Page 31 of Dirty Justice
He hurried forward and set the items he held on the coffee table. “What are you doing? You’re not resting.”
“You’re one to talk. You were down with your concussion, what—three minutes? Or maybe it was four. Long enough to scrape yourself up off that concrete.” She looked at the food and tea, and those small lines of tension around her full, enticing lips faded. “What did you do?”
“You need good food to heal.”
“I didn’t take a bullet, AJ.”
He tried not to glower at whatdidhappen to her. “No, it was a knife. Your injury was bad enough. Now, what do you need that made you get up?”
She held up her phone. “My phone’s almost dead. I need my charger.”
“I’ll get it. Sit down.”
He fought to keep his hands off her when all he wanted was to help her back to the sofa, tuck her in with tea and snacks and a cuddly blanket and pray his efforts made some of her normal color return to her cheeks. Her washed-out pallor haunted him.
As he crossed the room to get her power cord, he plowed through the balloons, sending them dancing all over the place. This could get irritating fast, but his only goal was to make Indika happy and spoil her rotten.
By the time he returned with the cord, she was resting against the pillow again with the blanket spread across her legs. She cradled the mug of tea but made a move to set it down when she saw him.
“Don’t get up again. I’ll plug in your phone.” He held out a hand for it.
She hesitated to give it to him.
“I’m not going to search your phone.” He wouldn’t confess he already did either.
“I already know you sent those photos to yourself.”
They stared at each other, at a standoff.
She passed the device to him, and he plugged it in, placing it within her reach. Then he took a seat at the end of the sofa near her feet. Their gazes met.
His heart gave a tight squeeze. Just looking into her beautiful eyes had his emotions tripping. Did she know how much she meant to him?
He’d tell her, except she would cut him off. She wasn’t ready to listen, but he could wait for the day when she would hear him out.
And accept his apology.
In the meantime, he’d pamper her like crazy.
She brought the mug to her lips and breathed in the aroma of the special oolong tea. “This is delicious. Just what I needed.”
“I’m glad. I hope you’re hungry because I’ve got dinner planned.”
She made a small, annoyed sound. “You don’t have to do all this.”
“I want to, Indika. Besides, I’ve already got the ingredients chopped and stowed in the fridge, ready to be dumped into a pot.”
“What are you making?”
“Chicken and wild rice soup with leeks and carrots.”
Her soft lips parted. Seeing the heavy plumpness of her full bottom lip stabbed him with need. To nibble that sweet treat until she was begging…
To distract himself from the pressure building in his groin, he leaned over to snag the cheese and olive tray. He tossed a couple cubes of sharp cheddar into his mouth.
He held it out to her on offer, and she tentatively accepted a cube and an olive.
She made a face. “Doesn’t really go with the tea.”