"You're right. You know I'm in for anything to help out that center. I know that after your mother passed, that place--"

"And your shop," Eboni interjected.

"Helped you growing up." She patted the mattress beside her. "Right now, I'm a little stuck. This is something that needs to happen soon, right?"

Eboni nodded. When a distressed expression crossed Elizabeth's face, Eboni had a change of heart. "Look, don't worry about it. I'll figure something out. I shouldn't have said anything." She waved her hands and backed up.

"If I wasn't out of action, I would love to help you." Elizabeth's eyes lit up. "I'm hoping Gunnar comes to town. If he does, he can help. Wouldn't it be great for you to see him again?"

Eboni swallowed hard. Did she want to see the man who'd been her first love? She wanted to hate him. He'd had a goal like she had when they'd severed their relationship. She and Gunnar had stubborn streaks as long as the universe.

Before she could answer, the hospital room door burst open. Encompassing the entire frame stood Gunnar. He had his dirty-blond hair pulled back into a ponytail. His crystal-blue eyes drew her attention to his strong face. His jaw looked like it had been chiseled from stone. He looked beautiful and scary all at once, especially with the addition of a black eye.

Eboni couldn't look in his face. She refused to watch any of his matches, but she imagined that his current hard expression matched what he would look like before each of his fights.

Her gaze volleyed between his full, very kissable lips and his barrel-sized chest. The more she stared at him, the more her heart accelerated. This man had given her the deepest heartache she'd ever had. Within a millisecond, she found herself still wanting him. She could kick herself for being so stupid now.

Eboni didn't remember Gunnar being that immense. Seeing him again made her want to stand up to him like one of his opponents. He'd caused her to cry more than she cared to admit. The hell she would allow him to make her feel less than her best. If confronted, she would let him know that.

"Ma, what's going on with you, and who's this daughter you said you have now?" Gunnar's voice boomed throughout the room, and probably all down the hall as well.

Guess the man came for a fight. She wouldn't back down.

Chapter 2.

Gunnar threw his bag on the floor and marched over to his mother. As he suspected, his Queen Elizabeth had her regal face painted. Not a blemish or a wrinkle could be found. As usual, she wore a ring on almost every finger and had silver and gold bracelets dangling from her wrists. She lifted her arms to accept him into a hug and he remembered her telltale jingling that he'd loved listening to as a kid.

Seeing his strong mother in a hospital bed crushed his heart. He could only imagine what she felt inside beneath her tough exterior. The closer he got to her, the softer his steps became until he reached her. He kissed her cheek as she cupped his face.

The feeling of home came flooding back to him in that one touch. All at once, his breathing slowed. His heartbeat decreased in its speed. He'd gotten what he'd wanted since talking to her last night.

"What are you doing here?" He held her hand. Before his mother could answer, he peered across the room and spotted a woman sitting in a chair. "Who are you?"

The woman with an almond-butter skin tone blinked at his inquiry. Her hazel eyes seemed so familiar to him. It had been a long time since he'd been home. She reminded him of Eboni Danielson. No way could she be his old love.

When they'd dated back in high school, Eboni had carried a voluptuous frame that he'd enjoyed touching and holding. In her structured wool coat, this woman looked to be about fifty to seventy-five pounds lighter than his high school girlfriend.

Back in high school, Eboni had light brown hair that she'd kept in loose, natural curls. Once Gunnar had gotten his act together as far as his attitude, Eboni had allowed him to experiment with her hair. He created different concoctions in his mother's kitchen. Besides his mother and his brothers, no one had trusted him that much.

The woman here had jet-black hair that she kept in waves that cascaded down her shoulders and back. He'd been involved in the hair business with his mother long enough to spot relaxed hair with generous amounts of hair extensions.

Gunnar never understood a woman's desire to show a false front. If it made this woman feel good, he would respect that. He had to bring his attention back to his mother when the woman licked her lips.

"Darling, you remember Eboni? Good Lord, the two of you were inseparable in school." Elizabeth pointed to Eboni.

This time, Gunnar had to blink. Now that he stared at her, he saw a glimmer of that woman who had turned him down flat when he'd asked her to join him for his dream.

Eboni stood. He got to assess her from head to toe, especially when she removed her coat. Without the outerwear, he saw how fit she'd become, although her breasts had stayed large, firm, and amazing. Wearing a long-sleeved black turtleneck and charcoal-colored slacks, she resembled a copy of his mother with less jewelryand fake hair.

