Page 37 of Wild

"Can we drop this, please?"

"No, because I don't get it." Mia didn't want Erin's honesty to get to her, but it had, and she felt a dull pressure in her chest she didn't know what to do with. "By your logic, you treat me the way you think I need. Do I need you to be cold with me the rest of the time? What the hell is that?"

"I'm not discussing this anymore, Wilder—"

"My name is Mia," she cut in. "If you're only going to use it when I'm about to pass out, don't bother—call me Wilder all the time, and stop acting like you actually care. I don't need your condescension."

Mia stood up and Erin did too, stepping into her path when Mia tried to head back to the bedroom. The girl with lavenderhair nearly walked straight into her, but she pushed down whatever she felt at the collision and tried to go around her.

"Wait—" Erin caught her by the arm.

Mia looked up at her and clenched her jaw, her first thought being that she wanted to rise up on her toes and kiss her.

"What?"

"I'm not going to apologize for doing my job, and I'll act however I think is best for you." Mia dropped her gaze, because for one second she'd let herself imagine Erin apologizing, saying her name again, softening that dry tone she always seemed to have for her—but Erin didn't give an inch, and Mia understood there was no crack to slip through, because Erin Dooley was a wall built exactly to keep out people like her. "Sit down and finish eating, please."

Mia's blue eyes didn't lift once. She stood still for a moment, staring at Erin's shoulders, and decided her pride was worth more than this.

"Fine," she said, and turned back to the table.

Erin let go of her arm and stayed where she was, watching Mia sit back down and start eating without once looking up from her plate. She felt uncomfortable with herself right now, unsure whether everything she'd just said was actually true or just what she'd needed to say to protect herself from what she was starting to feel for Mia Wilder—a woman she knew she couldn't let herself feel anything for.

She didn't sit back down at the table, and Mia didn't ask her to, and the silence between them turned almost unbearable.

"I'm going to talk to Noah about canceling this afternoon's sound check," Erin said when Mia finished eating. "No training session either. You're taking the rest of the day to rest, and tomorrow we'll adjust your schedule depending on how you feel when you wake up."

"Great. Do whatever you want," Mia said without turning around.

"I'll check on you before dinner." Erin turned and walked out of the suite.

Mia didn't move when she heard the door close. She just sat there, staring at her empty plate, trying to push back that pressure in her chest.

Chapter 14

Nell doesn't like getting into other people's business, but she's been watching Erin Dooley ever since she joined the tour team that travels with Mia, and she always gets the same feeling when she looks at her: that Erin is a woman who has trouble connecting with people, or that she's simply very lonely—though Nell leans toward the first.

When she's not with Mia, the doctor is always alone. It doesn't matter if it's lunchtime—where she picks any empty table and sits facing the window—or if she has free time because Mia is resting. She's never with anyone, and she barely glances at her phone, as if she has no social media and no one to call.

Nell doesn't read her as a sad woman, but she does read her as someone who's missing something she doesn't know how to look for.

Right now they're in the dining room—or that's what they call it: it's a private room management has set aside for them so they can eat without mixing with the rest of the hotel guests. It's breakfast time, and when Nell walks in, she sees the usual scene: Mia is at one of the tables with Noah, and several people from the team are spread across the others, always in groups of two or more, but Erin is alone by the window, drinking her coffee while she stares outside with a distant look on her face.

"Mind if I sit?" Nell asks.

Erin turns, surprised.

"No, go ahead."

"Can I ask you something personal?" Nell can't help being direct, even though she knows she should probably try sometimes.

"Sure."

"Do you always sit alone because you like it, or because you just don't know how to make friends? Sorry if that's blunt," she adds when Erin's face goes blank with surprise, "but at my age I don't bother beating around the bush. I'd like to understand you."

On instinct, Erin raises her hand to her hair and slides it up from the back of her neck, pressing her fingertips against her scalp—what she really wants is to tug at a strand, but she doesn't want to undo her updo.

"I guess I'm not very good at it," the doctor admits.