It was faster on the train because they didn’t have to deal with traffic, but Kyle had insisted. Something about it being easier to watch her in a car than on a train.
And Hutch had agreed. He’d nodded and given her that pleasant smile that didn’t come anywhere near his eyes.
He’d made breakfast for her and she’d kicked him in the gut.
“Should I turn on the radio?” It was so quiet that it was awkward.
“I’m fine.” Kyle kept his eyes on the road, which wasn’t hard because they weren’t actually moving. They were sitting. Like she’d warned him about.
She fell back into silence as they moved two car lengths before the light turned again.
“Why did he think I wouldn’t go to the training class? We hadn’t talked about it at all so I’m confused on why he thought I would cancel.” She asked the question out loud before she could think better of it. She didn’t have many guy friends, didn’t have many friends at all when she thought about it.
Kyle finally looked her way, his mouth in a deep frown. “Uh, what station do you want it on? Yeah, we should turn on the radio.”
Coward. She knew she should go back to her inner monologue now, but Kyle had kind of already put himself in the middle of this. “Did you watch me have sex on my balcony last night?”
“No. I watched the area around you to make sure no one was pointing a red dot your way,” he corrected.
“Do you know what I look like when I don’t have panties on?” She wasn’t letting him get out of this one. He was her best resource—her only resource. She didn’t know any of Hutch’s other friends. If MaeBe had been here, she would have asked her, but that wasn’t how her morning had gone.
First there’d been the horrifically awkward fight with a man she might be crazy about. Then there had been the notes posted to every door in the building reminding tenants that throwing items from the balcony was a fineable offense. She’d shaken her head and wondered what asshole had done that only to walk outside to the scene of her underwear being picked out of an oak tree by one of the landscape guys.
So no. No, she wasn’t giving in for Kyle’s comfort.
“I got a glimpse, but it wasn’t a perverted thing,” Kyle insisted. “It was very professional. When I go into professional mode, I don’t see things the way I normally would.”
“It’s good to know my hootch was a mere distraction. I’m glad to know it. Why did Hutch act like I kicked his favorite puppy this morning?”
Kyle sighed. “I don’t know Hutch all that well.”
How to make a man talk? Maybe she should go back to her teenaged years. “Well, I should change the subject then. You know, I thought I felt some PMS cramps coming on, but let me tell you, there’s nothing like a good orgasm to banish them completely. My cramps can be…”
Kyle groaned. “Do you women take a class on this shit?”
Oddly, she rather thought if she wanted to talk about her period with Hutch he would listen. “I can keep it up for days. Do you know how hard it is to use a tampon when you’re in a wheelchair?”
Kyle talked and fast. “He’s jealous. He’s painfully and obviously jealous. And the fact that you didn’t get that makes me feel real damn sorry for the dude. I’m going to be honest. I gave him a lecture this morning on not breaking your heart.”
“Why would he break my heart?”
“Because you seemed like the kind of chick who couldn’t sleep with a guy just for sex. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but you seem like…” He stopped as though realizing he was about to say something insulting.
“Just say it, Kyle.” She’d rather know the truth.
A low grumble came out of him, like a cranky pit bull. “Fine. You seemed like you might be clingy. Turns out Hutch is the clingy one.”
She didn’t like the sound of that. Clingy reminded her of how she’d been when she’d first left the hospital. She’d clung to her father for years, clung to that stupid chair because she’d been afraid she wouldn’t be strong enough to do what she’d needed to do.
Later, when she’d reflected on that horrible year between the accident and her stepmom coming into her life, she knew what she’d really been doing by refusing physical therapy. She’d been