“Um, thank you,” she told him.
He just nodded and left the bathroom.
Wasn’t he going to tell her that she did a good job?
Jared cupped her chin in his hand and turned her head toward him. “Being here made you panic.”
“Can you blame me?” she asked, breathlessly.
And her breathlessness had nothing to do with her panic attack and everything to do with his closeness.
His touch.
Holy. Moly.
She swallowed heavily.
“No. I don’t.” He looked away and she had to fight the urge to touch him.
Or maybe she wanted to beg him to touch her. She wasn’t sure.
“Come on, let’s run you a bath. Although you really need to wash your hair. I’ll do that for you.” Jared turned away to run the bath.
“I can fill the bath. And wash my own hair.”
He didn’t really think that she was going to let him bathe her, right?
Surely not.
However, he didn’t answer. Instead, he searched in the cupboards, then poured some bubblebath into the water.
Then he walked over to her, placing his hands on the counter on either side of her. “I’m not a good man.”
She swallowed heavily. What was he going to say? To do?
Was this the part where he . . . where he turned on her?
“But I am not my father. I will not harm you. And neither will anyone else.”
Angie frowned, running those words through her head.
“You know that I was safe even though I don’t live with Zander anymore, right? I’m nobody. No one wants to hurt me or is coming after me.”
“Don’t call yourself nobody.”
Good. Lord. He kept focusing on the wrong thing.
“I was safe. And I’m not sure why you’d care. We’re not friends. I haven’t heard from you since I escaped. So why would you care?”
He stared at her for a long moment. “You’re right. Why would I care?”
Okay. Why did that hurt her feelings? Had she wanted him to protest that he did care?
Last time she’d seen Jared, he’d been cold. Almost . . . mean. Definitely detached.
He didn’t seem quite as cold now. But he still had the potential to become that person.
And she wasn’t strong enough right now to protect herself from that sort of hurt.
