STAY

Eleven

The next day or two passed quietly. Resting, helping him with his therapy, people dropped by to visit him. To talk about work, to see how he was feeling. He'd lie on the floor and have me do his exercises while they were around. I thought it strange at first, why wait till there were people there? "You know we can do these any time, you don't need to do them while you have friends around" I said, after a couple of them had just left. He smiled, "I like having you around, but I know you probably feel ... out of place sitting around with them" he explained. "I don't mind giving you privacy, I don't want them to think I'm monopolizing your time" I said quickly. "Gigi, stop worrying about what people think! You're here to do a job, that job is to help me, so you can to do it, whenever and wherever you have to, plus it makes them feel like they need to leave and I don't have to appear rude by kicking them out" he added smiling. I nodded, "ah, there it is" I laughed. He stayed silent, but grinned. He hadn't said a word about what had happened between us. Initially I thought perhaps he wanted to forget about it and pretend it never happened. But it seemed he had other plans. He would, at random, stop me from whatever I was doing and kiss me softly. Or play with my hair, run his fingers up and down my arm while we were sitting around. It was a slow, subtle seduction he was working on. One particular occasion, a soft kiss had turned into a full on make out session. I was pretty much perched on his lap, my hands were gripping his hair and I was dizzy from breathing so fast. I had to stop myself from grinding myself on his thigh, I was so turned on. He gently pulled away, taking my hands and extracting them from his long luscious locks. Then he gently caressed my cheek and said, "let's take it slow", "but ...." I tried to reach up again but he held my hands firmly, shaking his head. I nodded and exhaled frustratedly, he smiled, that beautiful smile that made me want to fall over, knowing full well he was driving me crazy. I wasn't sure how much more I could take. His brother had come over later that evening, so I bid them both goodnight, hoping he might need me later that night. But despite waiting up, I'd fallen asleep, I hadn't even heard him come up to his room. I hoped tonight would be different. The next afternoon, we were at the hospital having a check up, the surgeon was very pleased with his progress. He told him to keep taking it slow and he'd be doing great in no time. "Told you, keep doing what I tell you, don't try and rush it" I said as we walked out. He nodded, "I'm not rushing anything these days" he said wryly, I turned to smile at him, biting my lip. His phone started to ring and he stopped to answer it leaning on the wall. I wandered a little further along to give him some privacy when I heard a voice. "Well hey there stranger! Where have you been hiding?" I turned to see Drew heading towards me. "Oh, hi, um hi, I've been having some time off, helping a friend" I said nervously. I did not want him to know what I had really been doing. "When are you coming back?" He asked curiously. I shrugged, "uh I'm not sure, just depends, I've got some vacation time coming up, so it might not be for a while" I lied. I needed to get away from him, suddenly he was giving me a vibe that I had never noticed before, it was bordering on creepy. And what had I seen in him? He really wasn't that good looking. "In that case, we should get together for a drink before you go, I'll message you .." he started to say, before I could reply I heard Jared, "Genevieve, are you ready?" he said tersely, walking past me, slowing down so I'd follow. He had put on his sunglasses, with his cap on as well, he was a little less unrecognizable. "Yes, let's go, see you around Drew" I said and turned on my heel following him, just barely seeing the confused expression on Drew's face. "What's wrong?" I asked lightly, catching sight of the frown on his face. "What were you talking to him about, are you going out on a date?" he said, he sounded annoyed. It was my turn to frown, "I'm sure you could hear everything that was said, and me agreeing to a date was not one of them" I said with a sarcastic, sweet tone. He said nothing to that and we kept walking. We got to the car and I opened the door for him, waiting for him to get in and closed it. I jumped into the drivers side and buckled up. "We'll be home soon, you can lie down and relax" I said starting the engine. He turned to look at me and nodded again, this time with a tired sigh. "You never lose your patience with me" he said. "That's because I know you don't mean to be grumpy or rude, it's because you're in pain and it's hard to be reasonable when you're in pain" I said shrugging. He slowly smiled, a warm, sensual smile that had me melting. "I have