AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It was all well and good until I wasn’t paying attention the way I should have. That, and it truly seemed like life really got a kick out of me being caught in embarrassing situations. I was beginning to suspect it was all part of the Loveless curse.
The chaos came at me all at once. The river’s current picked up and I didn’t react quick enough, which meant I ended up in the path of an overgrown tree whose branches decided to teach my face a lesson. Stinging pain hit me before I’d realized what had happened. First, I thought I was stung by a yellow jacket—that’s how severe the pain was—but the blood dripping down my face and feeling like someone rubbed a pine scented air freshener into an open wound clued me in to what had really happened.
“Fudge biscuits!” I yelled. Don’t ask me where my mom came up with that ridiculous substitute for swearing or why as a grown woman I was still saying it. I knew why, I still didn’t want to disappoint my mother, no matter whether she was around or not. The next string was from my mom too. “Mothersmucker! Shuzzbutt! Son of a bucket!” The left side of my face felt as if it had been through a meat processor. With one hand, I reached up and touched my raw, bleeding skin, worried about the damage; with my other hand, I was trying to direct my tube to the riverbank.
Sawyer jumped into action and was out of his tube, which he heaved to the bank. Holy crap, he was strong. After that show of manly strength, he marched up the river against the current to help me. Before I knew it, he was dragging my tube and me toward the bank.
“Em, hold on.” He sounded so worried that it made me worry. Was I going to need stitches? Plastic surgery? That might not be bad—I could get my insurance to give me some nice contoured cheeks all in the name of fixing my mangled face. Maybe I should try and gouge my butt and stomach. I’m pretty sure they might need to suck some fat out before I could be properly sewn up.
Sawyer had me out of my tube and situated on a rock near the bank before anyone else could get out of the water downstream. Apparently, he was the person you wanted in an emergency. Or in my case, any time.
His cold wet fingers touched my cheek near my eye. “You’re lucky it missed your eye, but we need to get these wounds cleaned up to prevent infection and so I can tell if you’re going to need stitches.” He knelt in front of me. “Are you okay?”
Besides the stinging pain and the ache I felt to throw myself against his wet body, I was super fantastic. I mean this trip was turning out exactly liked I’d hoped. An injury and a man-stealing goddess. I guessed now was the time to fake hypothermia or shock. If only he had a sleeping bag on him, I might have. Instead I nodded. “It’s just some scratches, I’ll be fine.”
He tucked some of my hair back. “Em, it’s a little more than scratches.”
“Great. I’ll get a cool new nickname like Scar Face.”
“I think that’s been taken.” He smiled.
“Dang it.” I was trying not to concentrate on the blood dripping down my face and neck. “How about Lady Disfigurement?”
The back of his cold, wet hand glided down my uninjured cheek. “Emma Loveless, you never cease to amaze me.”
Talk about amazing. I needed him to run his hand down my cheek a few dozen more times. It was the best pain reliever in the world.
“It is pretty amazing all the trouble I seem to find myself in.”
He gave me a breath stopping smile. “You’re definitely trouble.”Chapter ElevenThe title of Lady Disfigurement was still up in the air, but for now I was half mummy face. Dr. King determined the cuts didn’t call for stitches, but he was worried about infection, especially since we were camping. He had fretted about whether we should get back to civilization, but it was one night, and I was no quitter. And I loved sitting around the camp fire next to Shelby, who had stolen Sawyer’s camp chair, because guess who hadn’t brought one?
Shelby took my hand. “Honey, now don’t you worry, I have some magic cream at home that is going to make it look like you never ran into that nasty old tree branch. You’ll be as pretty as you ever were.”
Was that a compliment or a slight? I had to say I think she was sincere. Why did she have to be nice? I wanted to hate her, especially since Sawyer was sitting on a rock on the other side of her. It was probably for the best he wasn’t near me, but there was nothing I liked better than when he was near me, unless he was flushing out my wounds with some antiseptic crap he carried around in his doctor kit; that burned like it was molten lava. Even then, though, I wanted to kiss his face off. It had been so close. I loved it when he was all doctory. I’d made sure to make it to my annual eye exams now that he was my optometrist. He’d told me a few months ago that I had beautiful corneas.
