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“I read a lot of books. Not all are war books.”
“The last two have been.”
“I read this a year ago,” he says. “I brought it for you.”
“And you read romance?”
“Sometimes,” he says. “When… encouraged.”
I smirk. “Right. The friend who encourages you.”
He clears his throat. “Yeah.” The word is somber, and it prompts me to open my eyes.
“Girlfriend?” I peek at him.
His jaw flexes. It’s so slight, but I see it. “Previous girlfriend.”
“Ah. An ex.”
He blanches at the word.
“You still love her,” I say—it’s not a question. Clearly, he does.
“Yes,” he whispers.
“She ended it?”
His gaze falls from mine. “It’s complicated.”
I raise my head, propping it up with my hand. “I understand that better than you realize. I still have feelings for my ex, too.” I swallow. “And it’s also complicated.”
“He left you?” he says, eyes glued to my face.
Oof. That hurts. So blunt, Zev Hayes. “I guess. I—it’s a weird situation.” I don’t say that I don’t remember—because, well, that’s just insane—and I don’t say all the awful things Gram and Fran said about Robert. I can’t. I don’t know that Robert. “But yeah. I guess he did.”
“Then he must be certifiably insane.”
He’s so serious it makes me laugh—which makes my head hurt again. I hold a hand to my temple and moan. “Ugh.”
“Is it time for more medicine?”
But I ignore the question. “You hardly know me, Zevulun Hayes. But you’re calling Robert crazy?”
He pulls in a breath through his nose. “I am. Because if he left you, then it’s true.”
“Maybe I was awful,” I say, my heart thudding in my ears.
“You weren’t,” he says. “You couldn’t be.”
I let a false laugh chortle through my lips. “Because I am so irresistible.” I motion to my pjs and the used tissues I stacked in my lap as he read to me.
“I’m getting you some cold meds.”
I sigh. “The skinny cupboard on the very left. I’m taking the sinus meds in the blue box.” I shut my eyes again; they twinge with pain as I’ve raised my voice to call to him in the kitchen.
But then suddenly, Zev’s hand is on my forehead, feeling for a fever. I blink my eyes open and peer up at him. His blue eyes are steady on my head, his lips in a serious flat line. “You’re warm.” His eyes roam over mine, then drop to my lips, and with his face just inches away, I pull in a shuddering breath.
“Why would anyone leave you?” I whisper, peering up at beautiful Zev.