Eboni walked closer to Elizabeth's bed, and Gunnar couldn't tear his stare from her. He tried to swallow but his throat had become dry. He'd fought absolute beasts in the ring and his nerves never got to him. Yet a woman he hadn't seen in years managed to make him feel powerless.

"Eboni, I barely recognized you." Standing on the opposite side of the bed from her, he presented his hand across his mother's body to shake her hand.

"Boy, you had better walk around that bed and give your friend a hug." Elizabeth swatted Gunnar on his backside, propelling him to move around the bed.

Keeping his face hard, he stepped up to her. At the last moment, she turned to him and held out her arms, a loud, long, audible sigh punctuating her move.

Great, she wanted this even less than him. A small part of him felt a little disheartened at her attitude. What did he expect? They hadn't parted on amicable terms. She'd called him a coward.

He embraced her. At once, her honey scent wafted up to his nose. The sweet aroma had him thinking of licking her from her head to her toes.

Her body had still retained some of its softness, although he found her back to be hard as well as her arms. He rested his hand on her waist, dangerously close to her ass that he wanted to touch, to squeeze.

At that moment, he felt a subtle throbbing below his belt. It had been quite a long time since he'd held a woman. At this rate, if he continued holding her, she would know just how long it had been.

Gunnar released his embrace and resumed his spot on the other side of the bed. He hoped he didn't look like he'd run, but in his mind he'd probably sprinted.

"Good to see you again." He didn't smile, still trying to wrap his mind around the surreal events.

"Nice to see you visiting your mother, Gunny." Eboni did smile, showing all her teeth.

The expression that he'd likened to a hungry shark along with the childhood nickname disarmed him. "Haven't heard that name in years." A smile threatened to peek through, but he kept it suppressed.

A tickle ran over his belly as soon as she smiled. A woman scorned shouldn't be this friendly to the man who'd burned her.

He couldn't think of that. He would be spending time with his mother, not Eboni, a decision his body detested him for making.

He gazed down at his mother. "Why are you here?"

"Caught the vapors." Elizabeth waved her hand with its manicured fingernails in front of her face.

"Don't give me that. What happened?"

When his mother slowed to answer, Eboni quickly piped in.

"She fainted at Press 'N Curl." Eboni glanced down at Elizabeth. "I brought her here. They've been running tests but haven't said what they've found yet."

Gunnar nodded at her. "When was the last time you went to a doctor's appointment?"

His mother huffed. "Doctors are for sick people. I'm not sick. I probably didn't eat enough that morning. I'm trying to lose these stubborn five pounds to fit into a gorgeous gold sequin dress I made."

Gunnar ran his hand over his face. "Ma, you made the dress for yourself. Why didn't you make it the right size?"

Her eyes widened as she glared at him. "I did make it the right size. I can't help it if the materials shrank when I sewed it."

He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. "Right. The materials shrank."

"You know nothing about making clothes, not like your brother, Thane. He had a gift."

"A gift? Yeah, like dodging me. I've been trying to call him since yesterday and he's not answering." Gunnar wanted to call his baby brother a brat, but that was rule number two with his mother. No name-calling.

"Leave him alone. He's busy. He'll be starting spring training soon." Elizabeth turned to Eboni. "Baseball. America's favorite pastime."

Eboni nodded. "I've seen him play. He's very talented."

Gunnar glared at Eboni. A pang of jealousy punched him in the gut. It shouldn't have. Gunnar had no plans of getting back together with Eboni. Two stubborn people together never worked.

"Gideon has time to answer his phone, and he's about to play in the Super Bowl." Gunnar smiled at his brother's accomplishment.

"I'm glad you're here." Elizabeth nodded.

"I'm happy to be with you, too, Ma. Now you have one of your sons and your daughter here." He nodded toward Eboni. "Did I miss a reunion somewhere?"

"You and your brothers weren't here. Eboni has been like a daughter to me. She could have been a real daughter-in-law had someone done the right thing."

Gunnar groaned and leaned his head back. "Not now." Arguing about past mistakes topped his list of things to avoid after he hopped a red-eye flight from Vegas to Virginia.

