He waited. She didn’t know what to do. Well, she did. She had to tell him she’d be fine on her own. She just wasn’t doing it.
“I understand if you’d rather go alone.” His words reached out to her. Softly enveloping her.
“The thing is... I’d actually rather not. I just don’t know how it’s okay for you to go with me.”
He shrugged. And grinned, of all things. “It’s a medical test to determine whether or not you need my bone marrow,” he said, making it sound so simple.
It wasn’t simple. None of this was.
The intensity of his gaze told her he knew that.
As she waffled, he continued to hold her gaze tenderly. Until she relaxed again. Or gave in.
“Okay, then, I would appreciate the company,” she said. “I really don’t want to tell anyone about this until I know more. But... I’m... It would be easier not to sit there alone.”
She could. There was no doubt in her mind about that.
“It’s just two people sitting there waiting for a test,” he said. “Seriously.”
He was right.
She knew he was right.
“So...this is kind of weird, isn’t it?” she asked.
“A little.”
But they were okay.
And that mattered.
* * *
“So what do you do as a corporate lawyer?” Lunch was almost through, and Wood wasn’t ready to get on with his day—or to leave Cassie to hers.
“A lot of contract reading,” she said with a chuckle. “But really, all kinds of things. I have several clients myself, and the firm has some that we share. We advise on everything from criminal complaints against a corporation, civil complaints—usually meaning lawsuits—deal negotiations and anything else that comes up.”
“So you go to court.”
“On occasion. Mostly I’m in meetings. Researching. And doing a hell of a lot of contract reading,” she repeated with a self-deprecatory grin. Like she was downplaying the high-powered importance of her job.
“Don’t do that,” he said.
“Do what?”
“Undermine what you do.”
“I...wasn’t...”
All he did was look at her, and she dropped her gaze. Signaling that he was right.
She looked at him. Sighed. “I don’t know what it is about you... I’m just not myself. I’m constantly afraid of offending you and I don’t even know why.”
Her honesty put him at ease, endeared her to him a bit.
“I live with a nuclear radiology resident,” he told her. “She was a med student before that. And when Peter was in med school, he talked nonstop about his classes and the things he was learning every step of the way. I can handle conversation involving higher learning.”
She shook her head. “It’s not that. And if you have such an issue with your lack of education, then why don’t you just go back to school?”