Page 48 of Securing the Pucking Rebound

“I can cancel if⁠—”

“What? No. Don’t be crazy. I don’t need you to come and babysit me. I’ll probably be almost back to normal tomorrow.”

I want her to get better. I do. But also…once she is, will this be over?

I won’t have a reason to come down here and take care of her if she’s okay and back at work.

“Good. That’s…good.”

Her brows lift.

“I should probably head out,” I say, peeling the heating pad from my knee and awkwardly getting to my feet. I’m gonna regret pushing myself so hard in the morning.

“Thank you for dinner,” she says as I slowly back away from the couch.

“Breakfast in the morning?” I ask, a little bit of hope trickling in.

“Sure.”

A smile twitches at my lips.

“Any requests?”

She shakes her head. “As long as it comes with coffee, I’m good.”

“Got it. I’ll let myself out. You get to bed.”

I keep my eyes on hers for as long as I can before I have little choice but to turn around, lest I end up on my ass.

“Good night, Calvin. Sleep well.”

“Good night, darlin’. Sweet dreams.”

A little voice screams at me to just tell her who I am and give her every reason I can come up with as to why I should stay with her. But I force it all down and pull her door open, letting it close softly behind me.

I’m halfway to the elevator when I hear her locking the door from the inside.

My heart thumps against my ribs, and I ride the elevator up a floor before walking through my apartment with my shoulders slumped, wishing I was still downstairs.

I have a hot bath in the hope of soothing my knee a little before crawling into bed.

I lie there staring up at the ceiling, trying to picture what Sienna is doing right now.

Is she already in bed? Or is she doing something else?

Whatever it is, is she thinking about me?

Does she even think about him? The boy she met all those years ago? The boy whose life she changed by just being there, by listening to him, by making him feel seen?

I shake my head and close my eyes.

I know the answer to that.

She doesn’t think of that boy, because if she did, she’d realize that the grown-up version of him has been sitting next to her on her couch for the last few hours.

He was the one who carried her to bed last night.

The man who would do just about anything to get even another hour with that girl.