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“This is delicious,” Maisie told him after taking her first bite. “I’m impressed.”
“Don’t be. It’s just an egg sandwich. And my first attempt at making this bacon was a colossal fail.”
They made comfortable small talk as they ate breakfast and then cleaned up the kitchen.
Dodge dried his hands then hung the dishtowel on the handle of the oven. “You okay on your own for a bit? I was hoping to grab a quick shower. If that’s okay.”
She nodded, then swallowed as her mouth had gone dry thinking about Dodge being naked and wet somewhere in her house. “Sure, of course. You can use the guest bathroom in the hall.There’re clean towels under the sink, and the shower already has shampoo and body wash in it. Do you need to borrow anything? I’ve probably got a spare toothbrush around here somewhere.”
“Nah. Chevy stopped by last night and dropped off my toothbrush, deodorant and some clean clothes.” He held up a grocery sack that had been sitting on the edge of the counter. “He even packed it in our good luggage.”
She laughed. “That was really nice of him.” Itwasnice of him, but she’d just realized that if Chevy knew, then the rest of Dodge’s family would also know that he’d spent the night at her house. Although, what did she think? Of course, they would knowsomethingwhen he didn’t go home to the ranch.
“Yeah, he brought a couple of cheeseburgers too.” He lifted one shoulder in a mock-innocent shrug. “Or he might have brought us both one, but since you were asleep, I ate yours.”
“That’s okay. I’d hate to see a good cheeseburger go to waste.”
He jerked a thumb toward the hall. “I’ll be out in ten minutes. You sure you’ll be okay?”
“I’ll be fine. I need to clean up and get dressed too.” Her shoulders drooped as a thought occurred to her. “Oh. Wait.”
His brow furrowed. “What’s wrong?”
How did he seem to already be able to read her?
She shifted from one foot to the other, not sure how to phrase what she needed his help with. “Well…it’s just that…I want to change out of my pajamas into some regular clothes, but I don’t think I can manage the…logisticsof it all by myself.”
His brow drew further down then lifted as if suddenly understanding. “Oh, do you need me to help you with taking off the sling? That’s where you got stuck last night.”
“I did?” Heat climbed up her neck. “You helped me change my clothes last night?”
He shook his head, his cheeks going as red as her neck felt. “No. I mean yes. Well, sort of. You’d already changed into your shorts, but you got your hair stuck in your watch when you were trying to take off your shirt.”
Her eyebrows raised. “So, you helped me? With my hair?Andmy shirt?”
“You asked me too. And I couldn’t leave you all tied up like you were.”
If he’d helped her change clothes the night before, that must be why she’d worn her bra to bed. At least that showed he was a gentleman and hadn’t tried to take advantage of her or the situation.
But she knew that about him already.
“Well, then, thank you? I guess.”
“No problem.”
“The thing is though. I do need help with the sling, but that’s not the only problem,” she told him. “I can’t get my…um…my bra unhooked with one hand.”
He offered her a cocky grin. “Finally, something I’m good at. I may not be able to make a fancy cap-a-caramel-chino, but I do know how to manage those hooks. I can even do it one-handed.”
She waggled the elbow encased in the sling like she was doing a one-armed chicken dance. “Well, unfortunately I can’t.”
Dodge laughed as he set the plastic bag he was holding down on the table then released the latch on Maisie’s sling. Being careful of her bandaged wrist, he slid the fabric contraption off then set it on the table too. “I’ll help you put it back on when I get out of the shower.”
He let out his breath. The sling was the easy part.
“Thanks.” Maisie turned her away from him and twisted her good hand around in an effort to lift her shirt.
“I got you,” he said, sliding his hand up her back, and skillfully unhooking her bra. He tried to turn that part of his brain off—the part that was noticing how soft her skin was and was thinking about helping her remove the rest of her clothes.
