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Her smile felt like watching the sunrise. Rafe was taken off guard by the heat blossoming inside him just from the thought that he’d pleased her in some way.
“Thank you. I feel a little better, but I’ll take some anyway. I hit my head along the way.” Her face darkened then, and Rafe wondered what memory had triggered such an intense look.
“We can see about getting your car towed out today. Although it looked pretty bad, so it’s probably totaled.”
Diana sighed. “I figured it was. That’s about how my life is going lately.”
She looked around, and he realized belatedly that if he was going to bring her aspirin, he should have brought her a glass of water too.
Way to go, playboy. You definitely know how to take care of a woman.
She stood and stretched, and Rafe could see the imprint of her nipples through the thin fabric of the T-shirt he’d given her to sleep in. He swallowed hard and averted his gaze, though every cell in his body was unhappy about the decision.
“So, I’ve got some extra sweats and stuff you can wear and flip-flops. I just tossed all my T-shirts and stuff in the wash and my sweatshirts will drown you, so you might have to wear the same T-shirt out. I know you said your cards will be coming, but I figured you’d feel better with some clothes that fit and some shampoo and stuff you like.”
Her lip quivered, and he shifted uncomfortably on his feet. Shit. Was he this fucking out of practice?
“I don’t know what to say.”
He chose levity to try to dissipate some of the tension. “That’s a first.”
A bark of laughter tore out of her chest, then she immediately winced and placed tentative fingers to her jaw. “You know you might be right about that. For once I’m listening to what my father used to say. ‘If only your ears were your tongue, how much more useful they would be.’”
Rafe shrugged. “I don’t think so. Your mile-a-minute talking kinda grows on a person.” He wanted to tell her not to bother being embarrassed, because she was beautiful and there were men who’d mortgage their soul for the chance to be near her. She was here to get herself together, and the last thing he wanted to do was make her uncomfortable.
Truthfully, there was a part of him that was furious she’d come home with him. It wasn’t safe for a beautiful young woman to trust any man that she met on the street, even if he’d helped her. It was the kind of thing he used to lecture Lucia about, when he was still allowed to do that. He felt a momentary pang for what he’d lost. While he’d been halfway around the world, Lucia had grown up without him. She had Noah to lecture her on safety now.
“Actually, you know what, have this one. I’ll go grab a button-down.” Before he thought about the wisdom of what he was about to do, Rafe stripped off the shirt he was wearing and handed it over to her.
Diana’s eyes widened at the sight of his bare chest, and she blushed when their gazes locked for a moment before her attention returned to his torso. She looked away, but a few seconds later, her eyes came back to caress his bare skin. Rafe suddenly understood why so many men acted like idiots around women. He had the sudden urge to flex for her and maybe show off what all the finely honed muscle groups in his body could really do.
Yep, he could think of a perfect way to show all that off. Fuck, get it together.
“I should have brought you some water. I’ll get you a glass.”
That seemed to break Diana’s concentration. “It’s okay, I’m ready to get up anyway. I should probably get going. Lots to do today.”
She followed him out of the room, carrying the plate with the toast on it. He heard the crunch as she bit into it. By the time they reached the kitchen, the plate was empty.
“Hungry?” He grinned and then pulled down a glass from the cabinet and filled it with water from the refrigerator.
Diana laughed. “A little. That soup I had last night seems like it was a long time ago.”
Rafe’s attention was drawn to the way she favored her left side. He’d done that plenty of times himself when he was injured.
“How are your ribs?”
She looked startled and then took a gulp from the glass. “It’s no big deal. I’m fine.”
Oh hell, she was a bad liar. Rafe couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
“So you probably have to go to work today. I’ll get out of your way.”
Rafe grabbed her hand before she could move. “You don’t have to leave. I work from home a lot. Besides, we’ll hit the shops first.”
“Work from home? That’s convenient. What do you do?”
He decided to stick with his standard cover story. “I’m in security. Pretty boring actually. I deal with personnel issues.”
