CHAPTER140
At the hotel, he dumped me graciously in my room and ordered me to lie down. He then left me to stare at the quiet TV to ‘recuperate’. There’s now a tray of half-eaten food by my bed, and he has a doctor coming despite my protests.
He’s being distant; as soon as I was settled, he pulled his cell out and stalked off, closing himself in his own room. I know he’s calling her, and despite his manner with her earlier, it still makes my heart constrict painfully. I hate the fact he’s calling her. I don’t know why, but from the moment I met her, I had this weird, gutsy inkling that I really didn’t like her at all, far more potently than any of his other bimbos, and I can’t explain it. It’s some female thing going off inside of me that makes me hate her more than the others.
On top of that, I just hate that he’s calling a woman; I’m completely unable to control my jealous pain inside, and that sucks most of all.
* * *
He’s back thirty minutes later as the doctor is coiling up her stethoscope after examining me.
“What’s the verdict?” He sounds concerned, well, maybe. Bossy mainly.
“She’s fine, Mr. Carrero. A little rest and she’ll make a full recovery,” the doctor answers, beaming at him confidently. Her lithe figure is swathed in a fitted gray suit, and she has a lovely face. I like this doctor; she has gentle hands and an easy manner that makes me relax under her care. She also seems immune to Jake’s charms. I’m glad, because she’s hot for a doctor and most definitely someone I could see him bedding.
“Why did she pass out then?” He doesn’t seem convinced and doesn’t seem to notice how attractive she is either, his eyes on me, frowning. None of his schmoozing charm is evident.
“Miss Anderson informed me she’d skipped meals and was overheated; I’m guessing she wasn’t drinking enough fluids either, and she became a little overwhelmed. We need to take care of our bodies. She needs to acclimatize to Vegas weather, I think.” She throws me a wide smile, and I return it; how could you not, she’s lovely.
He’s frowning with his arms crossed, scrutinizing me closely. He doesn’t look convinced, and I know he’s inwardly cursing me about how many times he’s told me I need to drink more water too. The man should have shares in Evian, with the amount he goes through in a day.
“She’s going to get enough rest; she’s hotel bound until tomorrow when we fly home,” he points out, a bit rudely. The doctor smiles and nods. She approves.
What? This is news! Since when?
We’re due to stay here for a week. I keep quiet as he shows the doctor out, then slide out of the bed and march through to the living room purposefully to find him, to confront him.
“What do you mean we’re flying home?” I accuse angrily as soon as she departs.
“Tomorrow morning. It’s already arranged.” He has an air of irritation, his green eyes simmering with warning, but I ignore it.
“Why? Because I fainted? We have stuff to do here, Jake,” I fume at him in sheer agitation, throwing my hands around gesturing like mad.
“Yes. No, partly because of that, and because of shit I need to deal with, okay?” I pale as I take in his agitated tone and manner. He doesn’t need to spell it out; I know him well enough to know ‘shit’ means Marissa!
“You’re going to blow off this week’s schedules?” I snap with a deadpan expression, hating that he dumps work for a fucking woman! This is not how he normally operates; this is a crappy way to run an empire, if you ask me.
“Sometimes life does get in the way of work, Emma,” he says sarcastically, glaring at me, and just cementing my suspicions.
Actually, now that I think on it, this is exactly what he does. He takes off for personal time, or vacations, or blows off work for a week to go off and sulk. Abandoning everything!
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I snap at him furiously.
Why am I so goddamn angry with him? I should be ecstatic. I hate Vegas and I want to go home. I should be dancing my joyful dance at getting out of this place early. But I’m just pissed!
“It means what it means.” He stalks off away from me and it only makes me angrier, igniting my temper.
Oh, so we’re fighting again? What happened to happy-go-lucky PA and hot boss? When we used to flirt more than we fought?"
