The light in Alyssa’s eyes faded a bit. “Don’t think I’ll be doing much walking for a while.”
Shit, I hadn’t meant to demoralize her. Quite the opposite. “Still, you might feel better with some nice clean socks.” I patted the blanket that covered her legs. “Let’s find out.”
She nodded and pulled the blanket to the side.
This sight of her thick cast killed me every time. It looked so heavy, clunky, and uncomfortable—especially since she was a slender young woman who didn’t weigh that much to begin with.
The oversized purple sock seemed to add insult to injury. If Alyssa hadn’t figured it out yet, Nana was far better at cooking and kindness than she was at knitting. I pulled the sock off and tossed it on the floor.
“Don’t do that,” Alyssa said. Then she stopped. “I just mean, I’m a guest here, and I don’t want to mess up someone’s room.”
I gave her a gentle smile. “It’s my room, so I’m allowed to throw socks.” Though I’d planned to pick it up before I left. Messiness wasn’t really my style. Not anymore.
“I thought it was Spencer’s.” Alyssa looked around my room as if seeing it with new eyes. “I guess because he was the one who carried me in here.”
“His room’s upstairs, so this one seemed like the better choice—unless you wanted to bunk with the kids.”
She looked concerned. “I’m sorry to kick you out of your room.”
“Don’t worry about it. This house has lots of nooks and crannies. I don’t have to sleep on the deck, though we do have a nice hammock out there. The twins think it’s a swing.”
She smiled at that. I cupped her heel, intending to slide the sock on. I hadn’t done anything like that since the twins were little—hopefully Alyssa was better at keeping still than they were.
Not that she had much choice in the matter.
Her small foot was chilly. Automatically, I ran my thumbs up and down her instep. “Are you cold? Do you need another blanket?”
She shook her head. “My feet are always like that.”
I rubbed some warmth back into them and her eyes closed. “Are you tired?”
“No.” Her voice sounded drowsy, though. Or something like it. “It just … it feels good.”
Despite her words, I stopped stroking her smooth skin. “I’m sorry, I should’ve asked first.” The realization that I’d just started stroking her hit me hard. I wasn’t like that, especially not with people I didn’t know.
“Please don’t stop,” she murmured. “That’s the first thing all week that’s actually felt good.”
Those words made my hesitation fade away. The whole time she was in the hospital, she’d had IVs in her and people poking and prodding at her. If this actually felt good to her, I was prepared to do it all day.
Shifting my position, I sat with one knee up on the bed, facing her. Gently, I lifted her cast and settled it on my leg so that I wouldn’t put any strain on it. Then I resumed kneading her foot. “I like your pink nails.” The baby-doll pink somehow suited her.
She grimaced. “They’re not going to look very good in a few days.”
I paused, my thumb pressed into the arch of her foot. “Alyssa, you saved my nephew’s life. You could have snakes coming out of your head, and I’d still think you’re beautiful.”
Her cheeks turned the same pink color as her toes. Then she giggled.
“What?” I said.
“The part about snakes coming out of my hair. I’d better not turn you all to stone—at least not while I’m so dependent on you.”
I grinned. “Very considerate of you.” I switched to her other foot, rubbing harder since it was her good leg.
She moaned, and I swear my mind hadn’t been in the gutter, but the sound made my pulse speed up. Despite the fact that she was injured, she was a very beautiful young woman. She groaned again, and it made my cock twitch.
Uh-oh.
My job was to help her, not drool over her. But she was making it hard. Literally.
“Let’s try out those socks,” I said mildly. I slid them on her feet as quickly as possible and then stood up.
Alyssa looked up at me with a smile. “That felt amazing.”
“Glad you liked it.”
She basked in contentment for another moment before reaching for her purse. “How much was all the stuff from the medical supply store?”
“No charge.”
Her head cocked to the side. “Because they heard about me saving the principal’s son, too?”
“I should have thought to mention that. But no, no charge, because it’s my treat.”
She shook her head, holding some cash out to me. “I want to pay.”
“And we don’t want you to.”
“We?”
“Spencer, me, the kids, Nana, Flynn, and pretty much everyone we’ve ever met. So, it’s several hundred against one.”
Alyssa rolled her eyes, but I caught the quick grin that crossed her face.