of the latest technologies, but this one had slipped by him. Easy  to use, it took only a few tries before he had it figured out. Charlie  imported photos she then manipulated, but the app simulated just about  any medium for drawing. He chose charcoals with a textured background.

He started with her eyes, those beautiful, expressive eyes. They could  have been her mother's eyes-bright, laughing, with a hint of pain always  lingering behind them. But Charlie had her pain too, springing from an  emotional well deep inside her. On the iPad, he filled in her  cheekbones, the slope of her nose.

Unfortunately, an hour of drawing still didn't bring the insight he  needed. He'd had the stupid hope that the app itself would somehow  reveal her in a way his sketchbook hadn't. He shut it down in  frustration.

At least there was one thing he knew for sure he could do right. He hit  Will Franconi's number on speed dial, knowing his friend would answer if  at all possible.

It took two rings. "Hey." Will's voice was almost drowned out by a blast of noise around him.

"Where the hell are you?"

"Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. The Edgar Winter Band is doing a free  concert on the beach. It's a madhouse here. Jeremy wanted to come."

There was a loud shout, but Sebastian couldn't make out a thing.

"He says free fun is the best kind," Will translated. "He gets that from Harper."

Jeremy was Will's soon-to-be brother-in-law. He was a great kid, though  at eighteen, he wasn't exactly a kid anymore. Jeremy's older sister  Harper was a special woman, and she fit Will even better than a finely  made suit. His friend was finally happy after all these years, so happy  that Sebastian had added them to his exceptions list. No toxic love  between them, that was for sure.

"What do you need?" Will asked.

"That new venture you've got going with the British company. The  signature bone china. I need three china mugs and three matching  plates."

For two beats, all he heard was the crash of music. Until Will said, "Do you need to have your testosterone levels checked?"

"No more than you for putting the deal together with them in the first place. It's for a friend."

"A woman friend?" He could actually see Will's raised eyebrow.

"Her mother."

"Her mother? Whoa, man, if you're getting a gift for her mother, that sounds like some serious stuff."

As Will said it, Sebastian felt the truth deep in his core. He'd never been more serious. "Can you order it for me ASAP?"

"Hold on a minute. When do we get to meet her?"

Sebastian knew that Charlie would love Harper, Jeremy, and Will. "I've got to convince her to spend time with me first."

"She's not yet convinced?" Will made a considering sound. "Now that I  hear she's not just slavering at your feet like all your other women  always have, I really want to meet her."

Sebastian laughed. "You going to help me or not?"

"You want ultrafeminine, flowery, or classic?"         

     



 

Will was trying to gauge the type of woman Charlie was. "All of the  above." She was the perfect combination of tomboy meets feminine. There  was Francine to consider too.

"We just received the first shipment, so I'll courier the pieces to you  tomorrow. And if the china convinces her to fall for you, you owe me big  time."

"Thanks," Sebastian said to the dead air, but the silence was golden.  Charlie wouldn't have to drive back to her place to pick up the china  she'd forgotten, and she and her mother would have a one-of-a-kind tea  set.

There were so many things he could do to make Charlie's life easier. All he had to do was convince her to take them.

Tea cups. His money. And him.

* * *

Charlie hadn't been sure whether Sebastian would show up at her workshop  this morning after the way she'd refused his offer of dinner last  night. But here he was, looking sexier than any man had a right to be in  his dark slacks and crisp white button-down shirt. A billionaire's  uniform, she found herself thinking, and one he wore exceptionally well,  despite having been born into extreme poverty and despair.

All night and into the early hours of the morning, the incident with her  mother had wedged itself somewhere between her throat and her heart.  Incident wasn't the right word. Nothing had actually happened. She'd  accepted his offer to try to help with her mother's medical condition  while turning him down on Magnolia Gardens, then lain awake berating  herself for not having done enough to take care of Mom in the first  place. Lack of funds was a sorry excuse.

But neither of them mentioned her mother's illness as he entered her  workshop bearing warm blueberry bagels that tasted as if they might have  been fresh out of the oven.

"I can't wait to watch you work." He sounded like he was talking about a  strip tease instead of metal cutting. Boy, could he switch on the  sizzle, heating her up like plasma, turning her into molten metal.

She took a bite of the bagel, then began to pull her hair up into a  knot. The next thing she knew, he was helping her put on her smock and  work apron, his fingers lingering on her skin. Her breath went, her skin  tingled, and even though she really did have a ton of work to get  started on, she couldn't resist twining her arms around his neck and  going up on her toes to steal a kiss.

A sigh of pleasure fell from her lips as they touched his, gentle  spinning to desperate in less than the span of a breath as he tangled  one hand in her hair and used the other on the curve of her hip to bring  them close. So close that she could feel his heart beating against hers  as he deepened the kiss. Taking. Giving. Delighting.