I forced myself to look up. Still in her pajamas and sleep rumpled, she looked gorgeous. How she pulled that off, I had no idea. Concern filled her eyes when she took in the sight of me. “I called him. Sorry Rachel, I didn’t want to bug you.”
Her gaze drifted to Clay. “It’s okay, I get it.” She eyed Clay’s bare chest and his face as he continued to support me.
I’d forgotten she hadn’t seen him cleaned up like I had. Although bruised and bitten probably wasn’t the best first impression, being shirtless kind of made up for it. She certainly wasn’t looking at him in a clinically concerned way and it made me smile. Rachel was a free spirit and loved life. She didn’t mean anything when she looked, but I could sense it made Clay a little uncomfortable. I shivered again. Perfect timing.
“Are you sure you should be going?” she asked managing to look away from Clay.
“Yeah, Clay’s going to pack for me and then we’ll go. Oh, and he came by last night, saw the dog out and took him home. We’ll take him with, so don’t worry.”
I closed the bathroom door on both of them and focused on pulling myself together. I splashed some water on my face, leaning heavily on the sink and ran my fingers through the snarls. It didn’t help much, but I didn’t think it’d matter anyway with a long drive ahead of us. I took care of business and shuffled out of the bathroom to look for shoes, not concerned about changing.
Clay came in from the back door before I could make it to the hall closet. He took one look at my chattering teeth, and scooped me up in his arms.
My squeal brought Rachel from her room before Clay could make it out the door. “When you’re feeling better, let’s talk about rental rates,” she called after us with a snicker. “And I’m not talking about the house!”
Clay had a blanket waiting for me in the front seat of the warming car. I noticed my bulging messenger bag in the back seat and twisted to grab the cell phone from it while Clay closed my door. I buckled and pulled the blanket snuggly around me. My fuzzy slippers waited on the floor, but I curled my legs under me instead.
He slid in behind the wheel, tucked the blanket around me better, and then pulled out of the driveway. I struggled to keep my eyes open. Sleep pulled at me.
I waited until we drove for a few minutes, clearing town before saying, “I don’t want to keep going on like this.”
His hands noticeably tightened on the steering wheel and I could have smacked my forehead if it wasn’t hurting so bad.
“I don’t mean being with you,” I assured him. “I like that. But I don’t like seeing you bruised.” He loosed his tight hold on the wheel and glanced at me a smile twitching his lips. “There’s nothing amusing about it,” I scowled at him. Then I murmured, “I don’t like worrying.”
I dialed Sam’s number and struggled to hold the phone to my ear. My arm trembled from the effort. Sam picked up during the first ring. Not waiting for his greeting I said, “I’m on my way. Put out a call for tonight only.” I hung up before he could speak not ready to talk to him. He’d hurt me too much with his last appearance.
Tossing the phone on the back seat ignoring it when it started vibrating, my gaze drifted to Clay. He looked outright pissed now. He knew who I’d called and what I intended.
I hurried to explain, “It’s not what you think, Clay. I don’t want to do another Introduction, but something happened last night. I went out with Rachel to a club downtown, not my best decision, but I think I’ve figured out what’s going on with me.” I shivered and pulled the blanket tighter around me. Sleep tugged at me, but I fought it.
“Remember the party with Nicole? When I’d touched her, I’d given her a huge shock. That happened again last night with two girls at the club. I think can transfer my gift, that thing with guys, to other people. I didn’t know how it happened the first time. But I think I’ve figured it out.
“Last night when I touched two women at the club, they’d been on their own until Rachel and I, and the groupies I’d collected, joined them. When we made to leave, they’d been so disappointed. They knew the guys they’d been talking to would walk away when we did and it made me feel so sad for them that I’d reached out, touching them. I just meant it as an ‘I’m sorry’ gesture, but it’d happened again just like before.” My words started slurring and I had a hard time keeping my thoughts coherent.