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“Deal.”
We make our way to the fourth floor without incident, at least when it comes to kissing. We’re two people holding hands, ignoring looks from Phil who happens to get into the elevator before we do. When he steps out on the second floor, Claudia and I burst into fits of laughter as soon as the doors slide closed. I don’t care what Phil thinks but at the same time, I do. I remember the way he looked at her at the potluck. I remember the yearning on his face.
But right now, it’s me who’s yearning to hold her in my arms all night. It’s me who wishes we didn’t have to go our separate ways, not even temporarily, but we have to for I’m not the same man she knew when we first met.
I need time, too.
Chapter Six
Claudia
Claudia Romero, what the hell are you doing?
Good question, and one I don’t know the answer to except that my heart is racing and I’m craving Trevor’s kiss again, his body, his touch.
I stand under the showerhead, letting the water wash all the sweat, rain, and grime from the hike. I wish it would get rid of all the doubts, too. Isn’t this what I’ve been waiting for since we ran into each other again? But now that it’s about to happen, why am I suddenly skittish?
Because I’m falling for him, that’s why.
That reality has been building with every date we’ve gone on, every time he’s held my hand and gazed at me like I’m the only woman in the world.
Still, I shouldn’t be doing this. I should be focusing on finishing PT school and passing the board exams, which means I can’t afford the distraction. Not now when my heart seems to be involved.
But such things are easier said than done. And around Trevor, I have no willpower. Instead, I’m giddy, acting like a teenager around her crush.
Only he’s not a crush.
And I’m no longer a teenager.
I’m thirty-one years old, for crying out loud. And after focusing only on grad school for the last three years, don’t I deserve a little bit of fun? Even for one night? A week maybe? A month?
I knock on Trevor’s door half an hour later. I’m late but I hope he doesn’t mind. As if torturing myself with indecision as I stood in the shower was bad enough, I’d agonized over what to wear, wondering if I should pick something nice or something more casual. Basically, anything that won’t make me look like an overworked stress-out grad student who hasn’t had sex in a year and a half.
I pick a gray university sweatshirt and black yoga pants to go with casual flip-flops, my hair secured in a ponytail. Surely, I can make it seem like I’m totally not interested in sex, right?
Yep, I can totally swing that.
Trevor opens the door wearing a navy-blue sweatshirt and matching sweatpants. “I thought you changed your mind,” he murmurs as I shake my head.
“Didn’t even enter my mind.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” He takes a step back to let me in and as I walk through the door, I notice the forearm crutches he’s using for support followed by the right pant leg of his sweats hemmed just below the knee, revealing a stump where his foot and ankle would have been.
I’d suspected he’d suffered an injury before we met again. I noticed something off in the way he walked the first two times we went out, and it became more obvious during our hike. There were areas along the trails where he’d use extra care to navigate or spend a few seconds beforehand assessing the terrain. The rain had been the biggest giveaway, but I didn’t want to assume. It had to come from him.
“Yep, I’m an amputee. I should have told you sooner but I couldn’t find the right time,” Trevor says. “I know it’s stupid to keep it from you, of all people, but I was afraid it would change things between us if you knew right away.”
“Did you think I’d walk away?”
Trevor shrugs. “Maybe.”
“I like you for the whole package, in case you haven’t noticed,” I say as he shuts the door behind me. “You being an amputee wouldn’t have made a difference.”
He breathes a sigh of relief and smiles. “It’s one thing to prove to the guys I work with that I’m just as good with one foot as I used to be with two. It’s another to feel as good with… with you.”
“Was this from the accident you told me about… with King?”
“Five months after we met, yes. Roughly a year ago now,” he pauses, takes a deep breath and exhales. “It’s been a tough road since then, but I worked my ass off to get where I am to be as good as, if not better than I was when I wasn’t missing half a leg.”
