The hairs on Amy’s neck stood on end. “What do you mean, ‘kind of attacked’?”
“Well, he was mistaken for an intruder and hit with a cricket bat.”
Her jaw dropped. “What? Who attacked him?”
“See, here’s the stupid part.” Lexi’s voice became sheepish. “I did. He was at my place and I hit him.”
Amy’s eyes widened in disbelief. “You mistook your brother for an intruder and smacked him with a cricket bat?”
“I know it’s ridiculous. Daniel has a key to my flat, so if I’m not there, he lets himself in. He told me he was coming round, but things got crazy at work and I forgot. When I got home and heard someone in my kitchen, I didn’t even think. I just picked up the bat and swung.” Lexi sounded downright embarrassed.
“He must have been delighted,” was the dry rejoinder.
“Well, let’s put it this way…he wasn’t very happy. He was fast though. Moved like lightning. Just as well, I suppose, otherwise I think I might have fractured his skull.”
“So where did you hit him?”
“I just tapped him on the shoulder in the end. That’s not how he got hurt.”
“There’s more?”
“Yeah. He was holding a glass of water. As he jumped out the way, he dropped the glass and the water spilled everywhere. When he swiveled around to see why I attacked him, he slipped in the water and twisted his knee.”
The absurdity of the situation hit her and Amy began to snicker. “Lucky he didn’t cut himself on the broken glass.”
“Amy,” Lexi chided. “It’s not funny.”
“Sorry. Where’s Daniel now?”
“I took him home. He was feeling sorry for himself and didn’t really want to spend time with me.” She paused. “I guess I can understand that.”
“Will he be okay?”
“Oh, he’ll be fine. As soon as he realizes his injuries aren’t critical. He needs some cheering up and I am not the one who can do that. He’d throttle me if he saw me now. That’s why I phoned you. I feel so bad about what happened I hoped you could go over to his place. You know, see how he is?”
“I guess I could.” She didn’t have any plans for the evening and she had no doubt Daniel would be feeling thoroughly sorry for himself.
“Amy, you’re a lifesaver. Thank you. I’d phone Mum and ask her to go, but then I’d have to explain what happened and I’ll never hear the end of it.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’ll be a pleasure. Besides, I’d like to get Daniel’s take on the whole incident.” She snickered again.
“Please don’t tell him I phoned you,” Lexi begged. “He’ll just get madder at me for sending someone to look after him.”
Amy shook her head in amusement. “Right, Lex. I won’t say a word. I’ll just pop in for a surprise visit. I’m sure Daniel won’t suspect a thing.”
“Thanks, I owe you one. Look, I’ll call later to see how he’s doing. Please, do me a favor? If he still seems upset with me, will you answer the phone when it rings?”
Amy smiled and gave her promise, then hung up. She was stunned to see her hands shaking.
Fucking hell.
Daniel had been in an accident.
Granted, it was a freak accident and he was fine. But still.
Fucking hell.
She nearly fainted when she heard he was attacked. Visions of violent, masked men assaulting him, leaving him half-dead on the pavement, fighting for his life, floated before her eyes. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. Daniel went wherever he thought he could find a good picture. He’d been in the middle of far worse situations before.
Lucky she was sitting down. The realization that Daniel might have been seriously hurt hit her. She put her head on her knees and waited for the rising nausea to pass.
She didn’t know what she’d do if anything ever happened to him.
***
Amy pressed Daniel’s doorbell and bit the inside of her cheek, her humor restored. She’d had time to recover from the shock and replay her conversation with Lexi over in her mind. It was a ridiculous situation—hilarious, really. Every time she pictured Daniel slipping in the water and going down, she started to laugh. It was important she kept a straight face or Daniel would know right away Lexi had phoned her.
It was a lost cause.
Coughing and clearing her throat at the same time in an attempt to regain her composure, she buzzed again. He was taking his sweet time to get to the door.
“All right already,” a voice called from inside. “I’m coming. Be patient, why don’t you!”
Slow, heavy footsteps sounded on the other side of the door and then it was jerked opened. “Yeah. What is it?”
Amy bit the inside of her cheek again. Daniel was not a happy camper.
“Amy? What are you doing here?” If he wasn’t scowling so much, he might have looked surprised to see her.
“Good to see you too,” she greeted him. “I thought I’d pop in and say hi. But since you look as though you don’t want company, I’ll come back another time.” She turned to leave.
“No—wait, don’t go. I’m sorry. I’m a little…peeved, that’s all. Come in.”
“You sure? You look like you’d prefer to be alone.”
“I’m sure.” The frown hadn’t left his face.
Amy nodded and walked into his flat. She promised Lexi she’d see if Daniel was okay and she wasn’t about to go back on her word. Besides, a small part of her needed to make sure he wasn’t seriously injured.
She set her purse and a large plastic bag down on his dining room table, next to a packet of frozen veggies. She looked from the peas to Daniel and back again. Unable to help herself, she smiled. “Dinner?”
“Yeah. I was just about to pour myself a bowl of frozen peas,” he said testily. “Would you like some?” He slammed the door shut and limped into the lounge.
“Have you had a bad day?” Amy asked innocently. “You’re as touchy as a bear with a sore paw.”
Great line, Morgan.
“My paw is fine. Thank you for asking.”
She eyed his leg. “Then why are you limping?”
“I twisted my knee.”
“Ouch! How did that happen?”
“It’s not important.”
Amy raised an eyebrow. “Is it painful?”
“No.”
“Then why are you limping?”
“Okay, it’s painful,” Daniel admitted reluctantly. “Happy?”
“It looks sore. How did you twist it?”
