Her usual country playlist filled the cab with a Maren Morris song, and Sierra turned it up loud enough it wasn’t necessary for them to talk. They made most of the twenty-minute drive without conversation, with the exception of Cole asking whether she needed him to stop at the office for anything. She declined and texted Reggie, who’d been working back at the shop behind the office today, making sure he would lock up for the weekend.

Cole turned into the alley behind Sierra’s apartment and parked in her spot, turned off the engine. “How’s your pain level?”

“My leg hurts up to my ears,” she said with a strained smile.

“Stay there.” He got out and came around to her side, opened the door, stepped closer.

“I can get down on my own,” she said, planning to turn sideways and slide and land on her good foot.

“I’m sure you can, but what are you going to do about the stairs?”

The damn stairs. She hadn’t gotten that far in her mind yet. She sagged into the seat, closed her eyes for a moment, then appealed to him with a tired, sheepish smile. “Hope for some hot, muscular guy to take pity on me and carry me up.”

“Since you said hot…”

With a hint of a grin, he scooped her up again before she was ready, careful not to bang her leg against the truck door, and Sierra wound her arms around his neck.

“My laptop…” she said as he headed toward the exterior steps.

“I’ll come back and get it.”

As he carried her upstairs, twenty-two steps without breathing hard or breaking a sweat, she relaxed into him gradually. When they reached the outer door, her head rested on his shoulder, and she was lost in the aroma of a man who’d worked his ass off all day—a little natural musk and the slightest hint of shaving cream left over from hours ago.

He used her key, and by the time they reached her apartment door inside, she wanted to spend more time with him like this, with their guard down, the stiff, professional boundaries gone.

“Cole?” she said, lifting her head to look him in the eye as he carried her across the threshold into her apartment. He was being so gentle and caring, so different from the hard, seemingly unemotional man she was used to. It made it a challenge for her to think straight, because, while she genuinely liked the nine-to-five version of Cole, this version… He was hard to resist.

She didn’t want to resist.

“Yeah?”

“Is your mom waiting for you tonight?”

“No. I’ll see her tomorrow. My cousins are entertaining her tonight.”

She waited until he set her on the chaise end of her sectional, so there was some space between them, suspecting that would put him more at ease and work in her favor. Then she debated with herself.