My ankle is pulsing with pain. I peel back the wrap a little and wince at how puffy it looks. My sprain might be the least of my problems, but I can do something about it.
I’m about to brave the walk across a block-covered floor to the kitchen for some ice when there’s a creak from the hall outside the apartment. My heart trips.
Someone pounds on our front door.
Margot appears at the bedroom door, wide-eyed and trembling.
“Go hide,” I whisper, getting off the couch. She doesn’t argue and runs to get the kids, pulling them away from their toys. She tells them a story about playing hide and seek as she bundles them into the bedroom. I wait until the bedroom door closes before limping to check the peephole.
A square chin covered in blond stubble greets me. Jaeger’s back. I’m frozen, unable to believe it.
“Let me in,” says the Big, Bad Wolf.
What the heck?
I rip open the door and lean on it, trembling.
“I brought donuts,” he says as if this will explain his presence. He holds up a pink rectangular box tied with string.
“Why?”
He’s already pushing his way in. “You shouldn’t be on your feet.” He takes my arm and lends his weight, helping me to the couch.
“You’re the one who knocked.” My peeved voice comes out breathless. I sink onto the couch with relief.
He pulls out a pack of instant-ice and fusses over my leg. “Did you take your meds?” He lopes to the kitchen and comes back with a glass of water before I can answer.
“Elodie?” My sister peeks out of the bedroom and tenses at the sight of the huge, tattooed enforcer leaning over me with a glass of water.
“It’s okay.” I wave her over. “He’s not here to hurt us.”
As if to prove my point, Jaeger pulls the bottle of pain pills out of my purse and shakes a few out onto my palm.
“This is my…” I start and realize that the only way I can finish the sentence ismy one-night stand, who paid to fuck me after he chased me through the woods.“Jaeger. Um. He brought donuts.”
My sister just stares. For a moment, I see Jaeger through her eyes: a six-foot-tall stack of sexy blond. She’s used to skinny male model types. Jaeger could probably bench-press ten of them.
“Nice to meet you,” Jaeger rumbles, and he sounds so civilized my eyes almost pop out of my head. “Would you like a donut?”
Margot swallows as if she’s unsure if this is a trap. The only reason big, burly men have shown up to our door is to shake us down.
The kids have no such qualms.
“Donuts,” Janie screeches, squeezing past her mother. Her two-year-old brother takes up the chant in his toddler-speak, “Do-nuh, do-nuh.”
Jaeger flips the box open.
“Uh, Margot, why don’t you take these?” I grab the box and hand it to her before the kids get their grubby hands on it. “You can cut them into pieces for the kids? I need to talk to Jaeger a sec.”
Still pale, Margot’s eyes dart to Jaeger’s skull ring and away. She presses her lips together and leads the screaming children to the kitchen.
I stare up at Jaeger. “What are you doing here?” I whisper. “I thought you were going to go.”
“I did go. I got donuts.” He looks around, taking in the shabby apartment—the frayed carpet and water stains on the ceiling. Meanwhile, I’m drinking him in. He looks unreal, his hair shining golden in the dim light. Like he’s full color, and the rest of the world is faded.
I try to convince myself his presence is a complication I don’t need, but my body’s quivering like he’s the best thing I’ve ever seen.
“This is where you live? With your sister?”
