Page 28 of Healing Conviction

A sheepish look pinkened her light cheeks. “Nothing’s wrong! I was, um… waiting for you, is all.”

Draco looked down at her nemesis and then back to her, unable to hide his grin. “Afraid you’d fall if you tried getting down yourself?”

She groaned and dramatically covered her face with her hands. “Okay, okay,okay! I’m scared of heights, alright?” He barked out a laugh. “Yeah, yeah. Go ahead and laugh. Ha ha, the short girl’s afraid of heights.”

“Nora, it’s high, but it can’t be more than three feet.”

“Yes, but it’s three feet to the ground, then a foot and a half to my seat, and then another two and a half feet to my eyeballs, it’s practically a skyscraper, for crying out loud! And obviously, the last time I had to jump out of a vehicle wassonot a good time.”

“What do you mean?”

“Back when I had to jump out of that godsforsaken van to stab that guy with a syringe to get away, duh.”

Her words made his chest seize. “What are you talking about?”

“You know… when I was kidnapped and all that jazz. You were there, don’t you remem… ber…” Green eyes shot up to his before she trailed off.

“No. I don’t.” Guilt made his stomach turn. There was no way to have a memory of something he wasn’t there to experience. He’d failed her when she’d needed him and hadn’t been able to protect her when she’d tried to save herself over a year ago.

Of course, he knew the gist of the story from his teammates. But not from her. Hearing it from her lips put it in a different light, especially with the flippant, faux happy voice she used that irritated the shit out of him.

He averted his eyes, unable to meet hers anymore. Without another word, he tucked his hands under her arms and lifted her out of the truck, ignoring her halfhearted pleas for him to ‘unhand’ her.

Once he’d placed her on the asphalt, she tried to shove him away, but he took a step closer, backing her into the truck. “Drake!For the love of Jacky’s syrup, you havegotto stop. Either let me do things on my own or at least ask first! How many times do I have to tell you it’s the twenty-first century!”

“I know that if you’re given the opportunity, you can do anything on your own, Pix. But the thing is, I also know you probablyhavedone everything on your own. Around me, you don’t have to. I’ve got you.” He caged her in with his palms against the truck frame, and slowly bent low to meet her eyes, catching a whiff of lavender from her hair. “And if I want to hold you, I’m not asking for permission, no matter what goddamn year it is.”

Her eyes narrowed at him in challenge, and an adorable growl vibrated from her chest. He barked out a chuckle and grinned as he pushed away from the truck frame.

“You sound like baby Simba fromThe Lion King.”

The grumble immediately turned into a laugh. “Oh my goddesses, you’veseenThe Lion King?”

“Obviously. Who hasn’t seenThe Lion King?” He gingerly climbed into his truck bed, gritting his toothpick in frustration over his weakened mobility. At one point, he’d been able to hop in and out of the thing with no problem. Maybe that would come back one day, but it hadn’t yet.

She snorted. “I don’t know, it’s weird imagining a big ol’ Viking sitting down to watch Timon and Pumbaa teach Simba how to eat grubs.”

With a quick movement of his fingers on the metal toolbox lock, he opened it and moved his camping gear to the side to grab a few of their bags. A pang of sadness hit when he saw the gear. It’d probably be a long time coming before he could go again. He shook away the thought and placed their bags precariously on the truck bed ledge.

“You know I had a childhood, right? I wasn’t born six foot six with a beard.” His hands shook as he lifted each leg over the tailgate and used the extra nerf bar he’d added underneath to help him get down. It was one thing to lift a ninety-nine-pound woman. It was another to navigate his two twenty. Losing all the weight he did while he was in a coma would’ve helped if it hadn’t been mostly muscle.

“Of course I know you were a kid once, but I can’t even imagine you ever being my size.”

“Oh no, I was neveryoursize. I came out bigger than you.” When he finally got to her and pulled their bags down, he grinned at the scowl on her face.

“You’re incorrigible, Malfoy!”

“So you’ve said. Come on, Pix. Let’s go to our room so we can at least take a nap.” He walked past her, one of their smaller bags over each shoulder.

“Ugh, that actually sounds goo—wait…Ourroom? As in one room?” Her clicking heels sped up behind him.

“Yup.”

“‘Yup?’ That’s all you have to say?”

“Not sure what else there is to say. You asked a question. I answered.”

“Uh… how ‘bout explaining why there’s only one room when there’retwopeople?”