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There was something in the way he offered that information that had Lilly picking through it to see if there was any hidden meaning. Her brain was obviously a little overactive because she immediately came up with a possible scenario.
“Erica’s been with you since Megan was born?” she asked.
“Yes.”
Okay. That didn’t confirm her scenario that Erica might be more than a nanny, but again, Lilly was sure there was something left unsaid.
“Is—”
“Erica can be…a little possessive sometimes,” Jason volunteered, interrupting her, which was a good thing since Lilly didn’t know how she would finish that question anyway. Are you sleeping with the nanny? hardly seemed appropriate.
“She’s possessive about Megan?”
That earned her a semiglare. “Yeah. Who else?”
“You, perhaps?”
Jason reacted as if he’d tasted something disgusting. “Not a chance.”
All right. So, she wasn’t stepping into a love nest/wannabe family situation, and that made her feel far better than it should have. However, the “possessive” description bothered her. After all, Jason seemed possessive. Lilly felt that way herself.
One house.
Three possessive people.
This was going to be one heck of a long stay in protective custody.
“I’m making arrangements for a nurse to come to the house,” Jason continued a moment later. “But it’ll take a couple of days to do a thorough security check. In the meantime, if you need help, just let me know.”
There it was again. That niggling feeling that he’d left something out of his comment. “Help?” she repeated.
“Help,” he verified, though he did pause after his quick response. “You know, what with the wheelchair. You, uh, might need assistance…getting around or dressing. If you do, just let me know.”
She’d rather set her hair on fire.
This situation would be tense enough without him helping her in that kind of personal way.
Jason shook his head. “I don’t know why I said that.”
Lilly knew why. It was the same reason she’d had images of his butt and Jason and Erica in a lovers’ romp. “I think it’s about what happened two nights ago at St. Joseph’s. That hug,” she clarified when he aimed a questioning glance in her direction.
“What about it?” Judging from his stiff tone, he didn’t want to discuss it any more than she did, but Lilly couldn’t let this linger between them. If they were to share a house, it might be best to start with a little air-clearing.
“I don’t think it was a valid attraction or anything,” she concluded.
Valid? Valid! Sheez. It was a word she’d use in a corporate briefing, not in a personal discussion about inappropriate hospital embraces.
He sat there. Waiting, or something. He obviously had no plans to cooperate with the air-clearing or to question her bizarre word usage.
Lilly gave it one more try. “I think the hug and our reaction to it was some kind of, uh, knight-in-shining-armor response. You know, because you’d saved my life.”
Jason shifted in his seat. “It was a hug. That’s all. It can’t undo what’s between us.”
“True.” Lilly added a silent whew to that. She couldn’t cope with hugs and possible attractions that didn’t make sense.
And nothing about being attracted to Jason made sense.
She needed to concentrate on her daughter. On how she was going to deal with this first visit. On how she was going to make a place for herself in Megan’s life.
