“Mia is sick,” he said bluntly. “I found her on the sidewalk yesterday when she was walking home from work. She was burning up with fever and some asshole had knocked her over. She didn’t even have the strength to make it back to her apartment.”
“What the fuck? Is she okay?”
Gabe held up his hand. “I stayed with her last night. Got some medicine down her and I left some for her to take when I left this morning. I left her a note telling her you’d be by to check in on her later.”
Jace’s frown deepened. “You didn’t stay with her? Hell, Gabe, you’ve been relentless in your pursuit and you finally get a chance where she isn’t kicking your ass and you left her sick in her apartment?”
Gabe sighed. “I’ve pushed her too hard. I’m part of the reason she’s so rundown and sick. I don’t want to beat her down. That’s not the way I want her to come to me or for us to be together. I need to back off and give her time to get well. I want you to get your ass over there and take care of her this weekend. I need her well by Monday night, because that’s when I’m going to fucking crawl for her.”
Jace lifted his eyebrows in surprise. “What?”
Gabe ran a hand through his hair. “I’ve got a ring to buy this weekend and other arrangements to make. All you have to do is have her at Rockefeller Center Monday night by the Christmas tree. Don’t fuck this up, Jace. I don’t care if you have to carry her. You make damn sure she’s there.”
chapter forty-four
Mia spent the weekend with Jace—or rather he spent it with her. Ash was in and out, bringing takeout and generally fussing over her. The two men brought movies, and they crashed on the couch watching TV until Mia would drift off into a fever-induced sleep.
By Monday morning she was feeling better, but not well enough to tackle work, so she called in to let Louisa and Greg know she wouldn’t be there.
Jace and Ash headed into the office but told her they’d be back, because they had something special planned for the evening.
Through it all, she hadn’t heard a single peep from Gabe. No flowers, no gifts. Just silence. It unnerved her and had her questioning every decision she’d made with regard to him.
She didn’t have the heart to tell Jace she didn’t feel up to whatever he and Ash had planned. They’d both been so great over the weekend, pampering her endlessly and working so hard to cheer her up.
Whatever they had planned, she’d be prepared and she’d take it with a smile. Jace had told her to dress warmly, so she could only imagine whatever it was they were doing was outside.
Thank goodness she wasn’t still running a fever, or the thought of being out in the cold would drive her right over the edge.
She showered in the afternoon and tried her best to do something with her hair and makeup so she didn’t look hungover and dragged through the wringer. But even makeup had its limitations…
At six, Jace and Ash arrived, their eyes sparkling with mischief. She groaned inwardly because they were obviously up to no good, and since it involved her, she was going to be a victim of whatever they’d hatched between them.
Jace had a driver tonight, which was odd since he tended to tool around town in his car when it was just them. But they bundled her inside after making sure she was dosed in case her fever returned.
“Where are we going?” she asked in exasperation.
“That’s for us to know and you to find out,” Jace said smugly.
He and Ash both looked like kids at Christmas, and their eyes gleamed with unholy glee.
She relaxed in the seat and told herself she would enjoy whatever it was. Even if her heart still ached with emptiness. Gabe had disappeared after staying at her apartment Friday night. Not one word had she heard from him. Had he given up?
When they pulled up in front of Saks Fifth Avenue just across from Rockefeller Center, she gasped in pleasure at the enormous lighted tree towering above the skating rink. It was so beautiful, and it made her ache with all the memories of Jace taking her here when she was a child. They’d never missed a lighting. Not until this year, in fact.
“Oh Jace,” she whispered as he pulled her from the car. “It’s as beautiful as ever.”
Jace smiled indulgently at her, and then he and Ash fell in beside her as they guided her toward the crowd gathered around the tree.
The tree loomed over them, aglow with thousands and thousands of colored lights. Christmas music filled the air. And then a melodious sound as a man began to sing “The Christmas Song.”
“There’s a concert?” Mia asked in excitement as she turned to Jace.