Desperate to think of anything other than how badly he wanted to reach across and dip his fingers beneath the yellow material covering the space between Gracie’s thighs, Nate forced his mind to take a different direction.
“Tell me about Craig.”
Clearly taken off guard, Gracie opened her eyes and sat up. “W-what do you want to know?”
For the past three days, Nate had learned more about Craig Wyatt than his own mother probably knew. As wonderful as technology was, however, some things couldn’t be found on the web or in a file.
Nate shrugged, rowing them slowly across the water’s calm surface. “What was he like?”
“Oh, um, he was nice.” She smiled sadly. “Funny.”
“Did he ever say or do anything that made you, I don’t know, suspicious of anything?”
“Never. I mean, he was just like everybody else there. He had his good days and bad days. But, overall, he was a very positive, upbeat kind of guy. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to hurt him.”
“Any visitors come by while you were there? Any family members or former teammates come to see him?”
“No. Never.” She shook her head. “Remember? At your apartment that night, I explained to you that’s why I would go and sit with him. Why I sat with several of the patients there.”
“No, I remember. I just needed to be sure.” Nate paused for a moment, hating the next question he had to ask. “Did you and Craig ever—” God, he didn’t want to say it. “Were you two just friends?”
Gracie’s brows turned inward, and from the tone of her voice when she answered, she didn’t care for the question any more than he did.
“Of course we were just friends. I would never have hooked up with one of the patients there. Not only would that have violated the volunteer policy, it would be wrong of me to use my time with them and their vulnerability to try to score a date.”
Thank God.
“I’m sorry.” Nate held up as much of his hands as he could without completely letting go of the oars. “I had to ask.”
Gracie bit her bottom lip and nodded, but said, “Look, Nate. I appreciate how hard you’ve been working to try to figure this whole mess out. I really do. But, do you think maybe, just for an hour or two, we could talk about something other than Craig or the fact that someone tried to kidnap me?”
From behind his sunglasses, his eyes found the bruise that was beginning to fade. His pulse instantly spiked, and his hands fisted around the oars’ wooden handles.
He’d never had such an animalistic reaction just from seeing someone get hurt. Not even when that asshat lawyer threatened to kill Sarah a while back.
It was different with Gracie. Like so many things were.
Nate couldn’t explain it. Frankly, he was afraid to even try. But somehow, some way Gracelynn McDaniels had wormed her way into a place inside him he never knew existed.
Realizing he hadn’t answered her yet, he forced a smile and said, “Sure. What do you want to talk about?”
Using both hands, Gracie gathered her hair and pulled it to one side so it all fell over her left shoulder.
“You.”
“Me?” He couldn’t hide his surprise. “What about me?”
“I don’t know. Stuff like, where did you grow up? Do you have any brothers or sisters? Did you play sports in high school? Ever been married? You know, the normal stuff people talk about when they’re first getting to know one another.”
“Normal stuff, huh? I can do that.” Knowing the oarlocks would keep the oars from falling into the water, Nate released their handles and rested a minute. “Let’s see. I grew up in Studley, Virginia.”
Gracie busted up laughing. “I’m sorry. Did you sayStudley?”
Nate chuckled at her reaction. “Yes. Studley.”
Her face filled with skepticism. “That’s an actual place?”
“Yes, Miss Doubty McDoubtster. It’s a tiny, unincorporated town northeast of Richmond. It has a gas station and everything.”