"I've taken great care of Queen Elizabeth since you, um, left." Eboni kept her stare on Gunnar almost in a challenging way, like she wanted him to defend his actions. "I've worked side by side with her at the salon."

"Thank you. I appreciate it." Gunnar meant that. With him, Gideon, and Thane being gone, it comforted him to know someone trustworthy watched out for his mother.

"I don't need anyone watching out for me. I'm fine." Elizabeth patted Gunnar and Eboni's hands.

As she said that, her hospital room door opened and a petite Indian woman in a white doctor's coat walked into the room.

"How are you feeling today, Ms. Sommerville?" she asked as she looked through a file.

"I feel as good as I look, Dr. Patel." Gunnar's mother pursed her lips. "Hand me my clothes and shoes and let me go home to my family." She sat up taller.

"You'll go home eventually, but not right now." The doctor's face became somber. "You have a ninety-percent blockage in your left artery. Because of it, you weren't getting enough oxygen, which is why you fainted."

Gunnar felt blood rush from his head. He kept his legs locked to keep standing. "What's going to happen now? Medication?"

"We're going to install a stent in the artery to open it up and see if that corrects the problem. She has a second artery that has a fifty-percent blockage, but that's not as bad as the other, so we're not going to do anything with that one yet. We'll watch it and see how it goes. One thing that should make you happy is you have a very strong heart."

Gunnar glanced at his mother, who now remained quiet. The joy dropped from her face. She chewed her lower lip, ruining her lipstick and staining her teeth. For the first time in his life, Queen Elizabeth Sommerville looked scared. Seeing her fear both worried him and pissed him off.

He held his mother's hand and kept his grip tight. "When will you do the procedure?"

"Tomorrow morning. After we install the stent, she'll stay in the hospital for a few days so that we can watch her, and then we'll let her go home." The doctor walked closer to Elizabeth. "No working at all. You rest and relax, understand?"

Elizabeth nodded.

Her silence worried Gunnar, who had never known his mother to be at a loss for words.

"For now, I would say get comfortable. Have your family bring you books or magazines, pajamas, and a change of clothing for when you go home. The nurses and care partners will check up on you all day today. I understand your family and friends all call you Queen Elizabeth."

That brought a smile to Elizabeth's face.

Dr. Patel continued. "We'll treat you like royalty. We promise. Any questions?"

"No." Elizabeth's voice broke. "No, I understand. Thank you for everything."

The doctor walked out of the room and closed the door.

Eboni broke the tension. "I'll tell everyone at the salon what's going on and that you'll be out for a while."

Elizabeth nodded and held Eboni's hand.

"I'm here, Ma. Whatever you need, I'll do it for you." Gunnar curved his mother's hand up to his mouth and kissed the back of it.

"Good, because there is something I need you to do." She cleared her throat.

"Anything. Name it." His mother had given him the kind of life that other disadvantaged kids could only wish for on a million stars in the sky.

"I need you to watch over the businesses. Right now, it's only the salon and the flower shop since I have the boutique closed for the winter. If I'm still incapacitated by March or April, you'll have to reopen the boutique in time for the spring school dances."

Gunnar glanced at Eboni, who now had a hard time looking at either one of them. "You got it."

"Eboni will continue to manage the salon. She can show you how things run. The keys to the shop and my car are in my purse. Take my purse home with you. These people are nice, but I don't know them." Elizabeth's smile broadened. "I'll be fine, son."

Gunnar chuckled. "I'm supposed to be reassuring you."

"By being here, you've shown me that I did a great job raising you." She pulled at his hand to bring his face down to her. She kissed his cheek.

"I'll call Gid and Thane, unless you want to do that?" He gazed at his mother. For the first time, he saw her looking weak, almost defeated.

"No, you call them. You'll keep a level head when relaying the news."

Gunnar nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

"Now, take my things, except for my makeup bag." Elizabeth smiled and it made Gunnar and Eboni laugh. "Bring back my black-and-white Chanel suit, the black Yves Saint Laurent pumps, and the pearls."

"All I understood in that request was the pearls." Gunnar constantly had to remind his mother he had no fashion sense.

"I'll get them." Eboni kissed Elizabeth's forehead.

In this situation, Gunnar appreciated Eboni's help. Otherwise, he would keep his distance from her.

"I'll stay with you, Ma." Gunnar looked at the chair Eboni had previously occupied and the small couch under the window that overlooked the hospital's helipad.