He scowled. “Then who?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
He reached out. She wondered why he was moving so slowly for a moment before she realized that he was trying not to terrify her.
That was surprisingly thoughtful. Especially when she didn’t think being thoughtful came naturally to him. Gently, he touched her chin, tilting her face up.
“It does matter.”
She stared into those deep eyes, then quickly glanced away, unable to handle the intensity. It was like he was trying to drag the truth from her and lord help her, she’d nearly told him.
Screw the interrogation via itchy nose. All he had to do was look at her with those searching eyes and she was ready to tell him everything.
“All right, you can keep your secrets.”
That was surprising. Her gaze shot back to his.
“For now,” he added. “You’ll tell me once we’re back at my home and you’ve recuperated.”
“Oh, I will, will I?”
“Yes.”
She couldn’t even bring herself to get upset at his presumptuousness. Maybe it was because she was so exhausted, or maybe it was just that she was getting used to Zander and his ways.
“We need to move you off the floor. That can’t be comfortable for you.”
“It’s not. But I think I’m going to stay here.”
He raised his eyebrows. “And why would you think that?”
“Because it’s going to be excruciating to try and move.”
He didn’t say anything, but then he suddenly stood. She flinched back.
Right. Fuck. She really had to stop doing that. This wasn’t her. She had fight. Somewhere. It had just been bashed down. Boxed up. Worn out.
That’s what she was. Just plain worn out.
“Need to remember to move slower,” Zander muttered to himself. Strangely, he moved over to the table to where Honey had put her bag while she was searching through it. At some stage, Honey and Webb had left so it was just her and Zander in the room. He lifted out Squeaks, her toy mouse. Then he carried it over to her.
She braced herself, waiting for him to say something to her about why a grown woman was carrying around a stuffed mouse. Instead, he crouched once he got within a few feet of her then moved onto his knees. And she realized that he was trying to be careful not to loom over her.
This man.
He was confusing the hell out of her. She didn’t know whether he wanted to kill her, kidnap her, or coddle her.
Then he really surprised her by holding out the stuffed toy to her. She stared from Squeaks to him. She wanted to snatch the toy from his hands and grab it to her, keep Squeaks safe. At the same time, she didn’t want to show any weakness. To let on how much Squeaks meant to her.
She’d always been careful to keep him away from everyone, knowing that any weakness would be exploited.
And she didn’t want anything to happen to Squeaks. She still remembered when she got him as a child.
“Do you want him?”
She licked her dry lips. “What do I have to do?”
He frowned. “What do you mean, what do you have to do?”