Chapter Eighteen

Hanna fell asleep in Nate's truck on the drive back from town.

So much for her speech about being fine and pulling her own weight. She didn't even wake up until the fireflies started winking in the trees.

Nate was nowhere to be seen. She'd apparently slept through him turning off the truck, getting out, shutting the door. They'd left town around three, which meant she'd been dozing for a few hours.

He'd rolled down the windows and parked in the shade so she wouldn't bake in the heat. As it was, she'd sweat all over his fancy leather seats—nice addition to the blood and rain water.

Her neck ached where it had lolled steeply to one side, her shoulder burned where she'd been laying on it—the meds Nate had forced on her at lunch had definitely worn off—and she had to pee.

She eased down from the truck and made her way a bit unsteadily across the weedy front lawn of the Yellow Rose. She figured that Nate would be inside the old Victorian, finishing what she'd failed to do, but when she entered the little garage apartment, she found him there instead.

He stood at the stove, stirring a pot with one hand while looking at his phone with the other.

The smell of something garlicky and glorious hit her head-on. Her stomach woke up instantly and growled for a giant portion of whatever it was he was making.

He turned his head as she came through the front door. An amused smile warmed his face and crinkled the corners of his sexy green eyes.

"What are you grinning at?" she asked, hoping he'd let her in on what was so funny.

"Your hair is telling jokes. I was simply appreciating its sense of humor."

A flush of embarrassment heated her cheeks as she slipped past him into the little bathroom. Sure enough, her hair was a complete wreck, sticking up in humps where her sweat had glued it to her head. The twisted knot she wore her hair in most of the time to keep it out of her way had sprouted tentacles, and one spiky horn sticking straight out of the top.

She groaned at the sight, peed, then washed up and did what she could to repair the damage. She feared that nothing but a shower and a full shampoo was going to rid her hair of its funny bone, but the idea of doing the job made her wound burn.

Until now, she hadn't really thought through how she was going to manage dealing with her injury and herself. She wasn't supposed to get the stitches wet, which was going to make bathing difficult, and washing her hair impossible. Unless she had someone tape some plastic over the bandage—something she wasn't going to be able to do on her own. Sure, she could take a bird bath, but as dirty and sweaty as she got working, she knew she'd never get clean enough. Especially her hair.

Hanna let her head fall, giving into the need for a momentary pity party.

She'd been fine before Rex broke down. Sure, she'd been mostly broke and homeless, but she was fixing her problems on her own. Independent. Making good choices for once.

And now here she was, unable to perform even the most basic functions—keeping herself clean and healthy—without help.

She'd thought she'd been fine, but the truth was she'd always been only one little mishap away from catastrophe.

As soon as that thought ran its course, she lifted her head and stared at herself in the mirror. "You're fine. It's just a little cut. Nothing is broken but Rex, and he's on the mend. Just another day or two and everything will be back to where it was before. New steady job, new happy life, new strong you."

The pep talk helped set her natural optimist free, but there was still a small part of her that wondered how she was going to make all these grand plans work. Wanting them was one thing. Making them happen was another.

"Are you okay in there?" she heard Nate call from the other side of the door.

Had he heard her talking to herself? She hoped not. Her pep talks were for her ears only.

She plastered a smile on her face so bright, she could feel her teeth gleaming. When she opened the door, he was only inches away.

"I'm fine. Smells like you made dinner."

"There wasn't a lot to work with here, but I managed some spaghetti with sauce out of a jar."

"It never smells like that when I make jarred sauce."

"I added a few things to jazz it up."

He dished up two plates and set them on the tiny round table. Beside hers, set two pain pills and one of her antibiotics. "You should take it with food."

She looked at the pills and had to fight off the sting of tears.

How long had it been since someone had cared enough about her to do something like this for her? He'd spent his entire day taking care of her, and instead of being pissy that his schedule had been interrupted, he'd made her dinner.

What kind of man did that?

The kind of man who was way too good for a girl like Hanna.

She'd been so worried about making bad choices in men that it hadn't occurred to her until today that she was the bad choice in this relationship.

She couldn't do to him what Jack had done to her—bringing her down when she had finally gotten her little business off the ground. It wasn't that she was going to steal from Nate or let down his customers, but she was sure that dragging him off of a job with a tight deadline was almost as bad.

And who knew what other problems she could cause him if he was focused on her instead of his work?

She blinked hard and fast to clear her vision. "Thank you. For everything. You've really gone above and beyond today."

He twirled some noodles around his fork. "That's just what you do when someone gets hurt. Besides, you got hurt on my property, doing a job for me, so if I just walked away, it would make me a total asshole."

She couldn't imagine him being that—not now that she knew him better.

"I don't blame you. It was my clumsiness that got me in this mess. I've been around construction sites enough to know how to behave. It was just an unfortunate combination of fatigue and bad luck."

"You seemed exhausted. That's why I didn't wake you when we got here. I figured sleep was the best medicine."

"I'll put in a few hours tonight to make up for what I missed today."

"Like hell you will. The office is closed for the rest of the night. You're going to eat, then sleep."

She thought about arguing, but decided there was no point. Let him think what he liked. She'd do what she wanted once he left.

He must have seen her thoughts on her face, because he said, "And if you think you're going to sneak out and work while I'm gone tonight, then think again. I'm planting my ass right here in case you need me tonight."

"You act like I had a leg amputated. It's not that big of a deal."

He stared at her for a long moment, his gaze searching her face. "Can you please just let me help you?"

"I don't want pity."

"Fine. No pity here. But I do feel guilty that you got hurt on the job. If I'd been there to help you, maybe it wouldn't have happened. All I'm asking is for you to let me assuage my guilt a little by making things easier on you. Okay?"

When he said it like that, she couldn't say no. He was a good guy trying to do right by her. If it eased his guilt to help her, then she'd let him.

Besides, she really did need help, if she was being completely honest with herself.

"Okay. I could use a shower. Can you tape some plastic over my bandage or something?"

"Absolutely." He gave her a smile so bright she knew this moment would be etched into her mind forever. His white teeth shining, his pale green eyes crinkled at the corners, one side of his mouth hitched up a fraction higher than the other.

He was so handsome it made her heart break just to look at him, because she knew he'd never be hers. Women like her might gain the attraction of good men like Nate, but they'd never keep it for long. If she wanted to get out of this town with what was left of her heart intact, she needed to remember that.