Page 83 of Whispers and Wildfire
He blew out a long breath. “I don’t know.”
“And why didn’t you call me?”
“Why would I call you?”
I huffed. “I don’t know. But you should have called me. I could have picked you up or brought you soup or gotten you ice packs or something.”
One corner of his mouth lifted in a grin. “Melanie Andolini, were you worried about me?”
I huffed again. “No.”
“Yes, you were.”
“Fine. There was a modicum of concern.”
“You drove over here out of a modicum of concern?”
I started gesturing with my hands. “Well, can you blame me? You’re my boss, and I need the job and if something happens to you, do I go to work on Monday? And if I don’t go to work, will I be able to pay my rent? What else was I supposed to do?”
He kept grinning. “You care about me.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Yes, you do.” The hint of amusement in his voice made me want to throw something at him. Something soft, but still.
Standing, I decided to ignore his teasing. “Are you supposed to be icing your ribs?” Before he could answer, I pulled back the blanket to check. Swallowing hard, I tried to ignore his bare chest, covered in a dusting of chest hair.
A dark blue ice pack covered part of his rib cage. I gently touched it. Hardly even cold.
“Mel, it’s fine. I can get it later.”
“This isn’t doing anything.” I picked it up and took it to the kitchen. “I hope you have more than one of these so you can rotate.”
“Yeah, Theo brought them over.”
“Good.” I grabbed a cold ice pack out of the freezer and put the warm one in to re-freeze. “What else do you need? More water? You need to stay hydrated.”
“I’m fine. I have water.”
I brought the ice pack and laid it across his ribs, then pulled the blanket up to his chin. Our eyes met, and for a second, I had the craziest urge to run my fingers through his messy hair. To lean down and gently press my lips to his.
Jenna.
His date from the previous night popped into my head like a jack-in-the-box from hell. I could almost imagine herwith clown makeup and a little jester’s hat, bouncing around like she was on a spring, laughing at me.
Straightening, I took a step back. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have come over. I’m totally making it weird.”
“It’s okay, you’re not making anything weird. Or maybe you’re always weird, and I’m used to it.”
I needed to get out of there before Jenna came over to take care of him. Surely, she would, wouldn’t she? He must have called her to tell her he was hurt. She was probably on her way. Why hadn’t I thought of that before?
I picked up my purse. “I’m glad you’re okay enough to be home. If you need help with anything, let me know. I’ll be around. And if you don’t, that’s fine too. I don’t have any emotional attachment to being the one to help take care of you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure.”
He cracked a smile again. I didn’t understand why he kept looking at me like that, but it made my insides swirl in decidedly uncomfortable ways.
