Authors: Elizabeth Reyes
Romero (24 page)
She didn’t say anything for a moment, then finally in a tone so unlike Izzy she asked, “You took her to Frisco’s?”
He turned to her. Whoa—here he’d thought he’d seen all her expressions. He’d never seen this one, but it wasn’t good. Her eyebrows pinched tight and there was an almost incredulous glare in her eyes. “I didn’t
take
her there, Izzy. We were already at the mall. She said she was sick of the food court so I suggested—”
“
You
suggested it?”
“I like the food there. What’s the big deal?”
“I can’t believe you don’t know what the big deal is!” Her eyes began to well up and he felt a weird panic creep through him.
He tried leaning closer but she pushed him away. “Why are you getting so mad?” She started to get up. “No, Izzy. Stay in bed you’re not feeling well.”
“I need to go to the restroom.” She pushed his hand away again, walked out of the room and into the restroom, slamming the door behind her.
He waited and waited but after she’d been in there way too long, he knocked on the door. “Babe, you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She didn’t sound fine.
“Are you crying?”
She walked out and sure as shit her eyes were all red, making him feel that much worse. She tried walking past him but he pulled her to him. “Seriously? You’re that upset about this?”
That seemed to make her even angrier then she stopped and sniffed him. “Is that her perfume all over you? What
else
did you do with her?”
“Nothing! She hugged me goodbye.” Damn Cici and her strong ass perfume.
“Get away from me!” She tried squirming away but he leaned her against the wall with his body and held her tight. “I’m sorry. Okay? I swear to you, if I would’ve known you’d be this upset I would have never—”
“Never what?” She slipped out of his hold and he let her. Only because he’d never seen her this angry. “Gone to lunch with another girl or taken her to
our
place?”
He followed her back into the room. “No, I wasn’t even thinking about it like that.”
“The way you are, I was under the impression that things of this nature were out of the question.”
Romero felt himself heating up. “They are!”
She spun around. “Oh, really? But not for you?”
“No, it’s just that Cici, well… she’s different.” Her eyes grew even wider. “No. I don’t mean like—”
“Good to know. I’ll make sure I only do things with guys who are
different
.”
She started to walk but Romero grabbed her arm. “What the fuck does that mean?”
She glared down at his hand on her arm and he immediately loosened his hold. “Get your hand off me.”
“First tell me what that means.”
“Let go of me!” He did. “Get out.”
He stood there unable to believe how his lunch with Cici had escalated into this. Her words still burned him but he was mad at himself for grabbing her arm like that. “I’m sorry.”
“I said get out.” Her tone softened but just a bit. “You don’t have to leave, just get out of my room. You shouldn’t be here anyway. I’ll get you sick.” She coughed before getting into bed.
He knew she’d only said what she did because she was mad, and hurt. But he hoped to hell she didn’t actually act on it to prove a point. “Izzy, I get it. Okay? I made a mistake. I was stupid. I’m sorry. It’ll never happen again.” He got down on his knee next to the bed and touched her arm. “Please don’t do anything just to make things even… you have no idea how crazy that would make me.”
She rolled her eyes. “You really think I have
no
idea?”
“Promise me.”
“I’m not promising anything right now, Romero.” She grabbed another tissue. “And you really shouldn’t be touching me. I’m telling you. You’re gonna get sick.” She shook her head after blowing her nose. “Go. You can sleep in Valerie’s room tonight.”
Romero noticed how her pink-rimmed eyes looked so dreary. She really was sick. He stood up and kissed her head. “Let me know if you need anything. Okay?”
She nodded and made herself comfortable in her bed. He walked out feeling like the biggest idiot on the planet.
Their place
. Of course.
Suspicions
Falling in and out of delirium, Isabel didn’t even know what time or what day it was. She turned to see Romero walk into the room. “Hey, how you feeling?”
She didn’t respond. She remembered she was mad at him but she couldn’t even remember why. “I’m still mad at you.” She heard the rough words rasp out of her mouth, felt the burn in her throat and tightness in her chest.
Romero began to apologize, then his expression changed and he touched her forehead. “Izzy, you’re burning up!”
“Huh?” In such a daze, she glanced around expecting to see flames.
Romero pulled the blankets off her. “But I’m freezing!” she said, trying to pull the blankets back on. Her clothes clung to her, wet with perspiration, and she began to shiver. She tried in vain to get the blankets back from Romero’s hands. “Please! I’m so cold!” Just speaking scorched her throat and her entire body ached as Romero sat her up.
“I know.” His voice was as panicked as hers was. “Baby, we gotta get this off you,
now
.”
She didn’t even realize she was crying until she heard her own whiny voice, “Why are you doing this to me?”
“Because I
have
to,” he said, pulling her top off and then helping her up. “We gotta get your temperature down.” He put his hand on her back. “Fuck, I should’ve checked on you sooner, you’re on fire. I’m sorry, babe. I just wanted to let you sleep.”
Her eyes burned when she blinked and her body shivered uncontrollably. Everything after that was a blur of her crying and trying to fight him while he held her under the cold shower as he tried frantically to calm her explaining why it was necessary.
Then there was a trip to the emergency room, her parents and sister arrived just as they were releasing her. Pat was angry that Romero hadn’t contacted them sooner but he explained that in his haste he’d forgotten to take Isabel’s phone. He didn’t have any of their numbers. By the time Isabel was well enough to think straight and give him their numbers, they’d already been there for hours. “You’re coming home with us,” her father announced flatly. Pat nodded as Isabel held on tight to Romero.
“It’s not pneumonia but the doctors said you’re borderline. You need to be watched very closely.” Her mother attempted to pull her away from Romero.
“I can watch her,” Romero said.
“Don’t be silly, the doctor said she’ll be out the whole week. Don’t you have to work?”
