AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She looked my way again and then shook her head. “No, that would be mean.” She lifted the bottle of peroxide and dampened a cotton ball with it before gently dabbing it across the cut. I felt the bubble of the peroxide and a subtle sting, but it wasn’t too bad.
She worked quietly, cleaning it thoroughly and dabbing antibiotic ointment on it before following my instructions to bandage it.
“That gash is three inches long. It’s definitely going to leave a scar,” she announced.
I glanced up at her. She'd been standing close to me, touching me this whole time, yet I'd been focused on what she was doing. It helped that the cut hurt. My shoulder was beginning to throb. But now, my awareness shifted abruptly, like the flick of a switch, to Harley—her glossy, almost black hair, her big green eyes, her sensual lips, and the way her nose tipped up at the end.
Her tongue darted out, swiping across her bottom lip. “How do you feel?” she asked.
My fingers itched to touch her. There was almost a vibration of sensation, the need was so intense.
Her eyes darkened, and I could see the rapid flutter of her pulse at the base of her throat. My heartbeat was drumming madly in my chest.
“Fine.” My voice came out husky. I cleared my throat.
She smoothed her hand over the bandage again, checking to ensure the edges were pressed down.
“You should take some ibuprofen before you go to bed. It's going to be sore.”
“It already is,” I answered honestly.
Her eyes swung to mine again, blinking. In another second, she spun away, hurrying over to the cabinet by the sink where we kept a bottle of ibuprofen. “How many?” she asked.
“Two,” I called in response.
She shook the bottle, dropping two pills in the center of her palm, and returned to me. Her fingertips brushed mine as she handed them over with another glass of water. I swallowed them quickly. Everything seemed loud. The sound of my throat moving was audible in the quiet kitchen. The clock wenttick, tock, tick, tockwhere it was mounted on the wall above the stove. I didn't even realize I'd lost my internal battle of wills in trying to keep my hands to myself. Because I suddenly realized my palm was resting on her hip, just where it began to flare out below her waist.
Her breath hitched in her throat. “Grant?” Her voice held a barely-there hint of a question.
“Yeah?”
“What are you doing?”
I almost told her the truth—that I wanted to kiss her—but that was foolish and reckless. Andreallystupid. I gave her hip a light squeeze and a pat. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Oh, for chasing the moose off with a shovel and a rock and bandaging my shoulder,” I teased lightly, trying not to think about what her lips might feel like.
Pink crested high on her angled cheekbones. She stared at me. I sensed she knew I was dodging. At least I wasn't lying. I really was appreciative of her help.
“I'm sure you could have handled it yourself. You are Alaskan born and raised, after all.”
I forced my hand to drop away from her hips even though I wanted to kiss her senseless. I shrugged. “Maybe I've had more encounters with moose than you, but they're unpredictable.”
She snorted as she turned away and quickly gathered up the first-aid supplies. “Maybe so, but that's the closest I've been to one.”
“Really? You've been here over a year.”
She shrugged. “I know, but I’ve only seen them from a distance. He seemed scary tall.”
I let out a sharp laugh. “He was pretty tall. I think you had a better view than I did, though, since you were on the porch. As soon as I heard him coming, I tried to get the hell out of the way and got kicked instead. Moose are big in general.”
“Do I need to worry about him coming back?” she asked, looking genuinely concerned.
Then she went and bit her bottom lip, a habit of hers I was fairly convinced served solely to torture me. My cock throbbed, and I curled my hand on the edge of the chair. “Maybe, but we always need to keep our eye out for moose. They’re around a lot.”
“I just make a lot of noise, right?”
