Page 60 of Unexpectedly Wanted
“I’ll move it later. That’s the least of my concerns.”
“Well, it shouldn’t be. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Mi,” I said softly as I sat on the edge of the mattress, bumping his knee in the process. He left it pressed up against me. I placed my hand on it, realizing how much I’d missed him while I was gone. “Are you okay?”
His head shook as he replied, “I don’t think so.”
“Tell me why.”
“While you were gone… I just felt like there was this ball of anxiety sitting in my stomach. I didn’t like it. I didn’t know how to fix it. Then I realized I couldn’t because it wouldn’t go away until you were back and I knew you were safe. So that’s been building the entire time you were gone. Even when Kyle, Reese, and Theon tried to distract me by getting me to hang out, it was still there. And now that I see that you’re okay, I feel sick. It doesn’t make any sense.”
I wanted to know more about him hanging out with people, but that would have to wait. The picture I had in my head of the four of them sitting around was kind of adorable.
“Sometimes relief can do that to you,” I told him. “Stress and the body are weird things.” I tried to smile to ease the situation. “I’m here. I’m okay.”
“I see that,” he said flatly. “I’m not talking to a ghost… or myself.”
“No.” I chuckled. “No, you’re not.”
“If I say I like you more than friends, I’m scared of what will happen after this is all over.”
I blinked at him. I couldn’t believe he’d just said it like that. Especially not when he seemed to be avoiding the whole thing.
“That’s something we can talk about,” I told him.
“I slept for shit last night.” He was almost pouting. “Actually, I didn’t sleep at all.”
I laughed.
“You’re giving me whiplash with this conversation,” I said. I brought my hand up and cupped his face. I wanted to kiss him so badly, but wondered if now was a good time. It was clear he needed to talk about a lot of things. “Well, I’m back, so hopefully you’ll get some rest tonight.”
He nodded, his mouth opening in a wide yawn.
“I think we should go to bed now.”
“You don’t want to talk anymore?” I asked.
His head shook. Then he was scooting down and snuggling into the sheets.
I leaned over and kissed his cheek. His sleepy eyes blinked up at me. I could see how the stress had gotten to him and how the crash was starting to take over. I carefully pulled his glasses off and put them in their case. As I snapped the case closed, I noticed the box sitting there in front of the lamp.
“You solved my puzzle box?” I asked as I smiled at him.
“I said I didn’t sleep. I needed something to do, and then I didn’t stop. Don’t worry, I’ll put it back together.”
“That’s really cool. I never could figure it out,” I told him as I ran my fingers through his hair. “I’m going to shower really quickly, and then I’ll be right here.”
“Okay,” he said softly. “Don’t take too long.”
I slipped off the edge of the bed.
“Move your bag while you’re up!” he called out.
“Got it,” I said, scooping up the damn duffel bag and holding it up for him to see that I was moving it out of the walkway.
“Thank you,” he mumbled.
I was pretty sure he was asleep by the time I sat on the other side of the bed to remove my prosthesis. He didn’t even flinch as my crutches clanked together when I pulled them from under the bed and not-so-quietly made my way to the bathroom.
