AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I knew without looking down that he was tracing the simple black lines of the tattoo on my hip.
“It’s a caduceus,” I explained. “And at the top of the rod is a…”
“Daisy,” he concluded. “You got this for your sister?”
I nodded. “Funny thing. The caduceus is commonly thought to represent medicine now, but that’s kind of a mistake. For the ancient Greeks, it was a symbol of Hermes, the messenger god, who was also the god of negotiations and commerce and eloquence and…”
“Lies?” Bash said, amused. His fingers playing over my skin made my very satisfied dick want to try for round three.
“Yeah. I mean, that’s not why I got it. The guy at the tattoo shop was the one who told me that,” I confessed sheepishly. “I got it because it symbolizes, uh…”
Shit. Just like before, I wanted to tell Bash about my project—about how I hoped it would change processes in emergency medical response so that people like my sister get more accurate trauma care, and maybe some other brother wouldn’t have to lose his twin. I wanted to share my excitement over everything I’d learned about emergency processes and hospital administration and budget cuts, and to hear Bash’s feedback since I knew he would probably have a thousand intelligent thoughts that would help me refine it.
It felt strange that we’d shared so much, talked about my mortifying toddlerpictures, for heaven’s sake, but not discussed this crucial thing that had consumed my life for the past few years. Not talking about it felt almost like another, bigger lie.
But it also seemed wrong to bring that up now, in this bed. Like it was the sort of thing that would steal the light from Bash’s eyes and make him pull away from me.
You only have a little longer, I reminded myself.What’s one more lie?
“It symbolizes hope,” I said because it was partly true.
“And that’s why you touch it when you’re nervous.” He brushed his thumb over the lines once more, then lowered his head and kissed it so tenderly my breath hitched. When he lifted his head again, his eyes met mine and caught.Held. A tiny frisson of something passed between us but was gone before I could name it.
I froze, my mouth suddenly dry. I had no idea what to say or do. No idea what was happening between us or if Bash felt it, too.
After that one fraught second, Bash cleared his throat, stood up, and returned the washcloth to the bathroom without a word. When he strolled back in, he began rooting around in his open suitcase for his phone charger and plugged it in while giving an exaggerated yawn. “I don’t know about you, but I’m going to sleep like the dead.”
Idiot.You’re starting to believe your own fairy tales, Rowe Prince.
I swallowed down a bubble of disappointment and turned my face into the pillow. “Same. And you promised me we’d have all night. I’m not leaving this bed,” I warned. “If you were planning on sleeping without a leech stuck to your side, you might want to switch bedrooms with me.”
Bash yanked the covers from underneath me, then crawled into bed before settling them over us both. “Fortunately, I have no problem with leeches. They’re fascinating creatures. Remind me sometime to tell you about the time I went kayaking in Patagonia and how you should always listen to the locals, especially when they tell you to put tobacco in your socks.”
Sometime? There wouldn’t be other times when Bash and I would be together trading stories, unless he actually made that trip to Linden someday. But I wasn’t gonna say that and ruin the mood.
“Ew,” I said with a shudder that made him laugh out loud.
Bash’s laughter was the best sound in the world, and I reveled in it. Another memory from my fairy-tale weekend.
“Now I’m going to have nightmares,” I informed him. “I think you need to clean my brain with a better story.”
Bash gathered me in his arms and pulled me close until my head rested on his chest. His skin smelled familiar to me now, which made me feel relaxed and safe.
“How about I tell you about the time I went to Antarctica?”
“No leeches?”
“Not unless you count a certain minor Danish noble who tried sneaking into my tent to cuddle me for warmth.”
I chuckled and burrowed further into his chest, and with his voice a warm rumble in my ear, I slipped into a delicious, deep sleep.
Which was why, when a phone’s ringtone split the midnight silence in the room a few hours later, I had no idea where the hell I was or whose hairy chest I was lying on.
TWELVE
BASH
Rowe had fallen asleep quickly, snoring lightly on my chest while I held him and ran my fingertips over his back and shoulders. Instead of feeling the deep, sated relaxation I would have expected to feel after a night of incredible casual sex, I felt restless and edgy…