“I’ll take the week off.”
“I’d feel better if she was at home with us.” Her mother’s words were firm but cautious.
“You should go with mom and dad, Bell. Pneumonia is no joke. Don’t take any chances.”
Isabel just wanted to go home to her own bed. Her fever was finally down but she felt completely drained and her body still ached all over. Speaking alone, left her breathless.
“What do you want, Izzy? We’ll do whatever you want.”
“I wanna go home.” Her words were barely a whisper and she inhaled deeply, those four little words taking so much out of her.
That’s all she had to say. “I’m taking her home. I’ll take care of her this week. Don’t worry.”
Though they tried to argue, the decision had been made. Romero was by her side the entire week. Preparing her meals, bringing them to her in bed, making sure she took her meds on time. The only times he left was when her mother and sisters had stopped by to check in on her. He said he’d take advantage of them being there to go stock up on more meds and groceries but she knew his aversion to being in the same room with Pat was the real reason. The two had barely exchanged greetings but they’d both managed to be civil.
Isabel felt guilty about the amount of time Romero had taken away from his work, but even when her mother offered to stay with her for a few days so that he could go back to work he insisted on being there with her. She couldn’t get over how devoted he was to taking care of her. She’d been a little surprised with the showers they took together. When he’d gently sponged her there was no sexual connotation at all. The only thing he was interested in was her well-being. Even when she teased him by touching him sensually in the shower, he’d warned it would be too much exertion for her.
His initial reaction to the doctor saying she may have pneumonia, before the chest x-ray, he’d gone white. But it wasn’t until after the x-ray came back negative that he told her he’d heard of people dying of it.
By the end of the week when she was feeling better, neither had spoken of Cici or Frisco’s. His actions that whole week confirmed that there was no way he would ever deliberately hurt her. He’d made a mistake and she forgave him. However, the sting of knowing he tainted her memory of their first dinner together, still lingered.
Romero tried to convince her to take another few days off until she was feeling a hundred percent better, but she insisted she was. A week had been more than enough and she needed to get out.
Though she’d forgiven him, she still couldn’t get two little words out of her head.
She’s different
. What did that mean? Had he dated her? He’d probably slept with her. Valerie let her in on that much about him. Through out the years there had been no shortage of hussies willing to jump in bed with the big sexy bouncer. She was sure the women who worked at his uncles’ topless bar didn’t have qualms about casual sex, especially with someone who looked like Romero.
Isabel shook off the jealousy. He’d been wonderful—more than wonderful—this past week. She would just put it behind her.
Valerie left her a message about the deal she could work out for Charles’ party so Isabel called her that evening when she got home from her first day back at work.
“Only thing is,” Valerie said. “For a room that size all we have available in the next few weeks is either a Friday night or a Sunday afternoon. All Saturdays are completely booked for the next two months.”
To Isabel’s surprise, her sister wanted to book
that
Friday. “This week? That’s so soon.”
“No, it isn’t. I already have everything planned. His gift, the band—they just finished telling me they’re available for the next two weeks and it’s perfect because Charles won’t be back from his trip until Thursday. I can run around all week without him getting wind of it. Tell her to book it.”
After calling Valerie, she told Romero about it and he frowned. “Babe, I don’t think you’re up for parties just yet.”
“Trust me. It’s not like my sister throws these wild parties. Think of my dad’s dinner. A bunch of stuffy suits sitting around listening to a boring jazz band.” She sat next to him on the sofa. He’d brought his plasma television over from his apartment and promptly hung it in her front room. It was his new favorite place to sit and relax.
He put his arm around her, his eyes still full of worry. “I can’t be there that night. I gotta work some party over in La Jolla Shores.”
“That’s okay. My whole family will be there.” She stroked his leg. “Not to mention Alex and Valerie. My sister invited them and Valerie said they’d go.”
He touched her face. His expression reminded her of how he wanted to call 911 that first night, because her fever was so high. Somehow, she managed to convince him to just drive her to the emergency room. “Don’t worry. I’ll leave early. I’m sure it’ll be boring anyway. But I have to show up for at least a little while.”
“How you feeling?” The concern in his eyes warmed her.
“Great,” she said, kissing him softly.
“You didn’t get tired or feel weak all day?”
She smiled. “No, not at all.” She kissed him deeper this time. “In fact.” She stood up, tugging his hand. “C’mon. I think a week of not
exerting
myself has been long enough.” She flashed him the most seductive smile she could.
“Are you sure?”
God, was she ever. “Yes, Dr. Romero. I think it’s time to show you my appreciation for the past week.”
Even as hesitant as he seemed, a week had been more than long enough for both of them. He seemed just as ready as she was.
*
That week she had another
collaboration
day and was off again—with no pay, of course. She planned ahead, making one of Valerie’s favorite treats for lunch and invited her over. They hadn’t had a good girl talk session in a while and Isabel was in need for one.
Thoughts of Cici’s perfume all over Romero and those two little words still lingered. Valerie dug into the homemade pizza eagerly. “Oh my God, this is so good.”
Isabel smiled. She missed sitting and talking to Valerie like this. Valerie gushed all about married life and how wonderful things were so far. “He keeps bringing up babies though, and I’m just beginning to adjust to managing an office on my own. I’m afraid to take time off right now. I know I’ll have to if I have a baby.”
“Well, why don’t you just set up a date? Compromise—say two years from now or something.”
Valerie shrugged. “He actually almost had me convinced. I had to switch my birth controls pills. I was getting migraines and the doctor said it might be because I switched brands a few months ago. I’m going back to the old ones but I had to give it a month to get these out of my system. Alex tried persuading me to just stay off them. Said we won’t actively try,” she laughed. “As if he can go even a day without
trying
.”
