Mac pushed her hair off her forehead. “Well, since your phone has been off and you weren’t at your apartment, I started to get worried. So I called Shay and asked about you.”
“And she told you I was here?”
“Mmm, after coercing season tickets out of me,” Mac said on a small smile that quickly died. “You should’ve told me about Troy. Why didn’t you?”
Rory wasn’t so tired that she couldn’t react to that. “I thought my rushing from that bar was a good enough hint that something was drastically wrong! And you could’ve returned my messages!”
“I thought you were running from me because you saw me dancing with that blonde.”
“She wasn’t worth worrying about. No, I’d just heard about Troy.”
Mac closed his eyes in obvious frustration. “I am such an idiot.”
“No arguments from me,” Rory said, stepping out of his reach. She gestured to Troy’s door. “Troy had an accident. It was touch and go for a while.”
“I know. Shay told me. She also told me you’ve spent every minute of the day with him since it happened.”
Rory rubbed the back of her neck. “Not every minute. I went home to shower.”
“He doesn’t have any family?” Mac closed the distance between them.
“Only a mother who has dementia. That’s why Troy was driving a crappy car, all his spare cash goes to her nursing home fees.”
Mac’s hand drew circles on her back and she had to restrain herself from purring like a cat. Rory, knowing how his touch could relax her and tempt her to forgive him too easily, snapped her spine straight. “Anyway, why are you here? I suppose you’ve been worried about your physio sessions.” She tried to sound breezy but it didn’t come out that way. “Sorry about that.”
Mac’s smile was one she’d never seen before, a combination of tenderness, protectiveness and love. It scared the hell out of her.
“Look, I’d appreciate it if you gave me a day to get some rest and then we can get back on track and schedule some sessions. Have you been doing your exercises?” she demanded.
Mac shook his head and bent his knees so they were eye to eye. “Rory?”
“Yes?”
“Shut up for a sec, okay?” Mac waited to see whether she would talk again, and when she didn’t, he nodded his satisfaction. “So this is what is going to happen—I’m taking you back to my place and you’re going to stand, or sit, in my shower until you are pink and boneless. Then you are going to eat something, soup maybe, and then we are going to climb into bed where you will sleep in my arms. Got it?”
“Uh...” She was beyond tired. She couldn’t even find the energy to respond, let alone argue.
“Just say yes.”
Rory nodded as tears welled again. “Excellent.” Mac wound his arm around her shoulders and walked her down the passage toward the exit. “I like it when I get to boss you around,” he teased.
Rory wasn’t too tired to allow him to get away with that comment. “Don’t get used to it, McCaskill. It’s only because I’m exhausted.”
* * *
Rory opened her lids and squinted in the bright sunlight stabbing her eyes. She placed her arm in front of her face to cut out the glare, looking out from under her arm across the pale floorboards to the partially open doors that led to a balcony.
A pair of very large sneakers were on the floor and a T-shirt, one she didn’t recognize, was draped over the back of a black bucket chair. Through the open doors she saw a pair of bare feet up on a wrought-iron table, perilously close to a carafe of coffee.
Coffee. She’d kill for some. Rory sat up, looked down and couldn’t help noticing she was naked. Casting her mind back, she remembered Mac carrying her up the stairs to his bedroom, stripping her down and pushing her into bed. She had a vague recollection of a warm body wrapped around hers as she fell asleep. Clasping the sheet to her chest, she sat up and pushed her hair out of her eyes, running her tongue over her teeth.
Coffee or a toothbrush? Either would do nicely right now.
“You look good in my bed.”
Rory turned her head to see Mac standing in the doorway leading in from the balcony wearing a pair of straight-legged track pants and a black T-shirt. His hair was messed and his beard was about three days past stubble and she thought he was the sexiest creature she’d ever laid eyes on.
“Hi,” she said, self-conscious.
“Hi back,” Mac replied on a smile. “You’re looking better, thank God. You scared me...you were totally out of it.”
“I felt shell-shocked,” Rory admitted, looking around. “Can you pass me something to wear?”