Lucas slept for four hours. This time, it was a natural sleep, the restorative kind.
Mia paced the room. She had a dilemma. If she called the doctors now, the news of his awakening would spread. Julian would know. Katherine would know. The chaos would return.
But keeping a conscious patient hidden was dangerous.
She decided to wait. He needed to be stronger before he faced the sharks.
Around noon, Lucas stirred. He tried to sit up, but his core muscles failed him. He fell back with a groan of frustration.
Mia walked over. "Don't force it. Your muscles have been inactive for ninety days."
Lucas looked at her. The memory of choking her returned. He saw the faint red marks on her neck. He didn't apologize.
"Phone," he demanded. "I need my lawyer."
"No," Mia said calmly.
Lucas glared. "Excuse me?"
"You're legally incapacitated. If you call a lawyer now, the Board will freeze everything until a medical tribunal clears you. That takes weeks. In those weeks, Julian will liquidate the assets he's been targeting."
Lucas stopped. He processed this. His intelligence was intact.
"How do you know about Julian's targets?"
"I have ears," Mia said. "And your cousin is loud when he's drunk."
There was a knock at the door.
"Mrs. Kensington?" It was Ms. Ellis, the head housekeeper. "I'm coming in to sponge bath the Master."
Lucas's eyes widened in horror. He was naked under the sheets, weak, and helpless. The indignity of being bathed by a servant while conscious was unbearable to him.
"No!" Mia called out. "I mean... I'll do it. I'm already doing it. Leave the water outside."
"But Madam, it's my job..."
"I said leave it!" Mia injected a tone of imperious entitlement into her voice.
Ms. Ellis grumbled, but the sound of the basin being set down followed. Footsteps retreated.
Mia opened the door, grabbed the basin and towels, and locked it again.
She turned to Lucas. He looked like he wanted to murder someone.
"Don't look at me like that," Mia said, dipping a cloth into the warm water. "Would you prefer Ms. Ellis and her gossip circle knowing you're awake?"
Lucas grit his teeth. He turned his head away, staring at the wall. "Just get it over with."
Mia wrung out the cloth. She pulled the sheet down to his waist.
The air in the room shifted. It became thick, charged.
She wiped his chest. His skin was hot. Her fingers brushed against his pectorals.
Lucas flinched. His muscles rippled under her touch.
"Relax," Mia murmured. "I'm not going to hurt you."
"I don't like being touched," Lucas said tightly.
"I noticed." She moved the cloth down his abdomen. The definition of his abs was still visible, though softer than before.
Mia felt a strange heat in her own cheeks. She was a doctor. She had seen hundreds of naked bodies. But this was different. This was intimate.
Lucas was breathing harder. He wasn't just angry; he was reacting. His body was betraying him.
Mia quickly finished his upper body and covered him. "I'll do your legs."
She moved to the foot of the bed.
"Why?" Lucas asked suddenly.
Mia looked up, her hands on his shin. "Why what?"
"Why save me? Why protect me from Julian? You're a Sterling. You should be helping them pick my bones."
Mia paused. She thought of the photo in her sleeve. The baby with the crescent birthmark.
"Let's just say," Mia said, looking him in the eye, "I have a vested interest in the Kensington stock price remaining high."
Lucas studied her. He didn't believe her. "Everyone has a price, Mia. I'll find out yours."
"I'm sure you will." She finished drying his feet. "But until then, we're roommates."
