“You want me to swallow them dry?”
He squeezed his eyes shut for a few seconds and as soon as he reopened them, he marched back out the door with a jaw that could cut glass.
I made sure to smother my grin when he came back less than a minute later with water.
“That’s not well water, is it?” I asked, eyeing the glass.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
I rolled my lips under, grabbed the glass from him, popped the Aleve into my mouth and chased it with a mouthful of what tasted like spring water. At least he hadn’t scooped it from Eagles Lake so I would die of dysentery.
“Lift your head up.”
Like the good patient I was, I did as I was told, though I added a groan for good measure.
He avoided my gaze when he curled over me and reached around to press the frozen spinach to my head. I gasped softly when the cold hit my wound, immediately pulling his eyes to mine. Most likely against his will.
We locked gazes and neither of us breathed.
Or moved.
I dropped my eyes to his lips when his tongue appeared and swept across them.
Oh yes, he was thinking about that kiss, too.
I was tempted to taste those lips again but I didn’t want to tempt fate. I wouldn’t put it past him to kick me while I was already down.
I winced at the pain radiating from my cut. “I can tell you’ve never been a nurse.”
“If you hadn’t kissed me you wouldn’t need a damn nurse,” he ground out. “You caught me off guard. I wasn’t expecting that.”
Unless he was pushed, he might never be ready. But I wasn’t going to point that out because he’d deny it.
I’d already learned he was stubborn like that.
The bed shook violently when, from out of nowhere, Timber jumped on it and, after a big yawn and a few circles to find the perfect spot to settle, he curled up next to me, claiming Chase’s bed as his.
Unfortunately for me, and fortunately for Chase, that broke the spell between us. He pulled away and ordered gruffly, “Hold that in place.”
I’d prefer if you held it for me.
When I reached back to take it from him, our fingers brushed, and again, he acted like I’d burned him.
He straightened and stepped back from the bed, wiping his hands down the sides of his jeans, acting like I had cooties or something.
“Too late. You’re already gay. You can’t catch it from me.”
“That’s not funny.”
“You might not realize it yet, but I am funny. I have a great sense of humor. You’re just too miserable to recognize it.”
“Definitely not funny enough to do standup on that little stage at the back of your store.”
“Maybe not. But now that you’ve mentioned it, I’ll consider it.”
“I’ll save you the trouble. Don’t. If you did, the residents of Eagle’s Landing might chase you out with pitchforks and torches.”
I grinned. “Well, look at that, you do have a sense of humor somewhere in that deep, dark pit of yours. Maybe you should be doing standup comedy yourself. Dark comedy, of course.” I patted the bed beside me. When he stayed where he was, I assured him, “You’re safe. I promise to never kiss you again.”
Before he could hide it, something flashed behind his eyes at my statement.
Proof, once again, he hadn’t hated that kiss. But like he said, I had caught him off guard by doing it.
Understandable.
And he was probably pissed at himself for liking it.
Again, understandable.
Him shoving me away was a knee-jerk reaction. “I forgive you.”
He cocked his head and stared at me, his dark brown eyes guarded.
“If you’ll forgive me,” I added, “since I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry. Hopefully me kissing you won’t leave you with long-term PTSD that you’ll need years of therapy to get over.”
He pressed his lips together.
“And I hope you won’t hate me.”
His eyes flicked to Timber curled up next to me, giving him the priceless gift of black and tan hairs on his comforter.
“And that you’ll still want to beta-read my manuscript.”
Chase’s eyes sliced from Timber back to me. “Do you ever shut up?”
I shrugged. “I don’t get to see a lot of people during the day, even when the bookstore is open. That causes me to ramble when I’m around living, breathing humans. Though, it’s debatable whether I would consider you as a living or breathing human. I’ve had better conversations with a rock.”
“Then why do you keep trying?”
Because I’m trying to break down your walls. And once I commit to something, I don’t quit until I achieve my goal. Determined? Yes. Foolish? Maybe. “I’m guessing you were probably a decent guy in your past life. We also have a lot in common, whether you recognize that fact or not.”
He surprised me when he finally sat on the edge of the bed. The bed had hardly moved with his weight, so I had to assume it was memory foam or something similar.