Page 49 of Receiving His Mercy
Travis bit down the urge to demand that she tell him. Instead, he leaned in. “You are. I care what happens to you, Caren. Does the reason why I care really matter?”
She swallowed heavily. “It’s going to make it hard when I have to move on and I no longer have that.”
Shit. He hadn’t thought about that. About her leaving . . .
“You just got here.”
“Me living here is only temporary. So, you see, it’s better for me to just go on the way I always have. On my own.”
“I don’t like that. And while you’re here, you can have a break and let me help. Would you let Lacey help? Let her in?”
“Lacey is my friend.”
He held out his arms. “What am I? Can’t I be your friend? Or is it because I’m a man?” He threw her words back at her.
She gave a huff. “You’re smarter than you look.”
“Thank you.”
“Not sure that was a compliment.”
“Well, I happen to know that I look very smart, so I’m going to take it as one.”
13
This guy.
She wanted to tell him where he could shove his offer of friendship.
But she wouldn’t.
One, that would be rude.
And two, she really didn’t want to. She wanted his friendship desperately. Which kind of scared her. Wanting anything desperately wasn’t a smart idea.
Not when she could never have what she truly desired.
“All right,” she whispered. “We can be friends. But friends don’t dictate what other friends can and can’t do.”
“You sure about that?” he asked.
“Very sure. Friends are supportive and caring.”
He scoffed. “Not that sort of friend, Goldie.”
“Maybe just try to word things as a question once in a while.”
“I suppose I could try,” he said reluctantly.
“I’d appreciate that,” she said dryly.
“But I feel like a friend would still make demands if their friend is being stupid and doing something that puts them at risk.” He raised an eyebrow.
“Hmm. I’ll remember that if you do something I think is dangerous.”
To her surprise, he just grinned. “You do that, Goldie.”
“Do you call me Goldie because I was like Goldilocks as a kid?” she blurted out.
