“Yeah,” I replied hesitantly. Was she somehow mad about that?
“Thank you.” She looked over at me. “I…”
I waited for her to finish. Interrupting would just ensure she clammed up. I’d learned that lesson from Relay. You had to let these closed off types come to things in their own way, in their own time.
“You did this for me.” She wasn’t asking.
“I did,” I told her. It was a risk even telling her that much. But I wasn’t going to lie to her. Her mother probably had done enough of that throughout her life.
“It’s… I love it,” she finally settled for saying.
I was hoping she’d open up more, but it was clear that was all I was going to get tonight. And that was fine. She’d get there. And once she did, I could tell her that I’d fallen for her so hard I was a complete goner.
Having an old lady had never been something I really thought about. So I was sort of stumbling around in the dark here. But she was the light I was following. And I knew that once we made it out of the shadows we’d land exactly where we needed to be. I wasn’t usually an optimistic bastard, but I was pretty even keeled most of the time.
I was also pretty sure hanging out with Mercy so much had rubbed off on me. She was absolutely the type who was all about rainbows and butterflies. “Good. You ready for bed?”
“I need to shower first,” she said with a grimace. She flipped her arm and I saw a smear of blood on her elbow. “Fluids tend to get everywhere when you’re working on patients.”
“We may need to get you a rabies shot.”
She gave me a startled look. “What are you talking about?”
“No one knows what Relay gets up to,” I told her with no expression on my face. “No telling what sort of shit he may have picked up.”
When she just blinked at me, I cracked a grin. “Let’s get you that shower so we can sleep.”
I stood and held out my hand. She stared at it for a second too long before she took it. We went into the bathroom and I started the shower while she stripped out of her dirty clothes. I’d already showered when we got back, but she’d insisted on helping Drifter treat Relay.
“Can I talk to you about something?” she asked, as she stepped into the shower and pulled the curtain closed.
“Sure,” I said, crossing my arms and leaning back against the vanity. There was no telling what she wanted to talk about. It could be anything from Ryan, to Relay, to what happened tonight, or any topic in between.
“I wanted to apologize.”
Okay. That wasn’t what I’d been expecting.
“For what exactly?”
“You were right.”
I grinned. “Could you repeat that?”
She ripped back the curtain and scowled at me. But my eyes were drawn to where water was tracking down her over her tits. “I’m not going to say it at all if you keep that up.”
I forced myself to look her in the eyes. Really it was no hardship. She had a beautiful set of eyes. And an equally gorgeous set of-
“Are you paying attention?”
“You’re naked in the shower,” I pointed out. “You’re lucky I’m hearing anything at all right now.”
She sighed and closed the curtain. Unfortunately, that worked. I could hear her again. “You were right.” It almost sounded like she’d gritted that out between clenched teeth. “I shouldn’t have gone with you guys today.”
My brows shot up. I’d never dated a woman who’d apologized, let alone admitted when she’d been wrong. I wasn’t sure exactly how to react here. “Uh…”
“I won’t go again.”
“You were helpful,” I told her.
