I wasn’t wearing a bra.
After my reaction to him pulling my pants up underneath my hospital gown, I was positive if I took off this gown I would embarrass myself. Besides, I didn’t know him. I wasn’t about to go Girls Gone Wild and flash him.
“I’ll just wear this.”
He frowned. “Are you in that much pain?”
I shook my head. “I’m just sore from lying in this bed for so long. And my shoulder is a little banged up from falling.”
“You fell?”
I nodded. “In the chair. I was trying to stand and I knocked myself over.”
His eyes darkened to the color of storm clouds. “I wish I had gotten there sooner.”
Something inside me softened at the regret in his tone. “I think your timing was perfect.” I stood up and gave him a playful shove backward. “But I could have done without being thrown in the pool.”
“You sank really fast.”
“Ha-ha.” I gathered up my items, which consisted of my ruined pajamas and the shirt he brought me, shoved it all in the bag he brought, and then headed to the door. I tried to ignore the draft at my back and the way the oversized gown flapped in the wind.
He made a sound in the back of his throat and I turned, looking over my shoulder at him. “What?”
He was stripping off the slate-colored button-up he was wearing over a navy-blue T-shirt with the letters WFD (Wilmington Fire Department) on the front. “You can’t wear that.”
“I’m covered,” I protested.
“Barely,” he muttered and came closer, holding the button-up out like it was a coat and we were at some fancy event where the gentleman always helped the ladies with their evening attire.
He held it low enough that I was able to just slip both my arms inside, successfully managing not to bump my bandaged wrists, and then he slipped it up around me, his hands not touching me once.
Thankfully.
Okay, I was a little disappointed. It seemed my body liked his touch. In fact, my body practically hummed whenever he was around. It was beyond strange.
He made short work of the buttons, closing the shirt up around me in record time (making me think he purposefully took forever on that one button on my jeans), and then stepped back to admire his work.
The shirt hung to my knees.
He smirked. “You are tiny.”
I stuck out my tongue at him. “You’re just huge.”
He winked.
Heat flooded my cheeks because suddenly commenting on his size took on a whole new meaning.
Thankfully, the nurse pushed open the door and wheeled in my ride. I sank down into the wheelchair and positioned all my belongings in my lap, taking a moment to mourn the fact that everything I owned fit in a single shopping bag.
Down at the entrance of the hospital, Holt disappeared for a few minutes only to return in a truck that I was pretty sure I would need a ladder to get into.
It was huge. It was also cherry-red with not one spec of dirt on it. The rims on the giant tires were chrome, and I actually caught a reflection of myself in the front tire. The side of the truck said HEMI and by the sound of it, it had two mufflers on the back.
When he came around the hood, he laughed at me and the nurse. “You should see your faces.”
“You want me to get in that?” I asked dubiously.
The nurse leaned over the back of my chair and whispered in my ear. “Go for it, honey.” I glanced over my shoulder at her, but she was staring at Holt.
I wondered if she was telling me to go for a ride in the truck… or with the man driving it.
Holt held out his hand and gave me a look that dared me not to get up. Of course I had to take the challenge. I might be getting released from the hospital, but I was no wimp. I survived being tied up in a fire and tossed into a pool.
Holt splayed his hands around my waist, once again murmuring about my slight size, and lifted me into the cab of the truck like I weighed nothing more than a bag of Skittles.
Mmm. Skittles sounded good.
“Let me help you with that,” he said, pulling the seatbelt around me and clipping it in place over my lap. Then he adjusted it across my chest before pulling back to look at my face.
“You ready?”
It was a simple question.
Yet the weight behind it seemed to catch my breath and make me wary. I don’t know what kind of emotion came through my face, but he chuckled and shut the door to go around and get into the driver’s seat. When he pulled away from the curb, I spoke up.
“You can just take me to the motel that’s down near the library.”
The truck jerked to a halt and I went forward. Holt reached out casually and splayed his hand over my chest, keeping me from going forward any farther. Then he snatched his hand back and looked at me. “Motel?”