Page 9 of Healing Conviction
His eyes widened a fraction before he jerked her in for a hug. “Let’s, uh, let’s do it over dinner? Tomorrow sound good? We can talk then.”
He could tell. Sheknewhe could from his stiff posture, his hard embrace that felt more like a ‘please don’t go’ instead of a goodbye, and the resignation in his voice. But she nodded, her chin against his shoulder.
“It’ll be nice,” he continued. “I’ll take you somewhere fancy—”
“Oh, Matt, I don’t want fanc—”
“No, it’s gonna be great. But make sure to wear a sundress or something. Can’t be going into the nicest Italian restaurant in town with combat boots, ya know.” His teasing poked harder than she’d expected, but she gave him a halfhearted laugh to appease him.
“Yeah, okay, sure. I’ll call you later.”
The words were tough to croak out. Usually, whatever narrative the people around her wanted to believe wasn’t so hard for her to adopt and perpetuate. Matt believed that they were a good couple together and everyone else seemed to think the same. Everyone except for her.
Sometimes when he smiled, she even wished things were different. She wishedshewas different. But ‘fake it ‘til ya make it’ only works for so long, and she didn’t want to lure him into developing any actual, real feelings for her. Being an old, crazy cat lady had to be better than being responsible for a broken heart.
Maybe I’ll feel it someday.
It’d never happened before, but things could change, right? Relationships grow from nothing and blossom all the time. It was very possible that her feelings were deeply embedded somewhere, ready for the exact right moment to sprout into bloom. Then again, maybe she was dead inside.
Even as she thought it, the gift of a small smile from a gruff giant floated across her mind.
Or maybe the right one had just woken up.
CHAPTERFOUR
Pix: SURPRISE! Sorry I’m late but I’ve got the groceries! You excited to see me?
On a subconscious level, Draco knew the banter was classic Nora, but he liked to think it was different with him. The urge to flirt back was overwhelming and tingled in the pads of his fingertips as they hovered over the cell phone screen. It could all be in his head, but he was trying a new thing where he acted on what he wanted. So he did.
More than you know.
Even though he’d seen her less than twenty-four hours ago, it didn’t matter. Time moves differently after it’s stalled for a year, but he was finding the clock ticked slower when Nora wasn’t around. Twenty-four hours to get discharged from the hospital, move into BlackStone, sleep, and do another set of exercises, would all fly by in a second if he wasn’t counting each one down until he could see her again.
She’d texted him a few hours after he’d left the hospital and had offered to bring him groceries the following morning. He’d looked at that text, then analyzed his full shopping cart, then looked at the text again.
After sending a quick reply message, he’d put everything back where he’d found it, settling on a prepackaged grocery store meal for dinner instead. He only felt a little bit of guilt that she’d run an errand for him when he’d clearly had the means to do it himself, but if there was a chance to see her again, he was going to take it.
And that chance was only going to be a three minute wait, now. Unfortunately, the time would be gone all too soon since he had his first meeting back with the team in twenty-three minutes. He’d have to make the time he had count.
Out of more habit than necessity, he used the coffee table to steady himself as he stood from the black leather couch. He typed in the new code on his phone to let her into the garage before taking the elevator down one floor and navigating the new security measures as he went.
Every door had a new lock now, which was annoying as fuck, but understandable. He’d put up with it for a while, at least. His teammates’ need to ramp up security was only natural, since the facility was attacked two months ago.
He met Nora’s purple Chevy Spark as it rolled into the garage and waited until she’d turned her car off to open her door.
“Look at you, handsome, being all gentlemanly and stuff. Your momma must’ve taught you right. But itisthe twenty-first century, ya know. A girl can open her door just fine all by herself.”
A snort escaped him as he ignored her observation and held his hand out for her elbow all the same. “I appreciate the reminder. It’s hard to remember what year it is when you lose them from time to time.”
She slapped her hand over her mouth and her eyes widened before she spoke. “Oh, gods, I’m so sorry. I meant—”
“Don’t do that. Joking about it—around you in particular—helps. But if I have to see that guilty look on your face again, I’m going to have to do something drastic to wipe it off.”
She watched him for a second, like she was analyzing him before her contrite look shifted to flirtatious. He could tell her slow once-over was meant to be teasing, but it made the muscles in his biceps twitch to flip her over his shoulder and take her up to his bedroom. The urge was nearly impossible to resist when she ended her perusal with a wink.
“Don’t threaten me with a good time, handsome.”
Her car door was open as he leaned over her, stealing the space around her as he rested both hands against the roof of the car. He gave her the same up and down appraisal without hiding his interest.