I shook my head. “No. I don’t want to be like Dad. He’s addicted to his meds.”
“Ibuprofen isn’t going to do that to you.” He traced his thumb over my bottom lip and I wanted to melt into a puddle at his feet. Was that an option? I swayed toward him, and he tapped his thumb on the seam of my mouth. “Do you have any?”
“Sorry?” I brushed my tongue to the tip of his finger, and he leaned closer.
“Ibuprofen? Got any?” He smirked.
“No.”
He frowned and dropped his hand. “Okay. We’re cutting out of here now and going to lunch.” Did he want to take me to my apartment? I’d be so down for a repeat of the way he’d made me come. This was happening fast, and part of me was scared of that, but he hadn’t hurt me and it had felt so amazing. “Is your coat downstairs?”
“My hoodie doesn’t really fit right now.” I raised my cast toward him.
“Then why are you in a T-shirt?”
“Um… they’re all I own that would fit over the cast?”
The corner of his mouth rose in a crooked smile and he tapped my chest. The touch had me biting the inside of my lip.
“You like this movie?”
He had me so messed up I had to glance down to remember what I was wearing. Right, Sally and Jack. “It’s a classic, November through January. Really anytime.”
“Would you like to have a movie night at my place? Show it to me? I’ve never watched it.”
My brain hiccupped. “How is that possible?”
He shrugged and looked like he might want to say something else but then brushed his hand over my hair. He was touching me a lot, and I wasn’t used to that, but I kind of liked it from him. I leaned into the pressure from his hand when he ran his palm down my shoulder and then trapped my fingers on the desk beneath his.
“You can’t go outside in a T-shirt,” he growled, and something pleasant twisted in my gut.
“It’s okay.”
“No.” He stood and stripped off his suit jacket and then with a flourish, he held it out.
I knew what he wanted because he’d wrapped me up in his clothes last night. I shook my head. “People will know that’s yours, won’t they?”
“I’m not worried about it.”
Still, I hesitated. It wasn’t like I had many friends in the office, though.
“Let’s go, bud,” he said, and the way he sounded kind of stern had me shooting to my feet to do as he said. He let out a happy sigh against the top of my head as he helped me into the jacket. It was massive, but the cast fit through the sleeve without stretching it out. He rolled the cuff on my good arm.
“This won’t really do it for the weather. It’s snowy today. I’m going to buy you something you can wear.”
“You don’t have to—”
“I know. Please, let me.” He adjusted the suit jacket so it was even on my shoulders, and I stared at his tie. My heart gave a happy leap at the comic strip on the fabric. I touched the biggest panel in the middle—Batman punching Joker—and smiled. He winked at me when I glanced up at him.
“You’re doing a lot,” I mumbled. “And it’s… maybe too much?” But my insides felt happy and fluttery and heat sank low and unfurled in my stomach, tingling south.
“It’s my pleasure.” He popped the collar on his suit jacket and left it that way. I groaned and tried to pat it down one-handed as he laughed and went to the rack in the corner. I ended up with his winter coat slung around me, too, before we got into the elevator.
“People will see me in your stuff,” I said.
He frowned, and we shared a look that dragged out too long. “Does that embarrass you? I can take them back and help you into them outside.” He seemed hurt, though, and I tried to avoid talking to nearly everyone anyway, so I shook my head. It wasn’t like I didn’t try to stare at my feet when I was walking in and out of the building.
My chest tightened as the elevator door opened and the familiar anxiety that always hit me when I had to move through the building burst to life as soon as we stepped into the hallway. I tugged at Casey’s coat and realized I liked the way it hid me. In my head, the coat was a shield, and silly as it was to be pretending such a thing, since it probably did the opposite, I imagined the heavy material made me invisible, and was able to breathe easier.
