“You should eat,” I say.“Hospital food was crap.”
Her lips twitch.“You don’t know what I ate.”
“You told the nurse you barely touched it.”
She blinks.“I did?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t remember.”She looks frustrated by that.Her head injury is unique in that even moments in the hospital come and go.Her short term memory is a fuddled mess.
“It’s okay,” I say.“You don’t have to.”
She nods again, slowly.
I run a hand over my jaw and stand.“Come on.”
She looks confused.“Where?”
“Kitchen.You need food.”
“I don’t know if I can walk that far.”
Something in me shifts, protective instinct snapping into place.“I’ll help you.”Fuck, I’ll carry her to the ends of Earth if it means she keeps breathing and she’s in my arms.
Her cheeks flush.“I don’t want to be a burden.”
The word hits me wrong.“You’re not,” I say firmly.“You never were.”
She searches my eyes for a long, questioning moment.“Are you sure?”
Kelly Ringle, sunshine wrapped in anxiety and fire, askingmeif she’s too much?She’s everything I need and want.Only my dumbass let her slip through my hands.“Positive,” I reassure.I move slow, careful, sliding an arm around her waist to help her sit up.The moment my hand touches her side, her body reacts like muscle memory, a soft inhale, a shiver, a tightening of her grip around my forearm.
She feels it.
So do I.
Way too much.And right to my cock that I will into submission because there will be none of that.
“Tell me if anything hurts,” I murmur, steadying her as she stands.
“Everything hurts,” she admits.“But not because of you.”
Her honesty slams into me like a gut punch.We move slowly down the hallway.Every few steps she leans into me, and every time she does, that quiet little flame inside me burns hotter, steadier, impossible to ignore.
The kitchen is warm with morning light spilling through the windows.I guide her to a chair at the small table in my eat in kitchen.
“Stay,” I command, pointing at her like she’s a rebellious cat.
She lifts a brow.“I’m injured, not a wild animal.”
“Debatable.”
She gives a soft laugh, the kind that feels like a reward.
I grab eggs, bread, butter, sausage, whatever I can get my hands on.Kelly watches me the whole time, eyes tracking my movements like she’s trying to memorize them.
“You cook?”she asks.
