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“Oof,”I grunt again.
“Shit,” Nova says, pushing against my chest hard enough that I grunt a third time, but then she’s scrambling off me, trying to corral Steve who’s whining and snotting and licking at my chin with horrific doggy breath. “Steve, baby”—she grabs at the pooch, but he just launches himself at me with renewed vigor—“get off, I need to see if Lake is—”
I sit up, ass still hurting. “Are you all right?”
She frowns. “Lake, you just took a spill and then I crushed you and Steve—”
I reach forward, cup her jaw, forcing her to stop sputtering and panicking and just look at me. “Are you hurt?”
Silence, except for the sounds of Steve’s grunts and grumbles.
Then she shakes her head. “No.” A wince. “You broke my fall.”
“Good.” I shove the dog at her, move slowly to my feet and over to the front door, shutting it with some effort, closing out the wind and snow that are being blown into the entryway.
“I’ll get some towels,” she says, standing too quickly and nearly ending up on her ass again.
I snag her arm, steady now that I’m expecting the slick surface. I grew up with blades strapped to my feet, I can navigate ice and a wet floor…most of the time, anyway. “Careful,” I say, guiding her away from the wet puddle gathering near the door, thinking I should have bought some rugs to go with my towels.
And furniture since this woman slept on a pile of blankets instead of a bed.
Not my problem.
So why does it feel like it is?
Steve launches himself out of her arms and I dart forward, catching him before his dumb, tiny demon ass hits the floor. “Careful,” I tell him, but he doesn’t seem to hear the admonishment at all as he crawls up my chest and tries to lick at my face again.
Nova giggles softly, and I freeze as she steps away, not sure if I’ve heard her laugh yet.
If I have, it hasn’t been like that—hasn’t been soft and sweet and…beautiful, so fucking beautiful it’s like a clawed hand gripping my heart, forcing me to remain motionless, so beautiful I’m stuck in place as she pats Steve’s back and says, “I’ll get you some ice and grab some towels to clean up the mess.”
I open my mouth to tell her I’m fine, but before I can, she’s moving off, bustling to the pile of blankets, extracting a towel, and making me feel like an ass all over again as she carries it back over to me.
I reach for it, but she moves behind me, wraps it around my shoulders. “You’re soaking wet.”
My ass is, because while I’d worn my winter coat and boots, I hadn’t bothered to put on something heavier than jeans.
Something I realized was a mistake approximately two minutes after walking out the door.
But…I couldn’t sleep.
I kept thinking about Nova on the floor, kept getting up to add logs to the fire, kept thinking about the way she told me she wasn’t going to eat extra after sharing food with her dog.
Food that was in her car.
Food that’s now sitting just inside the front door, where it landed when I tried to break my ass on the melted snow I tracked in on my multiple trips to the firewood rack throughout the night.
Something she notices as she goes still on her hands and knees, the mopping up of my mess pausing, towel stilling, head having jerked to the side.
Then slowly looking over her shoulder at me.
Soft expression. Pretty face.
Lush ass in the air.
This is fucking dangerous.
Steve woofs and wriggles to be let down, probably finally sensing his food is in the vicinity.
