Page 63 of A Dance With Obsession

Chapter 23

SJ

I enjoy seeing Nora on my bed way too damn much. Even though I haven’t stayed in this room for longer than I can remember, the sight still enthralls me. She tentatively looks around the room. I’m in my mid-thirties, and this room hasn’t changed much since I left for the army right after high school.

I did four years, decided it wasn’t for me, and got out, but I never came back home. Mom has always said they didn’t need my room for anything else, and there was no sense in changing it. Plus, they thought I’d need a place to sleep when I came home.

Nora inspects my football trophies from high school and pictures on my dresser of friends back in the day. Most of whom still live in Sutter Creek.

She smirks. “You were so damn cute in high school. Were you the star football player?”

I chuckle as I sit down next to her. “I was pretty good.” I leave it at that.

She snickers, then slowly stands to move closer to my pictures. I move to get up with her because she doesn’t need to be walking on her ankle so much, but she swats me away. “Don’t you dare get up.”

She hobbles over and leans in close to look at a picture of me in full uniform on the football field. We’d just won the national championship and my girlfriend at the time ran out onto the field, jumping into my arms in celebration.

I’m unsure why I have that picture still up since I haven’t spoken to that girl since I left Sutter Creek. My mom said she always liked how damn happy I looked in it, so maybe she kept it in here for that reason alone.

She picks up the picture and swings around to face me, raising her right eyebrow in question. “Girlfriend?” I shrug my shoulders and lean back on my elbows as I continue to watch her walk around my room, taking everything in. She gives a slight hmmm as she glances around. “I enjoy being able to see the young you. He seems sweet and funny,” she murmurs playfully as her fingers linger on a particular picture.

“I am sweet and funny,” I tease back. She shrugs her shoulders in response, and I grin. “What? You don’t think so?”

“I think you could be sweeter, and I definitely think you could be funnier,” she says with a chaffing tone, winking for good measure.

“For your information, I tell the best jokes. I just told Sam one so good she’s still laughing.”

“Oh, did you now? Do tell,” she ribs.

I sit up and clear my throat, really laying it on thick. “What do you call a man without a body or a nose?”

She giggles, and that makes me smile. “I don’t know. What?”

“Nobody ‘nose,’” I say as serious as I can, and I wait for it.

Her face scrunches up, her nose crinkles, and she holds her breath, but she can’t hold it for long. A breathless laugh leaves her lips, and I watch in fascination as her face transforms. She’s fucking beautiful.

“You are a total dork fish!” she says in between huffs of giggles.

“Ready for another one?” I ask as she comes over to sit beside me.

She gently places her foot in front of her so the movement doesn’t jostle it. She lies back on the bed beside me, so I lower all the way down and turn to face her.

“Shoot, big guy.”

“Did you hear about the cow that went to the moon?” I ask. She smiles and shakes her head no. “She’s ‘legen-dairy,’” I say.

She giggles again, followed by a long sigh. “I guess you’re kind of funny, but you still need to work on the sweet part.”

“I agree. I should definitely carry you around more,” I answer, with a contemplative look.

She grumbles when I pick her up, but I think she secretly loves it. The way her body curls into mine and her arm wraps around the back of my neck. It’s like our bodies instinctively know what to do.

She slaps at my chest. “You just love to baby me. Before long, I’ll be healed and walking just fine by myself.”

I groan playfully. “Oh, I know it. Then I’ll lose my favorite pastime.”

That makes her giggle again before her face turns serious. “How did it go with Sam?” She tucks her arm under her head.

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