I have to admit that I was pretty annoyed when she interrupted our twenty questions session to talk about rent and shit. It’s true that I don’t need her money, but I can understand why she wants to pay her way. I wanted to drop the subject so I just agreed, poured us each another glass, and raised mine in a celebratory toast.

Neither of us says anything for a couple of minutes, and I’m about to break the silence when she rises from the couch.

“I’m going to go figure out what’s for dinner. I haven’t eaten since brunch and that was hours ago. I’m starving, and if I keep drinking this on an empty stomach, I’ll end up passed out right here on the couch.”

The thought of her getting drunk and needing me to take care of her is actually an appealing one. “Good thing you just moved in with a badass soldier. I can throw you over my shoulder and drop you off in the guest room—well, your room now—if that ever happens. The couch is comfortable, but not enough to sleep on all night,” I say, rising from my spot on the couch and moving towards her.

“Yeah, well once you’re fully healed, you can show off your big, badass muscles, but for now, you aren’t lifting anything, especially not me,” she says, backing away from me and hurrying into the kitchen.

Shaking my head, I try not to get irritated that she just brought up my weakened state—again. I know she’s not doing it on purpose, but I still can’t help being annoyed by the constant reminder, even if she’s just trying to look out for me.

When I follow her, I find her bent over in front of the refrigerator, holding the door open and staring at the contents inside. The way her ass is sticking out unleashes something inside me, and I go semi-hard just from watching her. I instantly feel the need to show her that I’m not some weak, damaged man. I walk up behind her and grab her by the waist, turning her around. Kicking the door shut behind me, I push her to the island. If I thought I could get away with it, I’d be pressing myself up against her so she could feel what she’s doing to me. She’s staring up at me with confusion in her big, brown eyes, and I wonder what the hell I’m doing.

“Hop up,” I tell her, and she complies immediately, surprising me by not fighting it.

I place my hands on her knees, spreading them and stepping closer to her so my hips are between her legs. As best as I can, I take hold of each one and wrap them around my waist. She involuntarily tightens them around my middle, although her ass is still firmly planted on the counter. This isn’t how I imagined her legs wrapped around me for the first time, but I can’t deny that I love the feel of her gripping my waist tightly.

“Arms around my neck, sweetheart.” The confused expression on her face deepens, but she does as she’s told.

“What are you doing, Knox?” she asks, looking up at me, her face only inches from mine.

Swallowing hard, I ignore her question and bring my forehead to hers. “Just do this for me, okay? Don’t fight me on it. Just this once. I need to do this.”

She nods, and I’m not sure she knows what to expect, confirming it when I pull her off the counter. Gasping, she starts to struggle, and I have to brace myself against the counter to keep from falling. Jesus, this woman is so damn difficult, and it can be both sexy as hell and annoyingly irritating.

“Knox, what the hell?! Put me down!”

Fuck. I know I should probably listen to her, but I’ve gotten to this point and I’m not stopping until I can prove to myself, and to her, that I haven’t completely lost all of my strength. She’s not exactly heavy, but her struggling is making it difficult to keep my one good arm around her as I make my way down the hallway, heading into the guest bedroom. Somewhere along the way she stops struggling, apparently having given up and figuring that it’s just easier to let me do this.

I’m slightly out of breath by the time I get to her bed, and I’m more than happy to release her from my arms. Relief washes over me when she plops on the bed, bouncing once. I’m not sure whether the relief is from having been able to do it or from having freed myself of her weight. Either way, I’m fucking ecstatic, and even though I’m breathing heavily, it was a small victory for me and my bruised ego.

I begin backing away from her because I know the verbal assault is coming. I don’t blame her, but I don’t regret it.

“Don’t worry about dinner tonight. I’m gonna order pizza if that’s cool with you. That way we can just hang out,” I say, trying to act like what just happened was no big deal, hoping she’ll do the same. But I’m mentally rejoicing, feeling a little better knowing that I can still carry a hot girl to bed. For a brief moment, I thought I wasn’t going to be able to make it, and I’m not sure my ego could’ve taken a failure like that, especially with Charlie as a witness. I’m struggling to keep from grinning like an idiot and flexing my muscles like a body builder on a testosterone high.

She’s just staring at me, not responding as she sits on the bed. I decide to leave the room and go do as I said. It’s a few minutes before she comes back out to the living room, where she sits on the coffee table directly in front of me. Placing her hands on my knees, she leans in close to me, and I’m prepared to take whatever she has to give because I know she’s probably pissed.

“I guess I was wrong. Even after being inactive and injured for over two months, you are still strong enough to haul my ass around. And I’m not little, so that’s pretty damn impressive,” she says, surprising me.

That was the last thing that I was expecting. I was waiting for a verbal tongue lashing or at least a parental-like scolding, but her telling me it was impressive? Yeah, I’m shocked as shit. And proud as hell. I thought I was more trying to prove a point to her and to myself when I did that, but looking back on it, maybe I was trying to impress her at the same time. I don’t want her thinking I’m some weak guy, and the way she’s been acting made me think that she did. Until now.

“Thanks, sweetheart, but you’ve seen nothing yet. Give me two months back in the gym and I’ll really be able to impress.” The cocky douche in me comes out before I can even stop it, and she rolls her eyes at me before turning serious-faced again.

“I know what you were doing, and once I figured it out, I just let you go ahead with it. Consider your point proven. That being said, don’t ever do anything like that to me again. At least not until you have full clearance from the doctor. You and I both know that Dr. Branch said you couldn’t lift anything more than ten pounds, and I outweigh that by about 130, so I’m definitely off-limits.”

I start to interrupt her to let her know it was a one-time thing, but she holds her hand up to stop me. “I know I’ve never been in your shoes, but I have been in the position where I’ve been injured and not been able to do my daily workouts. I understand how it feels to be cooped up, helpless, and weak. What happened to you was awful, Knox, and I know you’re itching to get back in the gym, back to work, and back to your normal life. I know having me around is a reminder that you can’t do it all on your own right now, but please don’t look at it that way. Forget why I’m here. All that matters now is that you have a new roommate who is conveniently around to do the things that you can’t. And when you’re given the go-ahead, I’ll be right there with you working through your rehabilitation so you can eventually throw me around like a sack of potatoes. But let’s wait to do that so we don’t potentially worsen your injuries, okay?”

Nodding, I’m shocked at how spot-on she is. Maybe Jace was right when he said I’m not that hard to read. Or maybe it just takes the right person to get me, and apparently this girl is that person.

Smiling, she pats my knee before getting up from the coffee table. “It’s going to take time, but you have to be patient. If we do something to cause a setback, it’ll just take that much longer to get you back in the gym, and to be honest, I’m itching to go toe-to-toe with you to see what you’re made of,” she teases.