Page 38 of Hollywood

Hollywood blinked. “Oh?”

“Ruby must have a lot of clothes and toys at home. Having more of her familiar items might make her feel better?”

“Good idea. Now that we know it’s going to be a long stay, she should have her things.”

“We can go pack them up tonight and bring them over here.” I glanced at Knight. “There’s no problem moving in right away?”

“Nope. It’s ready to go when you are.”

I nodded. “We’ll get started packing, then. I can make a few trips with the truck.”

“Just let me know when you’re hauling, and I’ll get the guys to come help,” Knight said. “We’ll get you settled in.”

We drove to the hospital in comfortable silence. If Hollywoodwas anything like me, he was making mental checklists of everything we’d need to do to get moved.

“I’ve got to go back to work tomorrow,” he said. “I don’t see any way around it.”

I nodded. “It won’t take long to pack up your apartment. It’s small, and you don’t have that much stuff.”

He chewed his lip. “Yeah. I guess that’s true. Luckily, I was month-to-month on the lease, so we don’t have to wait.”

“I’ll pick up packing supplies while you visit with Carrie. We can probably get a lot done today.”

He blew out a breath. “Yeah, okay.”

I patted his thigh. “Don’t worry, Holls. I got you.”

He threw me a glance, bottom lip caught between his teeth, then looked down at my hand on his leg. Whoops. I hadn’t meant to leave it there. The muscle beneath my hand was warm, supple. I liked it too much. Touching him.

I attempted to play it off. “What? You said you wanted my magic touch on you.”

“I did not say that!”

I laughed and withdrew my hand, leaving him flustered. It was probably a dick move to embarrass him. I couldn’t handle explaining why I wanted to touch him, though. I wasn’t ready to open that can of worms. Not only because he might ask me to touch him more. But because he might also tell me that door was closed.

Either way, we weren’t ready for that landmine. We were still adjusting to spending time together. Ruby was a great buffer, but when she was asleep, we still sort of awkwardly danced around each other.

Just this morning, I’d stepped into the hall as Hollywood came out of the shower, skin gleaming with moisture, only a towel around his narrow hips.

“Sorry,” he’d said. “I forgot to take my clothes into the bathroom.”

I’d taken a beat too long to answer, my gaze determined to catch every inch of exposed skin. The swell of pecs tipped with rosy nipples, the curve of his ribs, the dip of his navel just under the knotted towel.

“It happens,” I said casually, as if I hadn’t just swallowed my tongue. Hollywood was a beautiful man. No wonder I’d been powerless to resist this attraction to him.

We’d shuffled to the right and left—each moving at the same time—until Hollywood laughed and pointed to the right. “I’m going that way.”

I shifted to the other direction. “I’ll just?—”

He squeezed past me, his arm brushing against mine, and my whole body sparked as if I’d just touched a live wire. Regardless of whatever internal hangups I had with it, my body wanted Hollywood. Not just my body. That was a cop-out. My heart wanted him, too.

I left Hollywood and Ruby at the hospital and headed for the Handy Jobs hardware store. I could use a handy job myself right about now. The bitch of unfulfilled, complicated attraction was that I hadn’t had sex in a long damn time.

Just as I parked, my phone rang. I checked the screen. Shit, it was my dad.

I considered ignoring the call, but I’d already dodged two others. At least Hollywood wasn’t around to hear the conversation right now.

I answered. “Hey, Dad.”