“Morgan, I don’t want to discuss it right now. Suffice to say, I twisted my knee and it hurts like hell. Now, can we talk about something else? Please?” He grabbed the peas, hobbled to the couch and collapsed onto it. Stretching the long, injured leg out in front of him, he placed the vegetables on his knee and winced as the icy packet touched his skin.
Amy sat down on the opposite couch and scrunched her face up in concern. “That looks cold. It must feel like hell.”
He eyed her with irritation. “It does. It’s helping with the swelling though, so I can’t complain.”
“Have you taken something for the pain?”
“Yeah, a couple of painkillers. Now I just have to wait for them to work.”
“So how did it happen?”
He glared at her. “Can you please just not ask?”
“Why not?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. Now, did you come for a reason or are you just going to sit there and annoy me?”
“Well, I did come for a reason.” Amy smiled. “But I think I’d rather sit here and annoy you.”
“Well then, congratulations. You’re doing a damn good job.”
“Am I to assume you’re not going to tell me what happened?”
“Assume whatever you want.”
“Did you trip?”
“What?”
“Did you trip? Is that how you twisted your knee?”
“No,” he bit out. “I did not trip.”
“Oh. Were you tackled?”
“Tackled?” The look he gave her said more eloquently than words that he thought she’d lost her marbles.
“You know, like when you play rugby and your opponent tackles you. Did you go down and twist your knee at the same time?”
“You ask an awful lot of questions.”
“I have to. You don’t give me much to work with.”
“For good reason.”
“Yeah, I know. You don’t want to talk about it.”
“Why did you come here?”
“Good diversionary tactic. Change the subject.”
“Amy…” Daniel fired a threatening look in her direction.
“Okay. I stopped off at
The Sushi Train
. I thought you might be in the mood for a little Japanese takeaway.”
“You did?” That got his interest.
“Mm-hmm.”
“You got me California rolls?” His tone was a lot less grumpy than before.
She pointed to the bag she’d set down earlier. “On the table.”
“With extra wasabi?”
“Mm hmm.”
“Oh…” A smile tugged the corners of his mouth. “Maybe you’re not as annoying tonight as I thought.”
“Is that a compliment?”
“It’s a reprieve.”
“So how did you hurt your leg?”
“Damn it, Morgan!” He lowered his foot gingerly to the floor and stood up. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to get some water.”
As he inched his way to the kitchen, she called after him, “Be careful you don’t slip.”
Daniel stopped dead in his tracks and turned around with painstaking precision.
Oops.
Looked like she was the one who slipped.
“You took a chance coming here tonight.” Suspicion laced his tone. “How did you know I’d be home?”
“Lucky guess?”
“I don’t think so.”
“You told me yesterday?”
“I didn’t speak to you yesterday.”
“Instinct?”
“Lexi phoned you, didn’t she?”
Amy jumped up and hauled containers of food out of the bag. “I asked them to make you fresh rolls. I didn’t take any of the ready-made ones.”
He ignored her comment. “Your sole purpose in coming over here tonight was to make fun of me, wasn’t it?”
“I came to comfort you. Lexi said you weren’t feeling well.”
“Aha! She
did
phone you. What else did she say?”
Oh shit.
“Not much. Just that you’d had a, um…fall.” Her lips started to twitch and a chuckle escaped from the back of her throat. She clamped a hand over her mouth.
“You know the whole story. You’ve known all along.”
“Not everything. I think Lexi gave me a ‘watered-down’ version.”
He rolled his eyes. “Funny.”
“Okay, she may have ‘slipped’ in a few extra details.”
“Yeah, yeah. Very cute”
“Aw, what’s the matter? Is this conversation driving you ‘batty’?”
“Lady, your sense of humor gets worse everyday.”
A witty retort flew to her mouth just as the phone rang and she experienced a sudden stab of guilt. Lexi. “Oh, bugger, it’s your sister. She said she’d phone to see how you were doing. Listen…don’t tell her I told you she told me. She begged me not to. She’ll kill me. In fact, don’t answer that. I will. I’ll tell her you told me. Yeah. That’ll work. I’ll just tell her you told me the whole story.”
She grabbed the phone, keeping one eye on Daniel’s now bemused face. “Hello?”
It wasn’t Lexi. The voice on the other side of line was male and unfamiliar. She handed the phone over to Daniel. “It’s for you,” she said in a small voice, completely embarrassed. “Why don’t I just get that water while you talk?”
She hightailed it to the kitchen and grabbed some glasses and plates. Okay, she admitted to herself, she was useless at keeping secrets. But at least Daniel seemed a little less tense. She took some water and a soft drink from the fridge and walked back to the lounge. By the time Daniel hung up the phone, she was eating her second piece of sushi.
“Nice of you to wait.” Daniel hobbled to the couch.
“Yeah, it was also nice of me to get the food in the first place. And organize drinks and plates. And come and visit a sick friend.”
He grinned. “You’re right. It was nice of you. Thanks. Look, I’m sorry I was in such a bad mood. It’s my sister I’m irritated with, not you. You were here and she wasn’t, so I took it out on you. I apologize.”
“That’s okay.” She smiled. “I quite enjoyed your misery. How are you feeling now?”
“Not bad, I guess. My shoulder’s quite stiff though.”
“Your shoulder? Lexi said she barely touched you when she took a swing at you.”
“She was just relieved she didn’t connect the bat with my head. D’ya want to see the bruise?”
Without waiting for an answer, he whipped off his shirt and dropped onto the couch next to her. He twisted around so she could inspect his shoulder. And what a shoulder it was. Broad and smooth and muscular.
Amy’s mouth dried and the sushi she was chewing turned to sawdust. She swallowed the now-tasteless lump. Before she could help herself, her hand skimmed over his shoulder, relishing its warm texture and contained strength. Her eyes closed involuntarily. A month. She hadn’t touched him in a month. An electric fence between them couldn’t have stopped her from reaching out now.