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"Dammit!"
Evy snapped her book closed and stood from her chair. Rick's swearing in the next room had been gradually increasing in intensity, and while she had been trying to give him some privacy, she was beginning to worry what the neighbors would think.
She rapped on the door to his room and waited a moment before nudging it open just a crack. "May I come in?"
"Uh, sure," came Rick's decidedly unsure sounding answer.
She pushed the door open enough to see him, standing in the middle of the room, shirtless and helplessly tangled in a roll of gauze that had escaped his grasp and trailed underneath the bed. She smiled, and he flushed.
"Um, sorry about the uhh..." he said, gesturing vaguely, and she was reminded suddenly of the stuttering, bashful man who had given her that 'borrowed' toolkit only a few weeks ago, "the swearing."
"Well, you did warn me when we first met," she said, her tone soft and teasing, which only made him look more chagrined.
"Here," she offered, letting herself fully into the room to fetch the bandage from the floor. "Let me help you."
He nodded in response, and she began rolling the loose end of the bandage up, the shortening trail of gauze drawing her in until she was standing directly in front of him. The urge to stare at the broad expanse of his bare chest was strong, so she busied herself with untangling the material from around his arm and wrapping it snugly around his torso.
"I can usually do this myself," he explained, "but with my ribs..."
She shook her head as she secured the end of the gauze, and then without thinking, ran her fingertips over one of the bruises that were still fading along his side. "There's no reason for you to do it yourself. You could ask for help, you know."
Rick looked at her like that hadn't even crossed his mind, and for a moment her heart ached that he hadn't had many people to count on for help before. And then he smiled, and wrapped his arms around her waist, and she found it hard to be upset about anything at all.
"But then how am I supposed to fill my daily swearing quota?"
She laughed and twined her arms around his neck. "You're a smart man, you'll think of something."
As he pressed his lips to hers, she found herself wondering if there were other – more fun ways – to help him meet his quota.