With a high-pitched squeal, she jumped. Knocking the bottle from the shelf and throwing herself off balance in the process. When she started to fall, Matt reflexively reached for her, his strong arms catching her before she could hit the floor.
For two full seconds, they stood like that. With his arms around her, holding her close.
Her heart beat forcefully against her ribs, and even though it wasn’t for the reasons she wanted, it felt incredible to be in his arms again.
Staring up into those gorgeous, dark eyes of his, she could’ve sworn she saw a glimmer of heat. But in the next second, he was pushing himself away and stepping as far back as he could.
It was nice while it lasted.
“Sorry. I-I didn’t see you and thought maybe you’d…left.”
He frowned. “I told you I was going to protect you.”
“I know. But when I woke up, everything was dark and quiet. I didn’t see you, so I assumed…”
“I was sitting at the table.”
“In the dark?”
He gave a single nod, glancing over her head to the open cabinet. “What were you searching for?”
“Ibuprofen.”
“Headache?”
She nodded and rubbed her right temple. “Yeah.”
“Migraine?”
The bit of joy she felt from knowing he remembered was completely ridiculous. “Not yet, but it will be if I don’t take something soon. I forgot to grab some when we were at my place, and the bottle I found in the bathroom only had one pill left.”
“Here.” He pushed himself off the counter and came over to where she was standing, “Let me see if there’s anything up here. If not, I think I have some in my bag.”
Sliding out of the way, she watched as he searched the labels on the small bottles she’d been trying to reach. Pulling one from the shelf, he opened it and dumped four brown tablets into his palm.
“Here.”
Not only had he remembered she sometimes got migraines, he also remembered it took her body more than the recommended dose to combat the pain.
Wanting to roll her eyes at the lame attempt to make something out of nothing, Kat took the pills from his hand.
Ignoring the way it felt to touch his skin again, and how right it had felt being back in his arms, she went to where she’d seen the glasses and grabbed one to use.
Matt stood silently as she filled it with water from the faucet and quickly swallowed the pills down in one gulp. Setting it in the sink, she turned to face him, leery of what would come next.
“They still as bad as they used to be?”
“Sometimes.”
He nodded. “You should probably eat something. Kole stopped by with some groceries earlier while you were sleeping. There’s stuff for sandwiches and chips. He also brought some steaks and chicken breasts. I can cook those up, if you’d rather.”
Already feeling a bit nauseated from the headache, Kat said, “Sandwiches are fine.” Deciding to throw out an olive branch of sorts, she offered, “I can make you one, too. If you want.”
“I already had a couple earlier.”
“Oh. Okay.”
Turning to the fridge, Kat used the time spent searching to try and compose her jumbled thoughts.
