Suzy was surprised to see Beth bring some items of her own to the register beside her. Beth’s face turned red as she noticed Suzy studying her purchases. She decided to walk away and give her some privacy. If her sister was finally trading in her cotton for silk, there was no way she was going to do anything to discourage her. She intercepted Nick as he was coming towards the check-out and steered him out the door so that Beth could have some privacy.

As Beth walked out of the door, Suzy was surprised by the size of the bag she carried. If there was a moment she’d ever been prouder of her sister, she couldn’t remember it. Could Beth finally be seeing what everyone else already saw? It was at least a good sign because she couldn’t remember the last time Beth had actually bought something from a girly type store. She didn’t want to embarrass her or make her regret her purchases so she kept up a constant stream of chatter to distract Nick and they grabbed a burger at Johnny Rockets before heading back to the house.

~~~

Claire and Jason arrived around seven and Suzy was surprised to hear the doorbell chime again a few moments later. Beth came back in the living room with an attractive woman around their age that Suzy didn’t recognize. This must be the new friend at Danvers that Beth had mentioned making. Claire walked towards them and, ever gracious, threw an arm around the new guest. “Ella, you look beautiful. I’m so glad you could come.”

Suzy only knew one Ella and this wasn’t her. Claire looked at her saying, “Suz, you remember Ella from the office, don’t you?”

As Suzy hobbled over to the trio on her crutches, recognition hit her, and before she could catch herself, she loudly exclaimed, “Holy shit, what happened to you?”

Ella blushed furiously, and Claire and Beth looked at her like she’d lost her mind. Was she the only one here who remembered how Ella looked just a few weeks ago? “Your sister helped me, um…make some changes.” Then blinking as if tears weren’t far behind, she asked, “You don’t like it?”

At that moment she saw Ella for maybe the first time. She tried so hard to be helpful because she wanted everyone to like her and she’d bet that there had been very few times in her life that she’d fit in. Whereas she’d dismissed her at first glance, Beth had obviously bonded with her and the result of the make-over was nothing short of astounding. Her teased beehive hairdo was gone and in its place, her brown hair had been straightened and now hung past her shoulders in waves. Blond hi-lights had been added to accent the color. Wow, who knew she had all of that hair under the bad hair-do? Her eyebrows had been waxed and instead of looking like one big eyebrow, now she actually had two well defined ones.

Suzy noticed that Ella actually had beautiful skin and the only thing that had been added there was a light blusher on her cheeks and a glossy pink lipstick on her lips. Her hair and face were not the only changes though. She actually had a figure. She was wearing a sleeveless, silk sundress in a light turquoise color that ended several inches above her knees and a low heeled pair of beige strappy sandals. She looked pretty, fresh and about ten years younger.

As her sister poked an elbow in her side, Suzy realized she’d been staring at Ella for several minutes without saying a word. Ella looked as if she were ready to bolt, obviously taking her silence for disapproval. Suzy reached out and took one of Ella’s hands between her own. “You look beautiful Ella and you know I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it. Now come on in and let’s get a drink. I want to hear all about your make-over.”

A smile broke out on Ella’s face as they all started towards the living room. The doorbell chiming once again stopped them. Suzy rolled her eyes, saying, “Geez who is that?”

Claire stepped forward and walked towards the door saying, “That’s probably Declan; I hope you don’t mind but Jason invited him. He thought it would be good for him to meet a few people from Danvers since he’s new in town.” As she finished her sentence, Claire opened the door and Suzy could see a huge figure filling the door-way.

As Declan walked inside, Suzy couldn’t help the murmur of appreciation that escaped her lips. Beth and Ella both looked at her when the Mmmm, escaped her lips. She arched an eyebrow and said under her breath, “Oh come on, you were both thinking the same thing. There is nothing wrong with appreciating a good piece of art work.”

Claire led Declan over to them and took care of making the introductions. As Claire kept the conversation flowing smoothly with small talk, Suzy took a moment to study the new addition to Danvers. He was another prime piece of eye-candy, there was no denying that. He was similar to Nick, Gray and Jason with dark hair and tanned skin. You could not be a woman and not appreciate the masculine beauty of Declan Stone. There was also almost a darkness about him that both pulled you in and made you want to run. Suzy had a feeling that there was a lot more to him than any of them knew. If there was one thing she was sure of, Declan would bring variety to their little group because she just knew that he’d never conformed to normal a day in his life.

They all made their way out onto the back deck where Jason and Nick were drinking a beer and arguing over who could grill the best steak. Beth had made a pitcher of daiquiris for the women and a virgin daiquiri for Claire. Suzy hobbled over to a seat and Beth helped her put her foot up onto a stool. Declan walked over to join the men and Claire motioned Ella to join the ladies at the table.

Claire smiled at her saying, “You must be glad that Gray will be home tomorrow. I know he’s been giving Jason hell about being gone so long. I’m glad we have Declan now to spread some of the travel to. Jason said he’s flying out tomorrow to take Gray’s place.”

Suzy leaned over and took her friends hand. “You don’t worry about us. I’ve had two babysitters with me the whole time. Jason needs to stick close to you. I’m afraid you might pop at any second.” Wrinkling her nose in confusion, she continued, “You don’t think it’s getting like over-done in there, do you?”

Claire burst out laughing. She’d so missed seeing her friend at the office every day. Suzy could make her laugh when nothing else in the world could. From the expression on her friend’s face, she could tell that she was dead serious as well. “No, you can’t overcook them, Suz, I think they have a self-timer or something that lets you know when they’re ready. It’s pretty normal for a first baby to go past its due date so it could still be quite some time yet.” As she moved around trying to get comfortable in the chair, Jason walked up behind her and helped her put a pillow behind her back. He reached down and dropped a kiss on her lips, caressing her cheek with his hand before returning to talk with the men. Suzy was certain there wasn’t a dry eye at the table at the obvious love that sparkled between Claire and Jason.

