Thwarting Cupid (5 page)

“Trust me?” Hutch said. She gave a tiny nod. “Do you have any Advil?”

“There should be some in the kitchen. Second drawer down on the right.”

“Hang in there.” Hutch stood from where he'd been crouched beside her. Without giving it a second thought, he kicked off his shoes next to a line of hers by the door before heading into the kitchen. How funny that she did the same thing he did? He found the Advil and snooped a bit more until he found some plastic baggies. Hutch filled a couple with ice and grabbed a bottle of water from her refrigerator before rejoining her in the living room.

He held her head while she took the pills. “Three?”

“Yep. Two are a pain killer. We need anti-inflammatory. The ice will help, too.” He held up the bag for her to see. She washed the pills down and then showed him where she needed the ice. Once she was settled again, she closed her eyes in relief.

Hutch sat next to her with his back propped against the couch. Now that the crisis had somewhat passed, he allowed himself a long look at the legs she'd so callously kept hidden from him all these years and decided that he liked what he saw. They were much longer than he would've imagined, had he had the foresight to imagine them. To think, he'd only given serious thought to her well-formed and generous bust line when he allowed his mind to wander where it shouldn't.

Speaking of shouldn't...what in the world was he doing right now? She was injured, for goodness sake. The last place his mind should be is in the gutter. But in the gutter is exactly where it was determined to be, he decided, when his eyes swept over her in one more full-bodied caress.

“Hutch?”

Her quiet voice had his gaze racing back to meet hers. She'd just caught him checking her out. How embarrassing. Usually he was much better at being discreet. Speaking of discreet, another problem was on the rise. He bent his knee closest to her and draped his arm over it hoping his movement looked casual. “Yeah?” Crap. Why the heck was he using his bedroom voice?

“How do you know so much about this?”

Oh good. A neutral question. It would also give him something to derail his current train of thought. “I've been in an accident or three in my time. And speaking of which, why didn't you say something earlier? What were you doing out traipsing all over the city with this kind of injury?” Yeah. None of these questions sounded like an interrogation.

“I didn't think I was injured. I mean, my car was pretty bad where he hit me, but the other guy's barely had a scratch.” She fluttered her hands around while she explained. He caught them and placed them out to her sides, where they needed to be to completely relax her back muscles.

He shook his head. “Rookie mistake. You've gotta get X-rays and stuff to submit to his insurance company. You can't go without getting this treated.”

She looked away and bit her lip. He got the feeling he wasn't going to like what she was about to say.

“I didn't quite get his information.”

Hutch raised an eyebrow and prodded, “Why not?”

“Well, he kinda pretended to get it for me then took off.”

“A hit and run? You were in a hit and run?” He pulled up his other knee and sat forward with his full attention on her.

“I suppose. I think that's what the officer said before he had to run off on a bank robbery. I guess he'll give me details in a day or two.” She shrugged then grimaced at the pain. “On the bright side, remember the guy at the beach?”

“You’re kidding, right? What are the chances?”

“Pretty good, apparently.”

He reached down and brushed a stray lock of hair from her forehead. “You've had quite a day haven't you?”

“I suppose I have.” She wrinkled her nose. “You were definitely the highlight. I'm sorry to ruin our dinner plans.”

He waved off her apology. “You didn't ruin anything.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and hit the contacts list. “What do you like on your pizza? We can have dinner right here.”

She bit her lip again in a way that was making him want to kiss it. “You don't have to take pity on me. I'll be fine now. If you have somewhere to be...”

“Then you can take pity on me. I don't want to eat alone.” He waggled his eyebrows at her. “Besides, it's not often I have a captive audience to bore with stories of extreme philanthropy.”

She groaned and threw an arm across her eyes. “Oh no. Not extreme philanthropy!”

He swiveled on his butt and stretched out beside her. He held her arm on his chest.

“Oh yes. I've been known to elicit tears.” He grinned over at her. “Though I think you've already got kind of a head start.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Sure. Rub it in.”

He snorted. “What? You expect me to ever let you live this down? Think again, babe.”

Chapter 4

And Carissa did. But not about his teasing. Now that the pain in her back had eased, she was free to focus on the absurd turn of events that had her stretched out on her living room floor while one sexy James Hutchington held her hand and stared at her with those gorgeous green eyes of his. Now he was playing with her fingers and her train of thought was as good as gone. She needed to say something. Anything.

“This ice is really cold.”

“If it weren't, it would be water.”

She laughed in spite of herself. She'd almost forgotten how much of a smart aleck he was. “Cute.”

He had the nerve to wink at her. “I know.”

“And incorrigible.” Carissa reached for the ice bags with her free hand and grimaced at the pain that came shooting back. He rolled over on his side and caught her other hand.

“You've got another seven minutes yet before we take it off.” He frowned at her. “That looked like it hurt. Are you still in pain?”

“Not when I'm still, apparently.”

“Then be still.” He quirked an eyebrow at her then returned to his previous position on his back beside her.

“Ummm.... I think I'd like to see your medical license.”

“Too bad. I left it in my other pants.” He quirked his lips. “But feel free to search these if you're able.”

She shoved at him the best she could with the arm he still held captive. “Are you flirting with me?”

“Nah. That was a real invitation.”

Carissa laughed because she didn't know what else to do. “You must really be going through a dry spell if you have to resort to attempting your charm on an obvious cripple.”

He gave a playful shrug, but she thought she detected a note of seriousness in his eyes. “I figured if I laid the groundwork now, I'd have less to worry about once you were up and around.”

