of the night and see the shadow of his sleeping body next to my bed. For him to drop the hardness that I’d felt since the funeral, wrap his arms around me, and bury his lips against my neck.
I hadn’t gotten that. I hadn’t gotten anything even close to that.
He pulled my suitcase inside as the alarm went off. I reached for the pad, but his hand reached it before mine. He pressed three-seven-seven-one, as though I’d told him my code.
But I hadn’t.
“How did you know?” I asked.
That was my house number when I’d lived in The Heart. It was the password I’d used for everything back then. I still did.
His eyes narrowed, but his smile was missing. “I forget nothing.”
My memory wasn’t bad, but twelve years was a long time to remember something like that.
He moved to the side, and I stepped into the entryway.
“I flew in my crew and had them clean your place.”
People had been inside my house? While I’d been in the hospital?
If Anthony found out, he would lose his mind…more than he already had.
“But how’d you get a key?”
Anthony was the only person who had a spare key. He didn’t allow me to keep one lying around.
He trusted no one.
Somehow, Anthony would find out what Garin had done. And, somehow, it would be all my fault.
I would be punished for this.
Garin nodded at my purse hanging from my shoulder. “I made a copy of yours.”
I ignored the bleak feeling in my stomach and stepped further inside, noticing how clean everything was. The floors gleamed; the stainless steel was shiny. I didn’t have a housekeeper because Anthony wouldn’t allow it. I’d never been able to get the place to sparkle like this before. It had never smelled so sweet either.
“Did they make cupcakes?”
“Doughnuts with powdered sugar.”
My eyes followed his finger toward the kitchen to the center of the island where three metal racks stood, covered with homemade doughnuts.
A knot lodged in the back of my throat. “You thought of everything.”
“I wanted you to feel comfortable. You’ve gone through a lot.”
I was sure that was true, but his eyes were missing the softness he used to reserve for me. I didn’t know why I thought it would still be there after all this time. I had to clasp my hands behind my back to stop myself from trying to shake it out of him.
“I do feel comfortable,” I said. “I have since the moment I stepped onto your plane.” I set my purse on the console table and tucked my hands into my pockets.
Maybe he needed to hear more from me. Maybe he needed to know where my head was, and that would loosen things between us a little.
“Garin, if you’re doing this out of guilt, then you should know that I’m not angry about the accident. I don’t consider it your fault, and I don’t blame you for any of it.”
I’d known how much he drank that night, but I’d made the decision to get in his car. I knew the consequences. I wasn’t incoherent. What happened after was on me, not him.
He continued to stare at me, his feelings completely masked. “Is your room down the hall?”
I still hadn’t broken through.
“Yes,” I answered.
He gripped the handle of my suitcase and rolled it toward my bedroom as I went to the kitchen. There was a shelf full of water bottles inside the fridge that hadn’t been there before. The other shelves overflowed with fresh food; fruit and vegetables filled both drawers. I was sure my laundry had been done, too, and the sheets washed on both beds, the curtains cleaned and ironed, the lanai couch cushions fluffed and pressed.
The cleanliness, the full fridge, the doughnuts…it still didn’t feel like me in here.
I grabbed a bottle of water and struggled with the cap. My strength hadn’t returned. My body was still trying to heal. The impact of the crash hadn’t just affected my head and lung; my flesh was bruised, my face and chest were covered in cuts, and so were my hands and feet. Garin said I’d taken off my heels when I got into his car. Apparently, I had been a bloody mess when the paramedics pulled me out.
Breath’s babies hadn’t tortured my feet like I imagined.
The dream hadn’t happened.
I’d been in an accident. This was my reality.
“I put your suitcase on the end of your bed,” he said, stopping on the other side of the island.
The knot was back in my throat as he