The Look of Love. Crystal B. Bright

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СКАЧАТЬ the window. She opened the blinds to discover heavy sleeting rain pelting against the glass. Something else caught her attention. Across from her, she saw Gunnar in what must be the bedroom.

      He walked around shirtless. From her vantage point, it looked like he had a towel wrapped around his waist. He must have just gotten out of a bath or shower, too. His blond hair looked almost dark brown as it lay wet against his face. He pushed his hand over his hair to get it out of his eyes.

      Eboni had to lick her lips as stared at his shiny body. His muscles seemed bigger and more defined. In her head, she calculated the number of steps it would take to get to his room.

      In that moment, Gunnar glanced over. He did a double take when he caught Eboni staring at him. Instead of closing his blinds, he returned her stare with an intense one. He braced his hands against the window pane.

      Eboni’s breathing increased. She chewed on her lower lip as her body warred with her to go over to see him. Then she thought about their last conversation before he’d left to start his fighting career. She recalled him walking away from her without a thought in his head about what she had going on in her life at that time. He didn’t care about her.

      Eboni had to love herself more not to get caught in his life again. She reached up and twisted a rod next to the blinds to close them again. She had to stay as far away from that man as possible or she could risk another heartbreak. She couldn’t go through that again.

      * * * *

      Gunnar should be filled with a renewed spirit. After visiting with his mother last night and seeing her full of hope, he should have gone into surgery day feeling positive. Instead, he felt helpless. If he could, he wanted to be in the operating room with the doctor and staff even if wiping sweat off the doctor’s brow had been his only function.

      It didn’t surprise him that Eboni came to the hospital. She did care about Elizabeth, almost as much as Gunnar and his brothers.

      He refused to let Eboni’s harsh words from yesterday cloud his mind. She assessed him based on his actions as a young, dumb eighteen-year-old who had only focused on himself. She wouldn’t even give him a chance to show a different side of himself. Gunnar had to concentrate on his mother right now.

      Gunnar sat in the room where his mother would be returning after her procedure. His phone and hers had not stopped ringing since the surgery had started. He reassured the parties on the other line that Queen Elizabeth would be okay and, no, she hadn’t gotten out of surgery yet, but they had hope she would be fine.

      Gunnar’s knee bounced as he kept his stare to the floor. That same glazed-over feeling he would get during his fights happened again. He concentrated on a small dark fleck in the pattern on the tile floor. His mind went blank except for that black speck. If he allowed his thoughts to gain freedom, he would only think of his mother, the surgery, and the possible consequences.

      “Gunnar!”

      His name being shouted snapped him out of his concentration. He peered up and stared at Eboni who sat across from him.

      “You want something to eat or drink?” She held up her purse.

      He shook his head, too afraid to speak until he got confirmation of his mother’s condition. Gunnar squeezed his hands into fists, trying to relieve the ache he felt in them. Right now, he would kill to have a heavy bag to work out some of his anxiety.

      “What if she doesn’t…” He let the words trail off.

      “Hey, hey.” Eboni went to him and crouched down to meet him at eye level. “Don’t think that way. They don’t call her Queen Elizabeth because she wears a lot of jewelry.”

      Gunnar peered up and stared into Eboni’s soulful eyes.

      “She’s a strong woman. You have to think positive.” She kept her stare on him as though trying to make sure he understood every word she’d said.

      Gunnar took notice of her slender neck, her full lips, her smooth skin, all things that he shouldn’t have become aware of in that moment, but he couldn’t help himself. The longer she kept him hypnotized in her stare, the more he thought about their past, the kissing, the deep emotions, the intense connection.

      Then he remembered last night. She’d been staring at him after he’d taken a much-needed cold shower. Gunnar couldn’t get Eboni out of his thoughts. She consumed his every waking moment, exactly like when they had first dated.

      Seeing her in a robe with her hair pulled up into a messy bun, he wanted to run over to the house and pull her hair down from the bun and make love to her.

      He swallowed hard. His hands itched to touch her.

      As he started to open his mouth to say something, anything, orderlies wheeled in the bed that carried his mother. Gunnar stood along with Eboni, who moved back from him so that they could slide her bed between the two of them.

      Elizabeth remained conscious but looked tired, evident from the bags under her eyes and her pale skin tone.

      “I made it.” Elizabeth smiled. “That room was so cold. They were trying to freeze me.”

      The same doctor who had spoken to them yesterday returned.

      “Looks like the surgery went okay.” Gunnar smiled.

      The petite woman’s expression remained serious and somber. “We didn’t install a stent.”

      The smile melted from Gunnar’s face. “You were gone a while. Why didn’t you do the procedure?”

      “We found another artery behind her heart that is also completely blocked. Installing stents will not help. At this point, we need to talk about doing bypass surgery. At least double, but it could be triple.”

      Clutching his mother’s hand gave Gunnar the strength to remain standing. His world spun out of control. He gazed down at her. “Ma?”

      Gunnar needed to hear her to know that she would be okay.

      His mother frowned. “I’m going to have a scar. I won’t be able to wear my dress with the plunging neckline.”

      Gunnar laughed through his impending tears. He kissed her forehead. “I think that might be the least of your worries.”

      “I know.” She became solemn as she spoke to him.

      “We’ll hold her for a couple of days to watch her. She’ll go through a healthy heart care class.”

      “What?” Elizabeth’s bottom jaw unhinged.

      “Mom, you wouldn’t go to a class like that voluntarily. Catching you while you’re in bed would be the only way.” Gunnar squeezed his mother’s hand.

      Elizabeth sucked her teeth and turned away from her oldest son.

      “If all goes well, she should be home by the weekend.” Dr. Patel typed something in the wall-mounted computer in the room.

      “When is her surgery scheduled?” Eboni patted Elizabeth on her shoulder as she talked to the doctor.

      “I’d like to do it in the next couple of weeks. I don’t want to wait too СКАЧАТЬ