“Who the hell are you?”

Penny stood, sensing that the situation could easily go nuclear. “It’s okay, Matt. Charles was just leaving anyway.”

Charles peered at Matt. “I’ve seen you around here before.” He turned back to Penny with a nasty gleam in his eyes. “A patient, Penny? Really?”

Penny glanced at Matt. This was exactly what she’d been afraid of. Charles would be all too happy to have this to hold over her head.

Before she could speak, Matt stepped closer. “I’m her boyfriend. And yes, I’m also her patient. Why would I go to someone else for physical therapy when Penny is the best in her field? The best. You’ve never treated a family member, Charles, was it?”

Suddenly Charles didn’t look so sure of himself. “Well, yes I have, but—”

Matt leaned forward and nailed Charles with a hard stare. “Because I’m sure you’re not suggesting that Penny should have turned away her boyfriend, an injured Army veteran. I bet that newspaper reporter would love to hear your views on that.”

Charles turned toward Matt. “I beg your pardon? How dare you?”

He looked like he was going to say something else, but Matt stepped closer and growled. “Walk away. Now.”

He glared at Charles until the man picked up the newspaper and backed toward the door. Charles gave Penny a hard look as he left. “This isn’t over. We’ll talk again later.”

Once the door closed behind him, Penny let out a breath. “Matt, what the hell? You can’t just come in while I’m talking to my boss and threaten him.”

Matt closed the door and turned back to her. He didn’t look at all sorry as he leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. It gave her a small thrill of triumph to see him do that. He couldn’t have done that a month ago.

“I didn’t threaten him. I made a suggestion. One he was wise to take.”

Penny stood and grabbed her handbag. She was more than ready to go home and escape the stink of male aggression.

“Matt, I don’t want you to take this the wrong way. You stood up for me and that feels nice. I wish I had done a better job of that myself. He’s been a nightmare ever since I’ve been working here. I really appreciate what you were trying to do. I’m just worried about what’s fueling this anger. I thought you’d been doing better lately.”

“Some guy standing over you and speaking to you like that is reason enough for me to get angry.”

“Did you ever call that therapist I recommended?”

Matt didn’t look at her. “I’ve already had a psych eval. I’m fine.”

“Just like you’d already had physical therapy?”

He conceded the point with a small nod. “I’m fine, Penny.”

When she opened her mouth to respond, he held up a hand. “I’m sorry if I got you into trouble. That wasn’t my intention. I just stopped by to let you know I’ll be gone for the weekend and might not make it back in time for our appointment Monday.”

“Are you running away?” Penny tried not to let her hurt creep into her voice. Even though she didn’t want things to get too serious, the thought of never seeing him again made her heart stop. What if he didn’t come back?

“Honestly? I don’t know.”

“This is exactly what I was afraid of. If you quit at the most critical phase of your treatment just because you don’t want to see me, I’ll never forgive myself. I want so much more for you than that.” Penny had never spoken truer words. It had been inevitable that she’d succumb to the attraction between them at some point, but she wished she’d been able to hold out until he was completely healed.

“You want better for me?” Matt turned to leave and then stopped to look back. “You know, you’re the one who didn’t want to care about a military guy. You can’t pick and choose when you care and when you don’t.”

*   *   *   *   *

MATT WOKE THE next morning, and after wolfing down a quick breakfast of a bagel and coffee, he got on the road. He’d learned from experience that the traffic in the area was unpredictable and Mara would never let him forget it if he missed her party.

He guessed it was his party as well since they were twins, but his sister and friends knew how he felt about birthday parties. He’d rather be deployed on a mission than have to stand at the front of a room while people sang to him. After everything that had happened with Penny he’d been tempted to skip it, but Trent was planning to formally propose to Mara. Despite their argument, he couldn’t miss that. He was one of the main people who’d teased his friend about his sister’s bare finger.

A part of him suspected that his sister had also left more than a few hints about wanting a real proposal. He’d overheard her complain she didn’t want to tell their children their father had proposed while the two of them were in bed.

He could understand that because he’d immediately wanted to bleach his brain when he’d heard it.

To his surprise, traffic was light and he was driving into New Haven roughly three hours later. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Jackson’s number.

“Hey, man, I just got back into town. The party is at your house, right?”

“Yeah, it’s here but it’s not starting until four o’clock. Ridley is already driving me crazy obsessing over the details. Was there anything you needed to tell her?”