Page 55 of The Charmer

"I wanted to see you."

She opened her mouth and closed it again, looking down at her feet. "Honestly, I didn't even need a bandage or anything. I took an Advil last night after my shower." Then she looked at me and smiled brightly, tilting her head. "Which, by the way, was very easy to do."

I'd been obsessing over her in the shower the entire night. Did she know that? Did she have any idea how her words impacted me?

"It's not even tender anymore,” she continued. "It only hurts if I put all of my weight on this leg.”

"Fucking hell, Georgie, why didn't you take the day off?"

She looked at me strangely. "Because I knew the place would be full of customers. The rest of the team is at the warehouse, and I couldn't afford to close the shop."

"Let me call our doctor. He can come here to the store."

"Really, Julian, I'm fine. It's probably going to take a few days until it's fully healed, but that's no big deal."

What she was saying made sense. Yet all I wanted was to take her out of here and make sure she stayed in bed until it was completely healed.

My bed.

"You're sure it's not tender anymore?"

"Want to check?"

"Don't tempt me, because I'll take you in the back and do just that."

Georgie parted her lips, darting out her tongue. She licked her lower lip, then put both hands on her hips. "Easy there, cowboy. What's everyone going to think?"

"I don't really care."

Her eyes went wide. She probably realized just how serious I was. It was crazy. Absolutely crazy. But I couldn't help myself.

"Julian, I really appreciate that you care, but I don't want you to worry about me. I'm fine, okay?"

I swallowed hard, straightening up. What was I doing? I had no right to barge in here. No right to make any demands. Damn it if I didn't want those rights, though.

"All right. By the way, I cleared up everything for the Landry party. Once my brother forwards me the email, I'll send it to you, too, so you know all the details. Let me know if you change your mind."

"I won't."

"You can until the last minute. I really don't mind."

"But then who will be there to make sure you don't get into too much trouble?"

"What?"

She giggled. "Whoops, I'm sorry. I don't think Xander wanted you to know."

"What exactly?"

"He said to keep an eye on you."

"I don't need anyone to... Never mind. I'll have a word with him."

She looked over her shoulder, and I realized I was keeping her from working.

"I’ll go.”

“Thanks. I do need to get back to my customers.”

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