Page 8 of Keeping Kara

The feel of his bare skin against her palm was extremely intimate. Too intimate. Especially after⁠—

No, she wasn’t going there.

Kara tried to maneuver her hand to his shoulder blade under his shirt, but the neckline was too tight.

“Shoot, I can’t get close enough.”

“It’s okay, it can wait until morning.”

“Are you bleeding?”

“No clue.”

The thought of this man bleeding didn’t sit well with Kara. Not when he’d gotten hurt because of her. “I don’t think we should wait.”

“It’s okay, Kara. It’s not as if we’ve got any bandages or antibiotics or anything anyway. Besides, other than the pain in my shoulder, I’m comfortable enough. We can wait until the wind and rain dies down.”

“You’re comfortable?” Kara asked incredulously.

He smiled. “Yup. I’m not in that fucking river anymore, we’re out of the rain—for the most part—and I’m snuggled up to a beautiful woman. What more could I want?”

He’d called her beautiful. Kara blocked out that part. Because he was most certainly messing with her. “How about dry clothes, food, medical care, and not to be in the middle of the woods, having creepy crawlies all over you?”

“You feel ’em too, huh?”

Kara shivered. “Yes.” She’d felt ants or, God forbid, ticks or some other bugs on her legs and arms ever since she’d lain in the dirt under these rocks.

“They won’t hurt us. And we’ll do tick checks in the morning.”

Kara realized her hand was still under his shirt, and she quickly pulled it back, gasping a little at the pain of her palm rubbing against his flight suit.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

“I’m okay.”

“Is it your hand? Let me see.”

He took her hand in his and held it up close to his face.

“Damn, I can’t see shit.” His thumb brushed lightly against the abused flesh of her palm, and Kara hissed. “I can feel that it’s torn to hell. I’m sorry.”

To her utter shock, he brought her palm up to his mouth and kissed it.

Then he froze briefly, before swearing under his breath. “Sorry, sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean— That was so out of line it’s not even funny. I just…I hate that you’ve been hurt.”

He was tripping over his words, trying to apologize, and it made any uneasiness over his actions dissipate.

“It’s okay.”

“It’s not. You’re in a vulnerable situation, with a man you don’t know. It was disrespectful and rude. I’m usually not so…boneheaded.”

“After the last two weeks I’ve had, I’ll take any kindness I can get,” Kara said softly.

Arrow stilled. Kara felt every muscle in his body tense. “You want to talk about it?”

“No.”

“Okay.”