Page 82 of Kickoff

She silenced me with a finger against my lips before leading me to the bathroom down the hall. Once she closed the door behind us, she pushed me to sit on the edge of the bathtub. “Don’t say a word. If my parents catch you here, it’ll be the end of you. I don’t think Dad owns a shotgun, but he would kick you out, no matter that you’re you…and he likes you. Never say I never warned you.”

I nodded.

Lifting my T-shirt over my head, Melinda kneeled between my legs with a first-aid kit and attended to the cut on my abdomen. “You don’t need stitches.” She pressed a disinfectant pad to the wound. “Sorry,” she murmured when I flinched, then blew on it, easing the burn, before covering it with some ointment and a bandage. “Good to go.”

She picked up my shirt from the floor and handed it to me when we both moved to stand.

Her gaze scanned my chest before they returned to my eyes. “I’ll help you out of here…unless…”

I used my thumb to push a strand of hair away from her beautiful face. Without her guard up, and fresh-faced, she looked like an angel. My angel.

“Unless you prefer to stay here.”

“Sleeeep here?” I wasn’t sure I was computing her words correctly. My heartbeat kicked up a notch. Was I dreaming this conversation?

“Yeah.” A soft blush colored her cheeks. “After all, you might need a nurse to watch over you in case this awful wound gets infected and you have a fever or something.”

“Shepard, you wanna playyy nurse to meee?”

“Maybe.” A mischievous smile formed on her lips.

“How can I stoppp you from doing the right thing? This would be verrry careless of meee.”

She laced our fingers and led me to her bedroom. Locking the door behind us, she flipped the covers over to make room for me. I kicked off my shoes and my jeans, standing in red boxer briefs in front of her.

“Is it o…kay?” I didn’t want her to think I expected stuff from her. “If I sleep withhh clothes on, I’m gonna diiie of heatstroke.”

She beckoned me with a finger. “It’s fine.”

“Huh…can I havvve the left side?”

“Why?”

“I-I don’t likkke to lie onnn my right shoulder.”

“Are you injured?”

“Nahhh. It’s just a…a preference.” Lie.

We slid under the covers, neither of us brave enough to break the thick silence enveloping us.

On my side, my palm was splayed on Melinda’s stomach as she lay on her back next to me, her eyes trained on mine.

I pushed my hand under the hem of her top and rubbed circles over her bare flesh.

The sight of her, trusting me, sent a warm feeling through my being. How many nights did I dream of doing just that? Too many to keep count.

Her pillow carried the sweet scent of her shampoo, and I wished I could sleep here every night.

“I—” Why were my thoughts so hard to express when they mattered the most? “I…I wouldn’t wannna be anywhere else. You are heeere, and I want to be heeere too, you know, because that’s where you live and I climbed the wall to see youuu because…” That was lame. I could do better. But how could I open my heart and lay it on the line for her to see? All the things I never said and kept to myself, all that I felt for her? If only my thoughts weren’t so boozy right now. I should have never gotten drunk tonight. But if I hadn’t, would I have been brave enough to come here in the middle of the night? Would I have chickened out at the last minute? My brain was a rambling mess.

Melinda’s breath hitched as I caressed her breast over her top, her nipples hardening under the pads of my fingers.

My own breath came in and out in harsh pants. “You likkke it?”

She nodded.

“Want me to continuuue?”