She jerks her lips away from mine. “Oh, shit!”

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not,” she says, with finality. Then she pushes me off her and rearranges her blouse. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t think.”

“We don’t have to stop.”

She smiles. “You need to recover first. And then…”

She leaves the sentence unfinished. A tease, as always. But I can hear the promise in her voice as she gives me a shy, suddenly self-conscious smile. “You shouldn’t even be standing.”

“Bed rest is bullshit.”

Her smile grows deeper. “When’s the last time you relaxed?”

“I don’t know—my mother’s womb?”

The words leave my mouth automatically. And only then do I realize the irony of what I’ve just said. June seems to notice the same thing. She takes my arm and leads me to the bed.

“I’m not lying down, June,” I growl. “I’m not an invalid.”

“No one’s saying that. I just want to lie down, and I’d rather do it with you.”

I roll my eyes. “Jesus.” But I let her lead me to the bed. She makes a show of clambering on the mattress herself. I have to admit, mothering comes naturally to her. Her first instinct is to look after others. Something I swore I never needed.

And yet here I am, lying down next to her.

“Can I get you anything?” she asks once we’re settled.

“I thought this wasn’t about me.”

She shrugs. “It can be about both of us.”

“You don’t have to take care of me, June.”

She frowns. “What if I want to?”

“Why would you want that?”

She looks nonplussed for a moment. “Because I care,” she tries.

But I’m not buying it. “Because you care about me?” I challenge. “Or because you want me to care about you?”

Her eyebrows rise, and for a moment, I think I’ve pissed her off. But then her face slackens and she looks down like she’s ashamed. “I guess I’ve always felt like I needed to earn love. My parents’ love. My sister’s. Adrian’s. Yours.”

I take her hand and press it flat between mine. “You don’t have to earn anything from me,” I promise her. “You could do nothing for me and it wouldn’t make a difference. In fact, it wouldn’t hurt to relax and let me take care of you for a change.”

“Relax, huh?” she teases.

“Believe me, it’s not as easy as it sounds.”

Sighing, she slides down against my side, nuzzling up to me. When she speaks, I feel the vibration of her lips on my ribs. “I have to make things right with my sister,” she whispers. “I know what she did was horrible. But she thought she was protecting me. And for the first time in my life, I don’t feel like she’s competing with me.”

I just listen, saying nothing. I’m not going to give her validation. She can only get that from herself. She has to learn that her own validation is the only thing she needs.