At this, I grin.Ah, if only the explanation were that simple, little bird.
She looks at me again, some of the old spark finally returning to her eyes. “Did you seriously try to make out with a half-drown woman at a party?”
“Well, when you put it like that… No,” I finally admit. “But Ididput my lips on you.”
The sparks in her eyes turn to a blaze, hot enough to warm us both.
I raise my hands in mock surrender. “You were turning blue. I didn’t know what else to do.”
She’s quiet a long moment after that, and I leave her to it, the din of the party carrying on behind us, like someone falling into the river and nearly drowning is no big deal. Honestly, I don’t even think many people saw what was going on. Carly and her cronies are always gunning for attention—just another day in the life for those psychos. Hell, Carly’s been like that since we were kids—nothing new to see here.
After a few solid minutes of Stevie’s silent brooding, I can’t take it.
“See, I get that you’re new at all this,” I say, “but the whole idea of skinny dipping is that you leave the clothes behind.”
“Super helpful, Baz. Thanks.” She strips off her sopping wet sweater, leaving only a thin tank top beneath, her nipples poking against the fabric. She wrings her sweater out into the dirt. Water runs in muddy rivulets behind her. Her arms are covered in goosebumps.
I shrug out of my hoodie, wrap it around her shivering body. She nearly sighs in relief, the chattering teeth finally subsiding.
I try to rub some more warmth into her arms, but she tenses up.
“You’re shivering your ass off,” I point out. “Don’t be stubborn.”
Slowly, she relaxes under my touch.
“Don’t try to sneak a feel,” she says.
“Sneaking’s not my style, Little Bird. When I touch a woman, I makedamnsure she knows about it.”
She shivers again.
Damn.
“Alright,” I tell her. “This is useless. We need to get you inside.”
She nods, and I stand up beside her, helping her to her feet. She leans against me, swaying, our faces close.
“I had a strange dream before,” she says softly, and there goes my damn heart again.
Boom-boom-boom-boom…
“I was in a meadow, with… with a man. And we were… you know. And there were these mossy trees and ferns and this… this half-man, half-animal, megabeast with huge antlers. He was watching us.” She looks into my eyes, a thousand thoughts swimming behind her gaze. “His name was Cernunnos. I don’t know how I knew that, but I did.”
“The horned God of Celtic mythology,” I say. “You must’ve come across it in a book or something.”
“The devil,” she breathes. “I thought he was the devil.”
Now my heart’s thundering so hard, she can probably hear it too.
“It was just a dream, Stevie. You were in bad shape.”
“It felt so real, though. Everything about it.” Her voice is low, her eyes glistening with an emotion I can’t read. She reaches toward my face, and when she speaks again, her soft breath whispers across my lips. “And you… your eyes…”
I grab her hand, give her a reassuring squeeze. “Just a dream, baby. Come on. Let’s go.”
She nods and tries to walk, my arm tight around her waist, but after just a few steps, she sways again. “Shit,” she says. “Guess I’m not feeling so hot right now.”
“Don’t worry about it. I got you.” I scoop her up, hold her close to my chest.
