“Thank you, Reynolds,” Magnus said, and wagged his eyebrows at Edie.

She didn’t laugh. She was too busy resisting the urge to slam her leg straight out and massage her knee.

He must have noticed her tension. A frown creased his face. “You okay?”

She nodded tightly. “Just tired.” Edie forced a smile to her face. “I had a good time, though. And I think you’re really going to like the cat. She’s such a sweetheart, I—”

“Edie,” Magnus said in a low voice, and goose bumps flicked over her skin. “You’re pale. Is it your knee?”

She tried to shrug it off, and then winced. Damn it, she hated feeling like an invalid. “I just need to stretch it a bit, that’s all.”

“Why didn’t you say so?” He leaned back and then patted his knee. “Put your leg up here.” At her hesitation, he gave her an exasperated look. “I’m not going to fondle your damn knee, Edie. I’m just trying to help you out.”

Reluctant, she slowly stretched her leg and placed it over his knee. The muscles were screaming in protest, and her breath hissed out from between her teeth.

“Does rubbing it help?” he asked.

“A little. I should—” she leaned in to massage her leg.

He batted her hand away and placed his big one on her knee, rubbing gently. Pain flared, and then slowly began to ebb. She leaned against the car seat sideways, some of her tension easing. Edie closed her eyes. “Mmm, thank you.”

“Feel better?” His hand kept moving over her knee, gently kneading the overworked muscles around her old injury.

“Much, thank you.” The touch of his hand on her leg was soothing. Relaxing. She’d forgotten how nice it was to be touched by someone else like that.

“So,” Magnus said, sliding his fingers along the side of her knee. “Can I be nosy?”

“As long as you keep rubbing, yes.”

“How’d you hurt your knee?”

Of course he’d ask. It was obvious that she’d injured it—that was clear in every step she took. He was bound to be curious. “Skiing accident. I T-boned into a tree. My leg went one way and I went the other. I nearly severed it in the fall.”

“Sounds nasty.”

“It was.” She kept her eyes closed, her tone light. Even now, though, she could still see the tree rushing up on her, the slam of the wood and the intense pain. Drake screaming her name. Ambulances. Surgeries. Recovery. Drake finding that they had a lot less in common now that she was a couch potato on a crutch and couldn’t jog or mountain climb or run marathons or any of the things they used to enjoy doing together. She dropped all of her college classes in kinesiology and focused on animal behavior instead, since she couldn’t become a personal trainer or a phys-ed teacher, not when it was painful to walk. She’d started collecting cats, instead.

And she’d started letting Bianca do all the difficult shit for her. Bianca, whose goal in life was to become a Trophy Wife, and who didn’t like to plan further than what colors would be “in” for fall.

“Don’t like to talk about it?”

“Not much,” she admitted. “I had three reconstructive surgeries and the thing still hurts me every damn day. If I think about it too much, I feel like it takes over my life.”

“I get that,” Magnus said, but his fingers kept massaging. “I won’t pry.”

“Thanks,” she said softly, relaxing under his touch. A yawn escaped her and she grimaced. “I might have to keep my leg in your lap for the next few hours while we drive back.”

“I don’t mind,” he said. “Why don’t you relax and take a quick nap or something?”

Edie gave him a suspicious look, but when he pulled out his phone and began to flip through it, his other hand rubbing her stretched-out leg as if it were the most normal thing in the world, she closed her eyes again.

The next thing she knew, Magnus was patting her leg. “We’re here. Wake up.”

She started awake with a jerk, running a surreptitious hand along her mouth to make sure she wasn’t drooling. “Did I sleep the whole time?”

“You did,” Magnus said. “Which was okay. You must have been pretty damn tired.”

“I’m so sorry,” Edie said, sliding out of the car after him awkwardly. “I usually never sleep in the car. I—”

“It’s fine,” Magnus said, offering her a hand as he stepped out onto the curb. “You almost kicked me in the balls twice, but no harm no foul.”

She smothered a laugh at that, and took his hand to get to her feet. The sidewalk still had people on it despite the late hour, and the city was lit up so brightly that it was a wonder she’d slept at all. She rubbed her eyes as Magnus took the cat carrier and headed for the door to his place.

“Hold her while I unlock?” he asked, and Edie took the cage. She watched as he undid the locks and then typed in the alarm code, disabling it. Then he took the cat from her and ushered her into his strange house once more. She was starting to get used to the stark appearance of the place, which was kind of amusing, Edie thought as she stepped inside and set down her purse.

“Why don’t you put on a pot of coffee while I take Lady Daredevil here up to the fourth floor and get her settled into my office?”

“All right,” Edie said. “Don’t forget cat litter and food for her. She’s probably hungry and needs to use the bathroom.”

“Got it,” Magnus said, his voice disappearing as he clomped up the stairs. “Be right back.”

She crossed the massive room to the kitchen area, poking around in cabinets and looking for coffee mugs. Unlike everything else in the house, the mugs were a nice normal shape, and she set up the pot of coffee. And then because she was nosy and he still wasn’t back, she continued to poke around, examining the contents of the fridge and pantry. Lots of chips in the pantry, lots of sodas, and the fridge was empty of everything but beer, leftovers, and condiments. Typical guys.

She poured two mugs and waited, sitting at one of the counter stools. Just as she was taking her first sip of coffee, Magnus came jogging down the stairs. She appreciated the way he moved. It was kind of funny to think about admiring the way someone took the stairs, but Magnus went down them like an athlete, hands clenched as if he were about to do a set of reps, body flexing.

Yeah, she could pretty much watch that for hours.

He bounded down the last steps and crossed the big, open floor toward her. “Got the coffee?”

She held up the mug she was drinking from.

“Excellent.” He rubbed his hands together and moved toward her. As he did, she set the mug on the bar next to her and he sat down on the stool beside her own. He picked up his cup, chugged it, and then set it down with a flourish. “Good coffee.”

Edie blinked at him. “How would you know? You barely tasted it.”

Magnus just grinned and tipped the mug back to finish his drink. “I’m not one for lounging around and savoring. I prefer to get shit done and done fast.”

“Maybe that’s why you’re single,” she couldn’t resist jibing back.

His eyes widened, and then he gave her a speculative look. “Only with coffee, Edie. Only with coffee.”

Annnnd now she couldn’t finish her coffee. Blushing, she put it aside. “So how is Lady Daredevil settling in?”

He gestured at the stairs, all energy. “You want to go up and see her? I got the litter and the food set up, but she seems scared.”

Edie nodded. She slid off her stool and went around the long bar to take her mug to the sink.

They headed up the four sets of stairs to Magnus’s office, and Edie’s leg protested the entire time. By the time they got to the top of the stairs, her knee was throbbing a reminder that she wasn’t supposed to do those kinds of things to it, and she tried to hide her limp as they walked, remembering his ease as he went up and down the stairs. It sucked to be her sometimes.

The office was just as she remembered it, all sterile neatness on Magnus’s side, and all chaos on Levi’s. Papers were strewn about on Levi’s desk and the small garbage can under his desk overflowed with more wadded notes. Other than the two desks and a file cabinet, there wasn’t much to recommend this room as a haven for a frightened blind cat.