Page 27 of Dubious Match
Why is he here?
I know what I promised Lars and Caleb, but damn did that have to be put to the test during a migraine?
“Why is it so dark in here?” he asks carefully. The lock turns on the door before he begins to walk slowly toward me.
“My head hurts,” I whisper. Tears are stinging my eyes, and I don’t even know how I’m going to be able to drive myself home. “I need to go.”
“Wait,” he says. I hear him put something down and walk across the office. Ice from the machine tinkles as he gets some and walks back. “Have you had coffee today and water?”
“Yes.”
I don’t know if he heard me because my lips are barely moving. I realize that he wrapped some ice in a towel when he presses it against my neck.
“Do you get migraines often, Hollis?” he asks. His other hand begins to massage my scalp in slow movements, making me suck back a cry.
It feels so good. I can’t even care that my hair is going to be a wreck. The pain is all that exists, and I can barely think outside of that.
“Only sometimes,” I lie. I’m actually pretty prone to these, but I can’t move past this one. I didn’t catch it fast enough, which means I just need to sleep it off now.
“It’s not nice to lie to me, Baby Girl,” he murmurs in my ear. “Have you been staring at a screen for too long?”
“You know the answer to that,” I growl softly. “Don’t stop doing that thing with your fingers, please…”
I swear I hear him make a strangled noise in the back of his throat, but I’m not paying enough attention to what I’m saying. It could probably be misconstrued in multiple ways.
“I won’t,” he purrs.
The rumble deep in his chest should be obnoxious. I should hate it, but it’s helping me relax slightly as he continues to massage my scalp and holds the makeshift ice pack to my neck. It’s beginning to melt a little, but not enough to bother me yet.
“What’s on your computer, Hollis?” he asks.
Fuck my life. I’m supposed to be taking my lunch, but I’m too nauseous to eat. Instead, I’m on the dark web looking for a girl that’s been missing for way too long. Since my family is close with the Finnegans, I know Alisa. I remember the smart, sassy girl who used to ask me to have tea parties with her and ask me for fashion advice.
Playing with her helped to ease the ache of wanting siblings. My parents didn’t have any more children after they had my sister and I, and a part of me wishes they had. Maybe I wouldn’t feel the void inside of me so much.
“I’m working,” I murmur. “I need to log out of that before I leave.”
‘“But why are you there at all?” Brice hisses.
Hmm. Maybe this is the time to lay out how dangerous I am. Will he want to be near me then? I may be well versed in my weapons, but my brain is what keeps the mafia men from walking all over me.
“The answer still stands,” I reply. “You really don’t need to know, Brice.”
There’s silence for a moment before he sighs heavily.
“I shouldn’t like the sound of my name from your lips so much,” he mutters.
Brice tilts my head slightly as he continues his carefully crafted ministrations for my migraine before he buries his nose in my throat.
“We fucked up, Hollis,” he mumbles against my skin. “I’m here to say I’m sorry and I brought you daisies, but I don’t know if the scent will bother or help right now. They’re on the other side of the office.”
“You don’t need to apologize to me,” I sigh. The scent of warm sugar donuts surrounds me, and I moan softly. Fuck, he smells good.
I want to stay wrapped up in his scent, but we know nothing about each other.
“You know, don’t you?” he asks. “How could you stand there and pretend you didn’t know who we are to you?”
“My life is very complicated,” I say. “I’ve never thought I deserved a pack. Instead, I get to help everyone else with that. Always the matchmaker instead.”
