Knox rubbed his temples and closed his eyes tightly. “I don’t understand. And I don’t need any handouts, okay?”
I shook my head and caressed his face, tilting his strong jaw up so he would meet my eyes again.
There was vulnerability there, something I knew Knox hated to show people. He didn’t open up much, which is why it felt so good to be invited to meet his friends and go camping at his nana’s house. Those were ways of him letting me in, even though I didn’t deserve it.
“I would never,” I promised. “You’re strong enough to do all of this on your own, but please? I don’t want you to do it alone. I want to help.”
His uncertainty was still there.
“I promise I won’t call in any favors,” I tried. “I will just assure her that I’m alive, and that it was you worrying for me that you left the interview. They could just bring you back in to finish it. That’s all.”
I saw when his resolve crumbled. “You won’t ask for any special treatment?”
I shook my head. “I swear.”
He sighed and stood up, carefully depositing me back on the bed. “Okay. Then yes. Call her, tell her you’re alive, and I will make us some dinner.”
I grinned. “Grilled cheese?”
Knox snorted and crowded close, kissing me slow and deep. I swear, he knew that it melted all the bones in my body every time.
“Call her.” He handed me my phone and waited until I nodded before he strode from the room.
I watched him go as I hit Isabel’s speed dial.
“You’d better have a good reason for falling off the grid today, Lucian Sterling.”
I winced. Not the full name. “I was having a breakdown?”
“No shit, Sherlock. Do I need to come over? Because I will, even if Felix is whining about some gold-star interviewee who bailed.”
“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that…”
25
KNOX
Like Lucy promised, he hadn’t called in any favors for me. He’d called Isabel, and she had lamented about my ditching the interview with her brother, right after he’d apparently offered me the job and I hadn’t heard him.
Oh, to be a man in love, I supposed, that I didn’t even hear that my dream had come true right before I set it on fire.
Felix had agreed to meet with me again, and when I walked in the next day—Sunday, of all days—he was grinning ear to ear, while his sister had her legs and arms crossed, her expression pure sass.
It reminded me of Lucy somehow. In those small moments when he really let himself go, when he felt confident enough to push back against my teasing, he gave me that look. It had made me take him to bed on the occasion it had been flung my way.
“So?”
I smiled. Lucy’s eyes were wide with hope, and he was bouncing on his heels where he was tucked into my chest as we stood on the sidewalk outside of Valero Pub & Grill.
Isabel stepped out behind me. “We took pity on him and gave him another shot,” she drawled, wasting no time to shove me outof the way and pull Lucy into a hug that looked like it squeezed Lucy’s breath out of his lungs.
Lucy squeaked, but returned her tight hug. “That’s great! Thank you so much!”
Isabel scoffed. “We didn’t do it for you, dork. Felix wanted to hire him already, and I suppose I didn’t hate him today when he came in and opened his mouth. So we’re going to haze the hell out of him for as long as he can take it.”
“I can take it.”
Clearly, saying this was a mistake, because the smirk she sent my way nearly sent a chill down my spine.
