Page 45 of Receiving His Mercy
“Not something you see every day.” Although before she’d methimthat likely wouldn’t have made her spiral like that.
In fact, maybe if she hadn’t had a crappy twenty-four hours she’d have been better equipped to handle what just happened. But it felt like her shields were battered and bruised. Just like her.
And there wasn’t anything left in her tank to help her fight him. To give her the energy to push him away.
“I’m really sorry,” he said sincerely. “I’d never want you to be afraid of me, Goldie. I was just so worried about you.”
Oh God.
He was killing her. She tried to hold onto the remnants of anger, but they floated away. Instead, tears dripped down her cheeks again.
“Bollocks,” she muttered.
He smiled. “You really did pick up on some British slang while you lived there, huh?”
“They’ve got some good sayings.”
“Hmm. Like cockwomble.”
She winced. “Sorry about that.”
“Don’t be. I guess I was one. Sitting outside your door and scaring you into a panic attack.”
“It wasn’t . . . it wasn’t just that. It wouldn’t normally affect me like that. But I’ve had a rough twenty-four hours.”
He frowned. “What happened? Something happened in . . . well, did something happen?”
Something happened in . . . in where? What had he been about to say?
Actually, it didn’t matter.
“Why were you sitting outside my apartment? How did you get into the building?”
“It isn’t that hard. I just followed someone in who was delivering flowers.”
She groaned. “Travis, you can’t do that.”
“Why not? It just shows how bad the security is in this building. Which is why you should move in with me. I have excellent security. Best in the business.”
“You do, huh? You’ve tested it?”
“Better than that, I put the security in. Because I own the building.”
“You own a building in the city?” she asked, gaping at him.
He shrugged. “Several, actually.”
“Bloody hell. I remember when you proudly learned to burp the alphabet.”
He groaned. “Jesus, Goldie, that was years ago. You must have been all of eight. How do you remember that shit?”
Caren didn’t want to tell him that she remembered everything. That his family had been the only bright spot in her life, despite the fact that he was often irritated with her.
“And that was Clay who burped the alphabet. I looked on disapprovingly.”
“Uh-huh,” she said with a wry grin.
“If I had been able to do that, I wouldn’t have done it in front of a lady.”
