Page 22 of SEAL's Patience
“Thank God. I thought we’d have to stop and help someone else,” she said with a sigh of relief.
“I wouldn’t have stopped again. Just called it in. I need to get you home. We both need sleep.”
Patience couldn’t disagree with that. A little tingle fluttered in her stomach at the thought of him in her bed, but she knew better. It would take a miracle for him to stay with her. He’d made it clear, albeit without words, repeatedly that he didn’t want a relationship with her.
“I can’t believe it’s still snowing so hard.”
This time he didn’t answer, just grunted. Rude. But in character for sure. Not for the first time, Patience wondered who’d hurt him to make him so closed off. She might not know him well, but she had eyes. He kept himself slightly apart from the other guys on his team. He interacted, but didn’t seem to fit in. If she asked, he’d probably just ignore her, though.
“Wow, that was quicker than I expected,” Patience said when she saw her apartment complex sign through the blowing snow.
“The only good thing about this weather is it keeps most people off the road. But it’s also still early and the weekend.”
She nodded. “Yeah, that’s true. It’s right over there.” Patience pointed to a couple of open spots in front of their condo. She’d been lucky to find the unit when she’d started med school, and even luckier when her last roommate moved out and Livie moved in.
“I know, little girl. Been here before, remember?”
“Right. When you dropped Livie off. Sorry.”
“Well, mission accomplished. It took longer than expected. But you’re finally home for the night.” After glancing at the clock on the dashboard, he corrected himself. “Err morning.”
“Thank you. I bet you’re wishing I’d called for an Uber, instead of you having to take me home.” She grinned. But she wasn’t sorry he’d taken her home. Who knows if Felicity and the baby would have gotten help in time if they hadn’t seen the accident? She shuddered just thinking about them freezing to death in the car.
“I don’t usually believe in Fate even though Doc does. But I’d say we were where we were supposed to be tonight. Now, let’s get you inside.”
“I can find my way?—”
“Of course you can, but I’m still going with you.” He raised one of those expressive eyebrows as he waited for her to argue with him.
Not that she would. If he wanted to walk her to her door, she wouldn’t object. At least, if she slipped, he’d catch her before she fell on her face. It was probably slippery as all hell out there.
“Okay, thank you.”
“Stay there. I’ll come and get you.”
Quinn pulled into the parking spot and turned off the engine. Before she could say a word, he was out of the truck and walking around to her door.
CHAPTER 12
QUINN
Quinn was sending her mixed messages. He knew it. Not that he could stop himself. It was like a constant tug-of-war inside him. Staying away from her was the right thing to do. He should have let her go inside by herself, but what if her heat wasn’t working? Or there’d been a leak, or the roof collapsed under the weight of the snow? Sure, he was probably overreacting, but it’s not like she had a car to go anywhere else.
As he trod through the almost foot of snow, and got to the passenger door, he was more than half surprised that she’d listened to him. With her sassy attitude, he’d expected her to jump out and be on the sidewalk before he’d made it around the front of the truck.
Pulling open the door, he reached in and lifted her down before she could object. She felt good in his arms, too good. Fuck. This was a mistake.
“I’m not a child,” she said indignantly as she stared into his face.
“No, far from it. But it’s high, and I didn’t want you to get hurt if you slipped in the snow.”
He hid his grin as she huffed and muttered, “Men.”
“C’mon. I’ll get you inside and make sure everything is okay. Then you can get some sleep.”
Patience took a step away from him and her feet slid out from under her. If he hadn’t been there, she’d have landed on her ass in the snow. He could have said, “I told you so.” He sure as hell wanted to.
“Thank you.”
