Page 28 of Tempting the Tender Guy: Imperfect Heroes

I close my eyes as my shoulders droop. Letting out a deep breath, I rub at my face. When I open my eyes, Sadie is watching me with a wary expression on her face.

“I know you’re just trying to help. Just lay off a bit, please.”

“Sure,” she says again, backing away from me. “I should let you get back to your breakfast.”

Nodding, I watch as she fumbles with the doorknob and practically races down my walkway.

Part of me knows I should go after her and apologize further for my harsh words. Another part of me can’t help but remember Terry’s warning about Sadie being controlling. It certainly seems that she’s not respecting my wishes and trying to force what she thinks I should do on me.

Maybe we both need some time to come to terms with things.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

SADIE

All I wanted to do was help. Now it feels like Mack is pushing me away.

Okay, maybe I came on too strong. I only wanted to show him how much I care. This love business is tough!

Because I love him. How could I not? He’s the sweetest guy and I can’t imagine ever being with someone else. I don’t want anyone else.

Sighing, I clutch the pillow tighter and try to will my tears away. Crying does no good. Heaven knows I cried enough driving back home from his house after he rejected my help. I’ve never seen him so upset before.

Knowing that I was the cause of that causes my tears to flow despite my efforts to stop them.

Mack has a lot going on with his life. Maybe he’s not in the best position for a serious relationship right now. Coming to terms with losing his hearing is a lot, and I shouldn’t burden him with my neediness and feelings. It’s not fair to him.

I nod, toss the pillow aside, and lunge for the small box of tissues, snatching several up and loudly blowing my nose. I should do what he asks and back off. Let him have some time to process everything and make some decisions.

Hot tears stream down my cheeks. I forcefully scrub at them, wanting to whisk them away and all the pain that comes with them.

Hopefully, he comes around to miss me and realizes that I only wanted to help him because I have feelings for him.

Surely, he has feelings for me too.

He must.

***

I slap on makeup before my shift at work and to my shock I look fine. Other than some slight redness around my eyes even I can’t tell that I spent most of yesterday crying and moping around my apartment. Score one for the power of makeup.

Doug is his usual jerk self at work. If he wasn’t, I would probably worry that he had something bigger and more dreadful planned. Like scrubbing out the dumpster out back or sticking me on bathroom detail for a month.

The morning is flying by and so busy that I only think about Mack a few times instead of every other minute. Then it happens. I’m passing out the drinks and a woman notices my cookie tattoo.

“That is adorable,” she gushes.

“Aww… thank you. It’s in memory of my cat Cookie.” I extend my arm so she can see it better.

“How perfect is that?”

Smiling, I nod. “I know. My boyfriend did it and he blew me away when he showed me the sketch.”

Her smile grows. “That makes it even more special. Can I ask if he’s local?”

“Oh yes. Mack over at Ink Expressions.”

“Thank you! I’ll have to look him up when I decide on my next one.”

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