Page 76 of Flare Up
That wasn’t normal, and alarm bells went off in his head. If Cobb was calling them both in, something was going on and if he had to bet, he’d put money on it being related to the imaginary pipe upside his head.
He typed in a response one-handed, because he didn’t want to let go of Wren’s hand with the other.
Yeah. Text me when you’re on your way.
Will do.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Cobb wants me to come in for a meeting.” She looked concerned, so he gave her a wry smile. “Probably paperwork. They love to make us do paperwork.”
“You can’t drive, can you?”
“The doctor said I could drive when I was up to it.”
“You don’t look up to it.” She sat up, looking concerned. “I can be a little late to work.”
“Gavin has to go, anyway. He can swing by and get me.” He laced his fingers through hers. “You must be sick of taking care of me by now.”
“Nope. Besides, you can make it up to me when you’re feeling better.”
On any other day, the suggestive look she gave him would have resulted in both of them being naked as quickly as possible. But not today. And probably not tomorrow, either. “I’ll take my time about it, too.”
She leaned forward and kissed him, but she pulled back before it could get too heated. “I should probably leave soon. Since I’ll be driving, I need to leave time to find a parking space. In that neighborhood, it can take a while and I need to stop at home first.”
“Thank you for staying with me, even though it’s a pain in the ass for you.”
She looked at him for a long moment and all the playfulness faded from her expression. “I don’t want to make this a big thing because I have to go and you’re recuperating, but I never stopped loving you, Grant.”
His pulse quickened at her words and he squeezed her hand.
“I know we’re getting to know each other again and taking it slow,” she continued, “but I loved you before and I loved you while I was gone and I still love you now. So, no, it’s not a pain in the ass for me to be here with you.”
When she started to get up, he refused to let go of her hand, keeping her there. While the weight of his omission was pressing hard on him, she loved him and he wasn’t going to let her say the words and then run away.
“If you think telling me you still love me isn’t a big thing, whether I got hit in the head or not, you’re crazy. It’s the biggest thing.” He tugged her closer. “I’ve never stopped loving you, either.”
He kissed her, long and slow. But when he pulled her closer and slipped his hand under her shirt so he could slide it up her back, she gently pushed him away.
“You are definitely not up to that. And I really should go.”
“Are you going to come back?”
She hesitated. “I’ll have to go home first. I’ll probably shower and grab some clean clothes for tomorrow, and then I’ll be back.”
“You’ll be tired, though,” he said. “And you probably didn’t sleep well last night because you were too busy staring at me, so I get it if you just want to go home and crash.”
She laughed. “I did not stare at you all night. I might have checked on you a few times, but I did sleep. I’ll text you when I get home and see if you need me to pick up anything on the way over.”
For a moment he was tempted to change his mind—yes, he wanted her to call the market and tell them she needed the afternoon and evening off—but he had a meeting looming over him. And he might not like what they had to say, so it was probably best to have all the facts before he told Wren the truth about what had happened at Kincaid’s. She wasn’t going to be happy with him.
But he shoved that aside to worry about later and kissed her goodbye. “Be careful tonight, okay?”
She gave him a strange look. “I’m always careful. Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” He had nothing, he reminded himself. Ben Mitchell was in Virginia, and whoever had hit him with the pipe could have been some punk who’d started the fire. There was no sense in scaring her. “I’ll see you later tonight.”
After giving him a bright smile and another kiss, Wren left and Grant sighed, hating the emptiness in his apartment when she wasn’t in it. But he didn’t have a lot of time before Gavin showed up, so he grabbed a glass of water and got comfortable to FaceTime his mom.
