Page 57 of After You

How had he known that? But she nodded. “It was. It took me a lot of therapy and I still have…issues.”

“What can Ido?”

Exactly what she’d expect from him. And it was sweet. But there was nothing. She shook her head, swallowing past the tightness in her throat. “Nothing. It’s fine. I manageit.”

“It doesn’t sound like it. You’ve been hiding out for four days and you’re wearing cut-off denim.” His eyes tracked over her legs and then came back to her face. “Not that I’m complaining.”

The combination of heat and concern in his gaze made her heart wobble in her chest. Denim was practically a requirement to live in Sapphire Falls, but she’d always preferred dresses. Dresses were easy. They looked nice with little effort, and they were easy to make. Once Alice had taught her to sew, Hannah had been in heaven, making her own dresses and skirts. Now she could buy her dresses, but she still wore them primarily. Maxi dresses were her favorites. So comfortable, and yet they gave the illusion of being a little dressedup.

But she hadn’t packed much for the trip to Sapphire Falls since she hadn’t planned on being overly social, and knew she’d have a washer and dryer at her disposal. And now she needed to do laundry. She hadn’t been quite able to work up the energy for the cookie-baking session Alice had wanted to do and do her laundry, so she’d rummaged in her old dresser for clothes. And this was what she’d come upwith.

“That’s one way I manage,” she confessed to Kyle. “I let go of things like worrying about how I look, doing my hair and makeup and stuff.”

He clearly didn’t totally understand that. “I can help, Hannah. We can check things out. I can get some x-rays set up while you’re here. And we can go from there.”

“I’ve had all of that,” she said quickly. She didn’t need Kyle seeing the fusion in her neck. “I’ve been dealing with it for three years.” Well, minus the months she’d spent hooked on painkillers. That hadn’t exactly been dealing with it. “I know what works. And sometimes just chilling out is what I need to do. Decrease the pressure and stress, just relax.”

“Like meditating by the river?”

She shouldn’t have been surprised that he knew about that. This was Sapphire Falls. “Yeah. Like meditating by the river.”

“And avoidingme.”

“Yes,” she said honestly. She blew out a breath. “But that sounds worse than it is. There’s just this pressure of putting on this show for Grandma, and I thought that I needed to be in a little better place.”

He ran his thumbs over her jawline. “I hate that I made youhurt.”

And that made her heart squeeze. He did. Even that little bit. Imagine if he knew everything she’d been through and that she hadn’t been able to tell him. Yes, he was hurt and angry about the breakup, but he still cared. And he would be completely pissed to know that there was something she had thought he wouldn’t be able to handle. Kyle Ames handled things—all things—and he was very proud of that. “It’s not your fault,” she toldhim.

His eyes tracked over her face and hair. “Damn, I really want to run my hands through your hair. Is that weird? But I love this tousledlook.”

He probably couldn’t have said anything that would have surprised her more. “Really?” Because if tousled did it for him, she could so deliver on that. Tousled was a really nice term for her new normal. Of course, she then had to immediately remind herself that she didn’t want it to “do it” forhim.

“Really. I can’t explain it. But seeing you not quite perfect is…different. And…hot.”

Oh boy. Well, not quite perfect was totally her. Crap. He was supposed to like and want the Hannah he remembered. Because that was an awesome mental barrier she could keep up betweenthem.

Instead, she heard herself say, “Well, you’re probably going to see a lot of my not-quite-perfect in the next six weeks.” Because it wastrue.

Without a word, he lifted his hand to the back of her head. She felt his fingers on the clip she had holding her hair up, then she felt the clip give. The twist loosened and her hair fell to her shoulders.

He pulled his fingers through it. “It’s curly.”

She nodded, her mouth dry suddenly. “I let it air-dry yesterday.”

“You always wear—wore—it straight.”

“Yeah.” She’d always dried it straight and then smoothed it with a straightener. Her natural curls could get pretty frizzy in the humid Nebraska weather. He’d seen it curly, of course. Like when she’d been in a pool or at the river. But she would then always pull it up into a braid or ponytail to keep it under control

He was fingering one curl that laid against her shoulder. “This is so different,” hesaid.

“Things change.”

His pupils dilated and he took a deep breath. “Yeah. I’ve never had such an urge to go wild withyou.”

She sucked in a quick breath. She wasn’t sure what exactly he meant, but the look in his eyes and the gruffness in his tone told her that he wasn’t talking about her curls and denim.

He skimmed a hand over her shoulder, down her side, resting on her hip. “I was always really sweet toyou.”

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