Page 61 of Falling for Brody

"I... I can handle this." She reached out her hand.

Brody turned off the water and removed his arm from around her so he could wring it out. "Rhea? I know that was kind of embarrassing out there, but you should know that I'm not like that all the time. I want to say that my sister started it, because it's true, but I'm pretty sure you'd think I'm acting like a kid. My mom is probably already planning on kicking my ass for that display."

He folded the towel like an expert and touched it to her forehead.

"Missus Hardy was right. She's seen me and my sister act like little kids a lot. But mostly when we were little kids."

Rhea looked at him from under the towel, watching his face as he tried to cool her down.

"Right now," she spoke softly, probably because she didn't want to break whatever spell that was happening in the room, "I kind of feel like I'm the kid."

He lifted a brow. "I definitely don't see you as a child."

She smiled at that, laughing a little. "Well, that's good."

Both of his brows raised. "Yeah?"

She started to nod but realized that he was still holding the cloth to her head. "Well, if we're working and you started to talk to me like I was a kid, I'm pretty sure no one would trust me to start an IV or give them any kind of injection."

Brody nodded and laughed a little. "Yeah. That would be a little off-putting."

He lifted the towel from her forehead and turned on the water to cool it again.

"So she's your sister?"

He beamed a smile at her. "Sometimes." He shut off the water and wrung out the extra water again. "When she's not trying to climb my back like a monkey and ends up choking me in front of my third-grade teacher." He folded it into a long, thin rectangle. "And my partner."

She smiled at him as he lifted his arms and lowered them by her ears.

"Oh." She felt the cool touch of the cloth at the back of her neck.

"Sorry," he tipped his head a little to the side, "I probably should have warned you."

"It's okay. I was just... distracted."

"I saw the look on your face when you saw Rachel."

His words were soft, and he seemed a little closer than he'd been a moment before.

"When you saw me, I saw you smile." He smiled and she felt her mouth curve up, mirroring him. "Then you saw Rachel jump on my back and your smile..."

"I thought," she'd started speaking because she wasn't sure what he was about to say and stupidly she'd opened her mouth, "I thought she was hurting you."

She felt her face drain of all color and she saw the way Brody was looking at her.

Why did she feel like she wasn't fooling anyone.

"Look. When I first met you, I thought you were handsome. Okay?" She lifted her hands to take the ends of the cloth so she could hold it, and he could back away.

"Then?" He didn't push her hands away, but he didn't let go of the ends of the towel either.

"What?"

"You thought I was handsome... Which means you don't now?"

Rhea lowered her hands from the towel. "Brody. This isn't something we should discuss."

"We don't have to. Discuss it."

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