Page 7

The guy was stoic about pain, though, not making any noise as they trudged along. Still, his feet had to have been killing him. It made his gait awkward and unsteady, like he was new to the act of walking.

But somehow they made it to Luke’s car, and Luke half helped, half shoved the man into the passenger seat. He rounded the car to the driver’s seat and got in, panting for a minute in a desperate attempt to catch his breath while he turned the car on and set the heat to full blast. Luke was shivering now, his wet jeans and lack of jacket finally getting to him now that he wasn’t moving.

The stranger just sat silently and watched Luke, that wryly amused crinkle to his eyes again.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to take you to the hospital?” Luke eventually asked.

A there-and-gone flinch, so subtle Luke almost missed it. The stranger shook his head. “No. No doctors. No…scientists.”

What an odd way to put it. Maybe this guy wasn’t from the US at all, for all that he spoke without an accent. He did seem to have trouble with certain words.

But asking someone he’d just rescued, “Where the hell are you from?” seemed kind of rude, so Luke settled for, “What’s your name?”

The stranger seemed taken aback by the question. “Ah.” He was silent for a moment. “My name is…difficult to pronounce.”

So no, he probably wasn’t from around these parts. Or, hell, maybe he was. There were plenty of eccentrics in Washington who were naming their kids anything under the sun. Luke rubbed at his scruffy beard. “Well, what do people here call you?”

The stranger seemed to think it over. “Syrus,” he said eventually. “You may call me Syrus.”

“Okay.” Luke nodded. “Syrus.”

The stranger’s dark eyes twinkled, his teeth flashing in a brief smile. “Luke.”

Luke grinned. The moment stretched, and Luke noticed that Syrus’s eyes weren’t fully dark blue—they had a way of catching the light, and little amber bits would appear, like stars in the night sky. And then Luke realized they were just sitting there, staring at each other.

Jesus. Maybe Luke was the one going through a little bit of shock. He broke the prolonged eye contact and finally put the car in gear.

It was time to head home.

Somehow, getting from the car to the house was worse than from the beach to the car. Syrus seemed less and less able to bear weight on his feet, relying on Luke to hold him up.

Luke frowned down in concern at the mangled appendages. “Are any bones broken, do you think?”

“No,” Syrus said with unusual certainty.

Luke wasn’t so sure, but he managed to get the big lug inside where it was warm, at least. Luke leaned them both against the entryway wall while they caught their breath again. Or while Luke did. Syrus wasn’t winded at all, despite the pain he must have been enduring.

“We should warm you up. Bath or shower?”

Syrus stared down at Luke blankly.

“I mean, the shower has a seat, so maybe that would be better? I don’t know if you should be soaking your feet in their condition.”

Syrus’s face was still blank. Maybe he really was in shock, or maybe it was a translation issue.

“Warm water,” Luke prompted. “Shower.”

“Ah.” Syrus blinked at him. “Yes.”

Luke led him in the right direction, but Syrus froze as they stepped into the living room, refusing to move any further despite Luke’s prompting.

Luke looked around to see what the issue was. It was a little bit of a mess, sure, with some of Colby’s toys and spare diapers strewn about. But it wasn’t anything crazy, he didn’t think.

“You have…spawn?” Syrus asked.

Luke shifted on his feet. What a way to word it. “I have a kid, yeah. Colby. He’s at day care.”

“And your mate?”