I stared, half-afraid, half-hoping if I was still asleep. But the scowl on his face and the impatient sound he made convinced me I wasn't. I blew out a breath, sucked in another one, trying to ride out the pain. Finally, he spoke.
"You're awake."
"That tends to happen when people make noise while I'm sleeping."
His eyebrows shot up but he made no attempt to apologize. He shrugged. "I didn’t want to miss you."
I shoved myself up to a sitting position and jerked my chin toward my IV. "Uh, not sure you noticed, but it's a hospital. Not a lot of places I'd be."
A muscle in his jaw twitched but he said nothing.
I sighed. "Look. Ollie. I’m groggy, I hurt pretty much all over and I’m sick. Are you going to tell me why you woke me up or did you just need someone to glare at?"
A flash of teeth. I think it was a smile but it was too brief to be certain.
“My sister says I should apologize to you. Ranger says I should apologize to you. So… I’m apologizing to you. And you can call me Adam. Only the guys in my squad call me Ollie.”
Adam. Such a beautiful name.
“Ranger calls you Ollie.”
Another flash of teeth. My stomach tightened.
“Okay. The guys in my squad and Ranger call me Ollie.”
As apologies go, that was the lamest excuse for one I’d ever heard. But I inclined my head graciously because it was just easier. “Okay.” I figured he’d leave now that he’d performed his sister-and-nurse-imposed penance but he just watched me, his forehead creased.
“So… that’s it? You’re not gonna make me work for it, you’re not gonna fight me?”
“Why would I do that?”
Adam blew out a frustrated sigh. “Because that was a bad apology. I know it and I’m pretty sure you do, too. So why let me off the hook so easily?”
I shrugged, forgetting it hurts. Through the lance of pain that speared me, I said tightly, “It doesn’t matter. Forget it.”
His eyes narrowed and pushed his chair closer. “What do you mean, it doesn’t matter?”
“I thought it was pretty self-explanatory.”
He sighed again. “Fine. Then tell me why it doesn’t matter.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“I want you to tell me the damn truth. I said something totally out of line and then gave you a pretty crappy apology and you’re still sitting there like you’re in a coma. Why aren’t you angry?”
“You want me to be angry?”
“No! Goddamn it.” His hands flew to his hair, tugged. His was long and shaggy and it now stood on end. “I just want to know what you’re really thinking. You’re like a… a mannequin or something.”
My teeth clenched at that.
“Ah ha.” He pointed a finger at me like he’d just won a prize or something. “You didn’t like hearing that.”
“No. Are you happy now?”
He grinned and I gasped. Twin dimples framed perfect white teeth. Sparkling eyes, the pain lines erased from his face, he looked nothing like the hateful person I knew he could be.