“Nice.” She snorted and rolled her eyes. “You really know how to charm a girl.”

He rolled to his side and propped his head on an elbow to stare down at her. All of a sudden, there was nothing playful about him. It scared her and excited her all at once. Given her position, there was nowhere for her to hide anything from his intense gaze. “Do you want me to charm you?”

Okay. So this conversation had taken an unexpected turn. What did he expect her to say to that? Did she dare tell him the truth? That she'd love for him to do just that. But how would their friendship change if it didn't work out?

It wouldn't have been such a big deal if she hadn’t known they were neighbors. But she knew things had a way of working out so she'd be running into him all the time the moment she felt the need to avoid him. Did she dare risk it?

Carissa stared up into his eyes and saw he was waiting for an answer to his question. His gaze was steady. He was waiting patiently for her to make up her mind. It would be so easy for her to make some wisecrack and break the tension of the moment. It was a tension that desperately needing breaking. It had been one thing to flirt and carry on in a crowded room of donors. It was quite another to do the same alone in her apartment while stretched out on the floor within spitting distance of a couch and a bed in just the next room. She knew what she should do. What she needed to do.

So she said, “Yes,” with a voice so quiet she almost didn't hear herself.

He went stock still for a moment. Had she made the right choice? What in the world had her putting herself out there like that? Was it too late for her to take it back? Before he could think she was serious. Except she was serious. Oh crap!

A gentle palm cupped her cheek. Carissa opened her eyes as he turned her head so she could see him. The smile on his face put a stop to all the panicked thoughts jostling around in her brain. It wasn't in the least mocking. In fact, it looked... relieved? Had he been on the same pins and needles just now as she had? The idea astounded her. His reply shocked the mess out of her.

“Okay.” He stretched out beside her again and stared up at the ceiling.

“Seriously, okay?”

“Yeah. Except, I can't seem to think of one single charming thing to say.” He blew out a breath and she realized exactly how serious he was. He wanted to charm her and was drawing a blank. The fact that he admitted it did the trick. Hutch was so cute. She smiled and hooked her arm around so she could cup his cheek. He turned his head to look at her.

“Consider me charmed.”

A frown flitted over his face before a puzzled expression settled there. “But I didn't even do anything.”

“You've done more than you know.”

* * * *

They never made it to the restaurant, so he ordered pizza instead from what turned out to be her favorite restaurant as well as his. Their similarities hadn't stopped there, either. While they ate, they talked about anything and everything and found they agreed more often than not. He couldn’t believe he had this much in common with her and had never even known it. Of course, their previous time together had been much more focused on the work.

Hutch rolled over to look at her while ignoring his own creaks and aches that came from too much time spent on the floor. He was getting old, whether he wanted to admit it or not. Light from the television flickered over her sleeping features. She looked so peaceful. He hated to disturb her.

He hated it so much that he'd already let her sleep for the last two hours. He was still so amped from her admission that she liked him, he didn't even care his date had fallen asleep on him. And he
had
managed to turn this into a date.

Hutch turned his head to look at the clock on the Carissa's bookshelf. Twelve forty. He really should get home. Not that he had to work the next day. He'd given his staff the next two days off after all their hard work prepping and getting the mailing out. Despite the continued twinges in Carissa’s back, he knew she was determined to go in to her office since she'd missed that day due to the accident. He'd already offered to drive her to and from the office since her other alternative was to take the bus which would only add more strain to her protesting back muscles.

She stretched jarring him out of his thoughts. He smiled when her eyes blinked open. “What time is it?”

“Going on one o'clock.”

“What? Seriously?” She tried to sit up and cringed. He hurried to support her so she didn't fall over, or worse, hurt herself more.

“You are in no shape to go to work in the morning.”

“I can manage.” She rolled over to her knees. Gripping the couch, she pulled herself to her feet. He jumped up to catch her if she was too unsteady. Her stubbornness was one of the things they hadn't seen eye to eye on.

“I can see that.” His droll humor dripped from every word.

She smiled at him and he saw that it cost her. “Great! I knew you'd see things my way.” Still gripping the couch, she cast a look at the door. “I don't want to hold you up. You're probably exhausted by now.”

Carissa was right, but he'd be darned if he was going to let her know that. “I'm fine. But we should get you to bed before I go.”

“You don't have to do that.”

“Think of it as part of my campaign to charm the socks off you.” He tugged on her ponytail and gave her a rakish smile.

She raised an eyebrow. “Sure it's my socks you want off?”

He laughed. “I'm going to take this opportunity to plead the fifth.” He wrapped an arm around her waist and guided her toward her bedroom.

“I just bet you are,” she said in a dry tone, but he could hear her amusement underneath. That was one of things he'd always admired about her. She had a great sense of humor no matter what was imploding around her. On more than one occasion, she'd teased him off the proverbial ledge when things had gone massively wrong during events.

“Need any help getting in your pajamas?” He gave her a sweet smile when he asked. Her mouth dropped open. He shrugged. “What? I'm a man. What'd you expect?”

“Unfortunately for you, these are my pajamas. Good night, Hutch.”

He urged her toward the bed. She eased down on the mattress, which told him her back was still hurting much more than she tried to let on.

“Let me just tuck you in. Then I'll be on my way.”

She stared at him for a moment. “I think I can manage from here.”

“I know you can. Just humor me. I won't sleep a wink all night if I'm worried about you being uncomfortable over here.”