Page 29 of Mac (Demented Souls #7)

B y the time Elyse woke the second time, just before dinnertime, she felt much better. She wasn't back to one hundred percent but that would take a couple days.

"Feeling better?" Mac asked as she sat at the kitchen table watching him fix the two of them dinner. She'd started it herself, but he'd taken over and insisted she sit.

"Much. But I could get used to this being waited on." She shot him a grin so he would know she was teasing. At least a little.

"You look better. Almost back to normal."

"I'm not quite back. I'd say eighty percent. By tomorrow morning I'll be about ninety percent."

"Damn. Does it always take that long to recover?"

"No." She watched him move around, then look back and forth. "What do you need?"

Mac stared at the stove a moment then turned to look at her. "Do you have any potatoes?"

"They're in the pantry." She pointed toward a door on the other side of the table from where she sat. He disappeared through the door, was gone a couple minutes then re-appeared.

"Wow, you've got that place stocked!"

Elyse laughed. "I do." She kept an eye on him as he continued cooking.

"You were telling me about getting over a headache. You said this isn't normal, but you seem to know how it's going to work."

"I do." She shrugged. "This may seem normal, but it's not.

" Elyse paused trying to find the words.

"There's a pattern, but this was an uncommon one, in that it was a lot worse than they usually are.

I can usually knock them down with one dose of my rescue medication.

This one was so much worse, that it will likely follow the same pattern, but there's farther to go, so it will take longer. "

Mac stared at her for a second, then nodded and turned back to the stove where the food needed his attention. "I guess you'll be going back to work tomorrow?"

Elyse glanced down at the table then looked back up. "Yeah. I've been off for two days. People have had to cover for me. I don't like it, but I've learned to deal with it while I'm sick. I can't justify not going back once I'm able and leaving someone else to cover for me when there's no need."

Mac nodded. "As an employer I wish there were more people out there like that.

As someone who's seen you through this, I wish you'd take another day.

" He shook his head slowly, without looking at her.

"I don't know. I guess I'm just afraid you'll have a relapse or something.

" He turned and looked at her, spatula held upright in one hand. "Does that happen?"

"Once in a while, but not often, and for me, usually only if I push myself too fast."

"See, so you should take another day."

Elyse took a deep breath and let it out in a rush.

She'd been half afraid that was the tact he would take when she'd admitted that relapses do happen, though the more she thought about it, she couldn't remember the last time she'd had one.

She'd experienced it, she knew, but she'd gotten better at managing her migraines and the recovery, over the years since she'd started experiencing them and she couldn'trecall when the last time she'd had a relapse was.

"Pushing too fast would have been insisting I could go back today, despite the fog and my brain being so slow.

I'm sure I'm not up to speed yet, but it no longer feels like I'm slogging through pudding for every thought.

I feel pretty good this evening, no worse than after a full day of work.

A good night's sleep tonight and I'll be feeling even better tomorrow. "

Mac shot her a look that she interpretedto mean that he wasn't sure he believed her, but he wasn't going to argue, at least not right now.

She could handle that.She tilted her head to one side and let her gaze slide down his body.

At some point while she'd been sleeping, he'd gone home and changed clothes, as the t-shirt he wore now was a dark colored band t-shirt, and the jeans were different too.

She suspected he'd showered but didn't know if it had been here or at his place.

She didn't care but wanted to move up against him and take a deep breath.

She wanted a whiff of his scent. For some reason having him near, holding her or just close, made her feel good.

She found herself moving close to try to pick up a hint of it when she least expected it.

She watched him cook and found it hard to take her eyes off him.

The t-shirt fit well without being the second skin like too many guys wore these days, the ones who spent hours working on keeping in shape and wanted to show off their body at all times.

Sure, those guys were fun to look at, but Elyse found they were typically lacking in anything to talk about but exercise, working out and their twisted ideas of nutrition to keep their bodies in peak condition.

She found guys like that boring. Hell, she'd found most guys her age boring, maybe that was why she was still single at thirty.

Boring was the last thing she found Mac.

She had yet to find a subject he didn't know at least a little about, and there was a lot she didn't know much of but was more than willing to listen to him tell her about it.

He was far from boring and Elyse was half convinced that made him look even more attractive to her.

Even if she hadn't admired him from afar since she'd first spotted him several months before.

"You still with me?" Mac's voice drew her back to the present.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Elyse glance up to find him watching her.

"You went quiet. I was afraid you'd fallen asleep on me again. You keep doing that today."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You needed it. You were recovering. I was just checking to see if you're ready to eat."

"I am. I'm starving." She shifted in her seat, then moved her chair so it faced the table instead of turned half away so she could watch him.

"I hope you like it. I can make a few things but I'm not the best in the kitchen.

" He slid a plate onto the table in front of her, setting his on the other side of the table before turning away to grab a couple other things.

"It's part of why I eat out so much, or at the clubhouse where I can get someone else to cook for me. "

"It looks good." She glanced down at the plate.

She wasn't sure what it was, but it smelled heavenly.

After a bite, she knew her nose hadn't led her wrong.

Flavor burst into her mouth and she didn't know if it was because of his cooking or she was just that hungry, but it was one of the best things she could remember eating in a long time.

They ate without talking until Elyse pushed her plate back and leaned back in her chair.

"Want more?" Mac asked.

"No, thanks. It tasted amazing and I'd love more, but I'm stuffed." She rubbed her slightly mounded belly for emphasis.

He gave her a long look, as if trying to figure out if she was telling the truth, then took the last few bites from his own plate before standing, picking up both plates and taking them to the sink.

"You want me to head home after cleaning up or you want to find something to watch?" He ran water in the dishes in the sink and opened the dishwasher.

Elyse was surprised to find the machine empty. The last she remembered was turning it on before work the other day, then she'd come home, and things had gone downhill from there. The thing should have been full, of clean dishes, sure but still, full. He must have emptied it at some point.

"You don't need to clean up. You've done enough for me; I can take care of this.

" She stood and moved to take over. Mac faced her, arms folded across his chest and a look on his face that dared her to challenge him.

Some other time, she'd love to, but still a little tired, despite all the extra sleep, she decided to let it go tonight.

"I'll let you put away the food, mostly because I'm not sure where you keep containers, but I've got the rest of this." He turned back to the sink and started loading the dishes he'd used while cooking.

Elyse stood for a moment, frowning at his back before going to the pantry where she kept her storage containers.