Summer was awake.
Was she having trouble sleeping because of the weather? Because of me? When she’d stayed with her mom, she hadn’t gotten hung up on her ex, had she?
No. She hadn’t brought that cocksucker groceries.
I rolled out of bed. I should let her roam and do whatever she needed to do, but after she’d told me about her parents’ accident, I couldn’t let her be alone.
I got up and shrugged into a shirt. I had on pajama bottoms and she’d seen almost everything, but I couldn’t risk another flashing. My dick was a delinquent around her.
Before I left my bedroom, I grabbed a cane. My shoulder wasn’t complaining and my knee was stronger. Summer wasn’t a professional massage therapist, but she’d helped. Imagine the wonders if I’d let her work on my hip.
I found her in the dark living room, highlighted by residual light from the kitchen appliances and the flickers from the modem by the TV. She wore the sameclothing she’d had on when she’d arrived—shit. She didn’t have anything else.
“Do you want to borrow a shirt?”
She gasped and jumped, spinning around and then losing her balance. She caught herself on the window.
“Don’t fall,” I said wryly.
She flashed a quick smile. “Then it’d be my turn for a massage.”
“Anytime, sunshine.” My goddamn mouth.
Her eyes widened, and she let out a nervous laugh. “Right. Fair play.” She folded her arms around herself and turned to stare back outside.
“Is it the storm?”
“The wind.” She sighed, her shoulders falling. “The damn wind. When I hear it, I can’t stand to be closed in anywhere. Sometimes my condo is too small.”
Slowly, I made my way across the living room. My eyes were adjusted, but I wasn’t falling down again around her. At least I was dressed this time. “Is that why you don’t like to fly?”
A shiver ran across her slim shoulders. “The entire flight makes it sound like the wind is right in your ears. And you have nowhere to go.”
I stopped next to her. “Is the bedroom too closed in?”
“It’s not that.” She glanced at me, the reflection of the blue modem light in the window in her eyes. “At Mama’s house, my room’s in the basement. Up there, I can hear the wind rush over the house, pulling and pushing and demanding.” She shook her head. “It’s silly.”
“Never say that.” I stared at the darkness on the other side of the window. Nature’s chaos. Inside, man-made calm. “I couldn’t drive for two years after I left the hospital.”
She pivoted toward me and her hand landed on my arm. She didn’t say anything, like she knew I needed silence to continue.
“At first, it was why I didn’t go to town for so long. I have to go past that—” Words tangled in my throat, cutting off air. I couldn’t go back to that isolated space, so I continued to tell my story. “Now, I’ve gotten used to driving past the accident site. The guilt still gets to me. I was the idiot who left his liquor unlocked. I was the idiot who never thought my underage brother would sneak into the house.” I scoffed. “Afterward, I used to lock my doors up tight. All day, every day, the doors were locked.” I had secured the house when Summer was staying here too. But otherwise, keeping my place unlocked was a small action I took to keep from retreating into a shell I almost hadn’t broken out of.
“I’m so sorry.” Her sympathy bordered on pity.
“I’m not like that anymore.”
Her lips quirked. “If you were, you wouldn’t have an unwanted guest in your house waking you up in the middle of the night.”
“I never said you were unwanted.”
The silence fell between us, expectant and heavy. I couldn’t look away. We were close. I just had to reach out. I could take her in my arms and press my mouth against hers and find out if she was as sweet as I thought. Then I’d press her against the window and lift her. She’d wrap her legs around my waist, and if she worried whether I’d be able to bear her weight, I’d growl about proving I could?—
Christ. I was getting hard.
“What’ll help you sleep?” I owed her. I owed her as a man to not be a creep. I owed her for the rubdown. Usually when I tweaked one of the joints on my left side, I slept fitfully for a few nights until I broke down and took a muscle relaxer and slept for two days straight or made an appointment with Hannah. I was able to rest tonight. My mind was the one keeping me awake. And my dick.
“I’ll get too tired to stay awake.” She waved a hand and shifted her gaze to the window.
