Milo follows my instructions like an eager puppy dog. I can’t hold my smile back if I tried.
“This is his room, right?” I ask him, glancing over my shoulder and stopping in front of the door I think Milo pointed out earlier.
“Yeah,” he says, nodding.
“You don’t have to come along for this part, you know.”
“I—I want to," he says softly. “I like spending time with you.”
“Good to know,” I say, flashing him a genuine smile. “I’m starting to like your company.”
I turn to Stone’s bedroom door and knock a few times.
“Come in,” Stone calls through the door, his voice a little strained.
He’s resting near the edge of his large, king-sized bed, as if he collapsed there and hasn’t found the energy to move.
“Damn, you look like shit,” I say, setting down the paper bag full of medication on his nightstand.
“That’s not very nice, Wildflower.”
“It’s the truth. You shouldn’t have pushed yourself trying to get to your room without help,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest.
“You’re right,” he sighs. “I just hate feeling like I’m useless.”
“Seems like you seriously hate hospitals, too,” I add.
“You noticed that, huh?” He says, glancing away nervously.
Part of me wants to say I’d have to be blind not to notice. He looked like he was going to throw up. Considering I already fucked up earlier by mentioning something about matching names, I don’t want to stick my foot in my mouth again.
“Yeah,” I say softly. “I did.”
“Sorry about that,” he says, shrugging his shoulders, even though I know it causes him pain.
“Hey, stop moving that shoulder. And stop apologizing too, you have nothing to apologize for,” I say, reaching out and touching his shoulder as if me touching him will keep him still.
Which is silly, considering there’s no way in hell I could keep this mountain of a man from moving if I wanted to. I can feel the warmth of his skin and the bulk of his muscles through the fabric of his T-shirt.
He reaches up and holds my hand to his shoulder, making me jump slightly. His large, calloused hand engulfs mine.
“I’m glad you’re safe," he murmurs, looking up at me with those piercing blue eyes that captivated me ever since I first looked into them in The Warehouse’s locker room.
God, no wonder the girls there were fighting over who got to be his ring girl. Even with the bruises turning a mottled shade of blue and purple along his jaw, he’s still ridiculously handsome.
His spicy pepper scent swirls around us, sinking into every pore of my body and all I can think about is him.
“What?” I say, blinking down at him.
Fuck, I need to keep my wits about me more. A handsome alpha blinks up at me in bed, looking vulnerable, and I lose my ability to function?
An alpha who’s shown me nothing but kindness since the day I first met him.
Maybe that’s the difference. Plenty of the alphas I serviced were handsome, in a conventional sense. I’d never offer them a fraction of the consideration that seems to come so naturally, when it comes to Stone. Or any of the members of the Graylock Pack, if I’m being completely honest with myself.
“I was worried about you,” Stone says softly, his brows drawing down. His gaze is imploring, like there’s more meaning to what he’s saying than just those words.
“Worried?”