something to talk to you about" he said lightly. I glanced at him then back at the road. "What is it?" I asked curiously. "It can wait till we're home" he said. "You've got to be kidding? We're at least 25 minutes from home, I don't have that kind of patience" I exclaimed. "It's not that far you can wait" he said. I huffed in annoyance. "I want to know now, please?" I said sweetly. "No, in any case Emma is coming over to discuss it so we have to wait for her" he said. I turned to look at him crestfallen. "Do you .... don't you need me anymore?" I said, barely a whisper, I could feel the tears pricking my eyes and I bit my suddenly trembling lip. "No, I promise you no, that's not it, you're not going anywhere" he said quickly reaching out, taking my hand and bringing it to his lips. I nodded slowly and drove the rest of the way in silence, he kept chatting about random things. The traffic, the juice bar at the local market, just silly things to try and pass the time. I merely nodded and made small noises to show I was listening. I was too nervous to speak. As we pulled in through his big gates I saw Emma's car in the drive. My heart started thumping, what the hell could she have to talk to me about? It had to be something bad, despite him saying it wasn't. He was just too gutless to tell me himself, so he was getting her to do it. "Hey, are you getting out or what?" he said interrupting my racing thoughts. He had come over to the drivers side and opened my door. I blinked and turned to look at him, he was smiling. "Genevieve, it's not bad news, stop looking so worried" he said reaching out to stroke my cheek and he leaned in kissing me softly. I nodded and slid out of the seat closing the door. We walked in and found her sitting on a couch, on a laptop in the vast lounge room. "Hey guys, how did you go at the doctor?" she asked looking up at us. "Great, everything is looking good, right Gigi?" said Jared. I nodded, "yes, you're doing really well" I said clearing my throat. "That's good news, you're on track then?" she asked Jared. "Yep, pretty sure I'll be good to go" he answered happily. I looked from one to the other curiously wondering what the hell they were talking about. He gently pushed me toward the opposite couch and we both sat down. He winced, "should I get you something?" I asked. "No, I'll be okay, actually, I think I'll lie down, can you grab the mat from the other room?" he said. I nodded jumping up and striding off, finding the yoga mat and walking back in. I laid it on the floor and helped him lie down on it. I sat at his feet took off his shoes and socks and started to massage them. He liked it and I had come to love doing it, it was weird, I never ever liked anyone's feet before, but it seemed I liked every part of him. "So Genevieve, Jared is starting a film, in about a month and a half, it's a fairly long shoot, maybe three months or so" she said, I nodded, so he was leaving. I sighed, he'd go and I'd be back to my old boring life. "That's great, you'll enjoy being back at work" I said trying to sound positive. He lifted his head up and grinned at me, "Emma keep going" he said. "Right, so, because he's had this operation, the  producers have insisted that he has to have a medic/assistant with him. Well he has assistants, that'll be Shayla and myself alternating, but he needs a medic" she continued. "Like a doctor? Don't they have them on set anyway?" I asked. "Yes they do, but he needs his own, we've asked them if they'd accept a nurse, they agreed" she said. I frowned, still wondering why they were telling me. "Would you be interested in continuing your contract and traveling with Jared? As his medic/assistant?" She said questioningly. I was stunned, this was the last thing I expected to hear. "You're kidding right?" I asked surprised. She shook her head, "no I'm not, he knows you, you've been with him from the beginning, you're the logical choice" she said. "Where is it? I mean where will it be filming?" I said looking at him finally. "Georgia, London and Romania, not in that order, say you'll do it, I need you, I don't want anyone else Gigi" he said pleadingly. I bit my lip, wondering what I should do, in the last hour I had come to the realization that I didn't want to leave him yet. Here was the perfect opportunity to remain with him. It took me all of 10 seconds to consider it. I slowly nodded, "okay, sure, I guess" I said. He grinned and nodded at Emma. "Great, that's great, I'll have a new contract drawn up, you'll have traveling expenses etc .." I cut her off. "No leave it, I don't need extra money" I said. "Emma, just sort it out" he said dismissively, I knew that was my last word in the matter. She glanced at him then back at me, giving me a small knowing smile. I sighed and shrugged, feeling my cheeks heat up. Oh boy this was going to be interesting.