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Her eyes landed on his, and she licked her lips.Damn.
“I live above The Paper Trail.”
His brows furrowed, then he shrugged and headed off toward her home.
He stopped in front of the building and she whispered, “Can you park around back? I don’t want anyone seeing me like this.”
“Of course.” He pulled around the back of the building and helped her down from the truck, which seemed much worse than getting into it. The few minutes it took to get this far seemed to have made her stiff and likely the pain was rolling over her in waves.
He’d get her situated, and she’d get some relief soon.
12
Finally reaching the top step to her apartment, she let out the breath she’d been holding. She’d known pain in her life, but it had been years and she didn’t remember it being quite like this.
Spencer took her keys and unlocked her apartment door. She’d always been neat so there wasn’t fear of undergarments lying around, but that first impression meant something to her. He quickly glanced around the room and helped her through the door by holding her hand, his other hand on her hip, and leading her forward.
Her small kitchen opened to the living room. The vaulted ceilings up here made the place seem much larger than it was. The gigantic windows in the living room let the sunshine in and made the entire apartment cozy and happy. That’s one reason she wanted to stay here. She enjoyed it up here.
He led her to the sofa, at a right angle to the windows so she could look out.
His body was firm and his support meant everything right now. She lowered herself onto the sofa and leaned back. Finally, letting out a sigh that she could rest a bit, she laid her head back and closed her eyes.
“Do you like tea or coffee?”
Her eyes flung open and landed on his. She swallowed and tried sitting up but winced when pain sliced through her body from her ribs. Her breath caught and Spencer sat next to her on the sofa and gently laid his hand on her shoulder.
“Why don’t you relax and let me help you? Where do you keep whatever it is you like to drink?”
She let her head roll toward him, and she smiled. Though it likely didn’t look like a smile. The swelling in her bottom lip tightened her mouth and pulled when she tried, so she stopped smiling and blinked rapidly to keep the tears from flowing again. She should have been cried out by now.
“I like tea. I have bags in the cupboard above the sink. I have a teakettle on the stove.”
“Great. I’ll be back with your tea soon. How about ibuprofen? Where will I find that?”
Lifting her arm to point down the hallway to her left, she softly replied, “Bathroom. Medicine cabinet.”
He stood and disappeared down the hallway. She heard the cabinet door open and close and the music of ibuprofen pills dancing along each other as he tipped the bottle toward his hand. She closed her eyes as fatigue washed over her.
The sofa dipped and her eyes flew open. Spencer appeared in her line of sight, and though her brain was fuzzy, she remembered him coming home with her. She moved to sit up straight, and pain sliced through her body.
“Ouch.” she cried out.
He leaned forward and held his hand out with two ibuprofen tablets in his palm. He handed her a glass of water and nodded to a plate with saltine crackers on it.
“Take these, nibble on the crackers while I make you some tea.”
The sofa moved and her eyes flew open once again. Spencer lifted a warm cup of tea to her. “Sorry, it is only warm. I didn’t want to hurt your mouth more than it already is.”
She struggled to sit up straight, pain slicing through her body, but she wrapped her hands around the warm cup, and sipped the hot liquid. Her icy fingers shook. She glanced to her right for the blanket that usually laid along the arm of the sofa. It wasn’t there, so she tilted her head to look beyond Spencer to see if it was there. He grinned and sat back. “Looking for something?”
“My blanket.”
His brows furrowed slightly, then he looked over the arm of the sofa and pulled her blanket up from the floor.
“I may have pushed this over when I sat down.”
He opened it up and spread it out over her lap. Then he stood. “Why don’t you rest for a bit?”
