Page 18 of Loving You

I’d circled a hundred scenarios in my mind, everything from finding her huddled in a mass on my welcome mat to her telling me my quick response had been unnecessary.

By the time I’d double-checked the larger guest room and guest bath, turned on the oven so I could heat the leftovers if she hadn’t eaten yet, and dusted the TV, it’d been a full twenty minutes since her simple text of “I’ll be there soon.”

My phone buzzed with a notification, and relief braided into the cord of nerves and anger that’d slowly grown in me. I wasn’t angry with her, of course, but the idea that someone had hurt her, that something was bothering her so much she’d moved out of her home and had been squatting at her family business damn near infuriated me.

By the time she parked, I’d walked out to meet her.

She was talking the second she opened her car door. “I’m sorry about this, I—”

“Don’t apologize. I offered, you accepted. That makes me happy.”

She paused, her gaze in the dim porch light still powerful as ever. The dark circles under her eyes stood out in sharp relief, the shadows heightened by the night.

Then she tilted her head to the side and lifted one brow. “Is this what you happy looks like?”

I huffed out a breath, incredulous at her willingness to joke, and yet mildly relieved.

Then I looked her over. No bruises on her face aside from those proving her lack of sleep. No obvious injuries of any kind beyond that brittle set to her shoulders and the way she’d had to work to get out that line.

“In this case, yes, it is. Pop your trunk.”

And if I needed another sign she wasn’t herself, she did it. No argument or quips about me being bossy. Simply a click of her remote and the trunk swung open.

I reached in and grabbed both of her bags while she retrieved something from the front seat. On the way to the door, I couldn’t help but notice a tremor in her hand as she adjusted her grip on her purse.

We made it inside with no more words exchanged, and I tucked her bags into the room with the plush bed that she’d so heavily praised. “I’ll let you get settled, and then, if you’re up for it, we should talk.”

She only nodded, wrapping her arms around her middle like she was trying to hold herself together.

My hands itched to pull her into a hug and shelter her. I wanted to replace her own arms with mine, holding her together just as tightly as she held herself, shielding her from whatever threatened her.

Instead, I swallowed the fierce urge to touch her and turned, forcing myself to stay the course to the kitchen.

There was a wisp of something sweet amid the cacophony of protectiveness and the urgency to understand what was going on. It was the knowledge that if she’d come here, if she’d taken me up on staying in my home, then she trusted me.

And if she trusted me with that, maybe she’d trust me to help her fix this, too.

7

APRIL

I wrapped the oversize bath towel around my body, stepping out of the shower with more than a little pettiness coursing through my veins.

Of courseEric had fancier towels in hisguestbathroom than most people had in their own.

Of courseEric had tiny little toiletries in the shower and on the vanity that were probably replaced with a fresh set after each guest.

Of courseEric had suggested I freshen up while he reheated the leftovers he’d brought from his family’s famous Sunday dinner.

“Of course he’d thought to bring me some leftovers,” I mumbled aloud, then winced at the sight of my reflection.

The mirror was quickly defogging now that the shower was off, and not only did I see hints of misplaced annoyance in my eyes, but I also looked just as exhausted as I felt. Mentally, physically,andemotionally.

No wonder he’d ushered me toward the bathroom the moment I’d stepped foot into this gorgeous, not-your-average bachelor pad.

I was a freaking wreck.

And because of that, I forced myself to stop being mad at Eric for being more caring than I expected. It wasn’t his fault I was in this situation, and he was clearly doing everything in his power to help me. Not only by allowing me to stay here, but also by suggesting we talkif I was up for itand not peppering me with questions or forcing me to spill all my secrets.

---