Page 28 of Henley

I laughed as I approached her. “It would be my pleasure.” She grinned widely at me as I got to my knees. I never had been a foot kind of man, but I did have to admit that she had cute toes. They were all dainty and well-manicured. I’d seen some really gnarly feet in my time as a paramedic and was thankful that hers fit the rest of her.

“Thanks,” she said after I’d finished, and I stood up, holding my hands out to her. She took them, and I helped her to her feet. For a few seconds we stared at one another, her hands still in mine, and it seemed only natural to lean forward to kiss her.

Our lips were about to touch when we both heard the door downstairs open and then a muffled curse. Roxy sighed and pulled away as we listened to her brother walking around downstairs. A moment later, he was back at the bottom of the stairs. “Roxy? You up there?”

“Yes, I’ll be right down.” She glanced at me. “Sorry.”

I stepped away from her. “Don’t be.” Although I was very sorry that he had shown up here and interrupted what would have been our first kiss.

“Can you carry my bag down?”

“Sure,” I told her and retrieved it from the bed, holding my arm out for her to proceed me.

Roman was glaring up the stairs when I peered over her shoulder. “What the hell is he doing in your room?”

“Roman, cut it out. He came up to get my bag.”

“Yeah, and why are his shoes off?”

“Because they were wet, and I didn’t want to track it up the stairs,” I replied before she could. “And hello, Roman.”

He glared back at me as his sister sat down on the top step slowly. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“To get down the stairs safely, I’m sliding down on my butt, thank you very much.”

“She’s a klutz,” Roman stated with a smirk. “Probably better if she does that.”

“Shut up, Roman. No one asked you.” She snapped, and I kept my mouth closed, waiting patiently for her to start down the stairs. “Why are you here?”

“I came to check on you.”

“Knowing full well that I was leaving around this time,” she replied.

“Yeah, so? I wanted to make sure you were alright.”

“No, I think you wanted to come in and bully me, and Lee, before we left. Save it.” She got to the bottom of the stairs and struggled to get up. It pissed me off that he didn’t even bother to help her.

“I’m not here to bully anyone,” he growled, although his gaze sliced to mine for a moment as I got to the bottom of the steps and waited for Roxy to move.

“Then go away,” she said.

He frowned at her, then turned his attention to me. “You better not do anything stupid with my sister.”

“What, are we in high school?” She snapped the question.

“Your sister will be in good hands, Novak.”

“She better be, and don’t be taking advantage of her while she’s hurt.”

“Really, Roman. I wish you would stop thinking of me as a sixteen-year-old and remember that I am a grown woman.”

“A woman who doesn’t make the best decisions,” he retorted.

My hand fisted at my side. I was never one to want to hit anyone, but him, well, I’d like to knock Roman on his ass for the way he spoke to his sister.

“Whatever—” She turned back to me. “Are we ready?”

“Do you have everything that you need? Did you pack all your medication?”

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