Page 55 of Forced Proximity

‘It’s okay.’ It doesn’t matter. Literally nothing matters, except Doc’s well-being. At the counter, I build myself a sandwich. I don’t even know if I can stomach taking a bite, but in case she feels self-conscious about eating alone, I’ll chomp it down.

Tonight, after my meetings, I’m researching everything I can on Type 1 diabetes. If this ever happens again, I need to know exactly what to do. Is there a shot I can give her like an EpiPen or something? Some sort of special food or something I need on hand?

How the hell did she get so sick so fast? I scratch at the back of my neck. My chest is tight, hot, but I keep my body relaxed. Yes, it turned out fine. But what if it hadn’t? I know she’s hired to protect me, but all I want to do is protect her.

Patches of red and white blot her neck, her eyes are at half-mast, strands of hair are not swept in her usual sleek ponytail. It’s not even 1 p.m., and we have a full afternoon and evening of meetings at the studio. Maybe I should cancel, say I’m not feeling well or something?

She finishes her food and rechecks her blood sugar levels. Seemingly satisfied with the reading, she lifts her head. ‘What were we talking about when I came in? You wanted to tell me something?’

Now is not the time to explain why I raged so hard against Conner, and even though fighting in general makes me pretty sick, the idea that Conner laid his hands on her makes me sicker. Nor is it the time to apologize about the dance, and me touching her thigh. And it’s definitely not the time to explain that I’ve developed feelings. Right now, I only want to create a relaxing space. But I know her too well by now that I have to be subtle or she’ll be insulted.

‘I was just going to apologize for being such a dick last night,’ I say, clapping the crumbs from my hand. ‘But we can talk about that later.’

She doesn’t respond with anything but a nod.

‘I was going to watch TV before we had to leave.’ This is a lie. I was going to get in a quick workout, stop by the sport store on the way to the studio, and then swing by my favorite smoothie shop. ‘Wanna join?’

She yawns, rubs her temples like she’s battling a demon in her skull and follows me into the sitting room. It takes everything in me not to pull her into my arms. Doc is okay. From here on out, I will never let anything happen to her.

She just can’t know what I’m doing.

Chapter 27

Justin

The studio meeting is taking way longer than expected, and my fingers tap on my knee. I’ve been staring at Doc all damn evening, checking to see if her cheek color had changed, watching the way she swallowed back yawns, the way she’d briefly let her shoulders relax, then sat right back up, straight, the way she forced her eyes to stay more than half-mast. I had the assistant bring in food twice, even though I could barely eat, and watched the clock tick for five damn hours.

The moment it’s over, I leap from the chair so fast it nearly knocks into the wall, nod at Doc, then incline my head toward the door. She opens it, scans the hallway, then motions me forward.

‘God, I’m so ready to go home,’ I say, glancing at her from my peripheries. ‘You doing okay?’

Dammit. Why did I ask her that? Her shoulders straighten. ‘Didn’t you want to go to the grocery store tonight?’

No, I don’t want to go to the fucking grocery store.

Play it cool. ‘Ah, let’s see.’ I check my watch as if I’m contemplating going, knowing damn well there’s no chance I’m making her do anything but rest. ‘It’s after eight … I’m feeling that salad we had last week at the deli, but honestly, I’m tired from the meeting today. Let’s head back to my place, and we can hit up the store tomorrow.’

She only nods. Thank God. We round the corner toward the elevator, as a tall, thin blond man with a backpack slung over his shoulder heads toward us and his face lights up. Shit. I can’t do fans today. I need to get Doc home.

‘Hey, you. Looks like we meet again,’ the man says to Doc – not me – and slows his step. ‘Are you sure you’re not auditioning? Trying out for that new DiCaprio movie?’

My back stiffens. Doc knows this guy?

‘Tim, right? IT guy?’ she says, with a polite, yet tired, smile. ‘Glad to see you made it back in the building. Nice to see you—’

‘Ah, Justin Greenwood,’ he says, and holds out his hand, shaking mine. ‘You must be here meeting with the producer for your new flick, huh? I had to help his assistant today troubleshoot some backend configuration issues on the scripting software she installed.’

I release my grip, but he swoops in with his other hand and gives me the dreaded double-handed handshake.

‘I’m Tim from IT,’ he says.

Finally, he drops the most awkward, long handshake of my life and I nod. ‘Nice to meet you.’

His face drops. ‘We actually met about six, seven months back.’ A smile resumes. ‘I’m sure you meet a ton of people though, so no worries. I met with the PA of a director earlier—’

‘Apologies, Tim. I’ve had a brutal day and need to get home.’ Cutting him off is a dick move, but I don’t care. A guy like that will want to talk for an hour, and my critical mission is getting Doc back to my house. I step forward, knowing she’ll immediately follow. ‘Nice to … see you … again.’

‘Oh, of course. Great to run into you,’ Tim’s voice sounds behind me. ‘Let me know if you ever need any computer help.’