Suzy cleared her throat and steered the conversation to Danvers. She got caught up on the latest gossip just as the steaks were finished, and Beth went to get the roasted potatoes and the salad from the refrigerator. Ella went to help her and soon they had the table set and everyone settled into a chair. Suzy sat between Claire and Beth with Nick on Beth’s other side, and Jason on Claire’s other side. Ella somehow ended up sitting between Nick and Declan. She looked like she hoped the deck would open up and swallow her whole. She saw that Beth had also noticed the same thing and neither of them could figure out a way to save Ella from the seating arrangement without embarrassing her.

Luckily, Nick could always be counted on to keep the conversation going and, as if he’d also noticed Ella’s discomfort, he took great pains to draw her into the conversation and make her comfortable. Suzy had to admit, Gray’s brother was an all-around great guy. She thought she caught Declan studying Ella a few times from under his lashes but it was so fleeting she couldn’t be sure. Ella was nowhere near in his league; he’d chew her up and spit her out and that Suzy would never allow.

The evening passed far too quickly and Suzy was sorry to see everyone leave. As she went into the kitchen to get a glass of water before bed, Nick’s back was to her and his conversation was completely out of character for the Nick she knew. “Listen, you nut job, you better never call me again. If it were me, you would be rotting in jail somewhere and if I have anything to do with it that will happen sooner rather than later. I meant what I said, don’t ever call me, the sound of your voice makes me sick.” With that last line, Nick roughly hit the end button on his call and swung around to leave the kitchen. Surprise colored his face as he saw an amused Suzy standing there.

“Wow, sounds like you have yourself a stalker there, Nick.”

A strained laugh erupted from him as he lightly said, “Yeah you know how it goes. Some women just have a hard time letting go of all of this. Sometimes you just can’t be Mr. Nice.”

Suzy laughed along with him, but was still unsure about exactly what she’d walked in on. Nick was far too nice and easy going to let someone push him to the point of the rudeness that she’d heard. Whatever this woman had done, it was bad. Maybe she should mention it to Gray when he returned; she hated to think that Nick had to deal with something that was obviously upsetting him so much. They both said their goodnights and Suzy settled in to wait for Gray’s call.

As her cell phone rang, a thrill shot through her body. If a ring tone could turn her on this much, imagine how it would feel to have Gray in her bed tomorrow night. She could practically have an orgasm just thinking about it. She answered the phone smiling as she heard Gray’s voice.

“Hey baby, how are you?”

“Hi yourself, I’m good, how about you?”

With a chuckle, Gray said, “I’m much better for hearing your voice. God I can’t wait to see you tomorrow. I wish I could have gotten an earlier flight out.”

“That’s ok, all that matters is you will be home tomorrow.” Dropping her voice to a whisper, she continued, “You better get some rest tonight because we aren’t going to get much sleep here tomorrow night, big boy.” Suzy smiled in satisfaction at the groan she heard on the other end of the line.

“You’re killing me babe. Everyone here probably already thinks I have some issues. I seem to keep a hard-on and I know you love it, you little witch.”

Suzy laughed, admitting, “You’re right, I do. Why should you be any better off than I am? I ache for you every minute of the day Gray; I need you inside me to ease that ache.”

After taking a deep breath, Gray said, “If we don’t change the subject, the people next-door might have something to talk about in the morning.”

“Yeah, I agree. Nick and Beth probably don’t want to hear me in here alone moaning. Oh, speaking of Nick, does he have some kind of girlfriend problem?”

“Baby, this is Nick we are talking about, so I’m sure he always has some girlfriend. As for problems, why do you ask? He hasn’t had anyone over has he?”

“No, nothing like that. I walked in the kitchen on him this evening and he was having a rather heated exchange with someone on the phone. He was threatening to have them arrested if they didn’t leave him alone. I think he might have messed with the wrong woman this time.”

Gray was silent for so long, she thought they had lost their cell phone signal. “Hellooooo, Gray are you still there?”

“Oh, sorry sweetheart, Jason was beeping in on the other line. Don’t worry about Nick; I’m sure he will be fine. I’ll talk to him about it when I get back. I’ve got to run and make a few calls before it gets too late. I can’t wait to see you tomorrow.”

“I can’t wait either, Gray. Please be careful on your travels.” As Suzy was starting to end the call, she heard Gray add one more thing as he hung up.

“Oh and Suzy, it wouldn’t offend me in the least if you were completely naked when I get home.”

With a smile, Suzy set her cell phone on the bedside table and snuggled down in the bed. She could almost imagine Gray’s arms around her as she tried to tap down the desire that threatened to consume her.

Chapter Thirteen

Suzy was in a great mood when she woke the next morning. Beth had helped her shower and dress earlier and after taking a few business related calls; she barged into the kitchen making Nick and Beth jump apart from where they stood next to each other at the counter. Oh great, I probably interrupted yet another argument. Can’t these two be in a room together for more than a few minutes without squaring off? “Good morning, fellow campers, how are we today?”

Nick flashed his usual killer smile and said, “Well look at you this morning, sunshine. If I didn’t know better, I’d think someone already got lucky last night.”

Beth started choking, spitting her coffee all over herself and the counter. Suzy walked over and whacked her on the back until she could get her breath. “Geez, sis, it wasn’t that funny. Are you ok now?”