Page 61 of Holding Grace

Michael didn’t smile, just watched me closely with those dark eyes. “I’ll ask Gavin about an ice pack. That should help some.”

He stepped back and turned for the door, but I stopped him.

“Michael.” He turned to look at me. “It’s okay. The fiancé thing. I don’t mind. Really.”

He took a breath and nodded, the rigid set of his shoulders relaxing a fraction. “I’ll be right back.”

I watched as he walked out of the room, then slumped gingerly back into the pillows behind me.

Poor Michael. If he hadn’t wondered before what he’d gotten himself into, he had to be wondering now.

Chapter 22

Michael

“Michael, no. I can’t ask you to do that.”

I took a deep breath and reached for my patience.

Grace wasn’t trying to be difficult. She felt like shit. She was nervous about the police detective who was on his way to talk to her. She was scared because she’d not only been found – we assumed – she’d been attacked, nearly kidnapped.

Something I’d stop blaming myself for oh...right about never.

This wasn’t about me, I reminded myself for the tenth time in the thirty minutes we’d been having this discussion. Grace was being discharged soon, possibly that afternoon, and she needed a place to stay. Her refusal to move in with me, to come stay with me while she healed, was not about me. Period.

Even if my guts twisted in knots like it was.

“You’re not asking,” I responded, again. “You can’t be on your own. You have to wear a sling for a minimum of two weeks. You need to rest so the headaches from the concussion don’t get so bad. You’re going to need help.”

“Michael...” Grace trailed off. What could she say? I was her only real option. She had no other alternatives, whether she liked it or not.

And didn’t that thought just add the cherry to the crap sundae of this argument?

“Look, Grace. I know you don’t want to. I get it. But even if you could manage on your own, you can’t go back to your apartment – not right now – and it makes no sense to go to a hotel. I have plenty of space and you’ll be safer with me than you would be on your own. You’re staying with me.”

Grace’s eyes narrowed as she glared at me. “That sounds an awful lot like you think you can tell me what to do.”