Page 75 of Doc Defence

“You’re annoying!” Hel reached over and poked him in the ribs, not anticipating how quick his reflexes would be, as he caught hold of her hand before she could get it back over the popcorn bowl.

She was stuck leaning over toward him, unable to free her hand and unable to move too much as it would spill all the popcorn.

Her gaze shot to his, and their eyes held for one heartbeat, then two, then what felt like an eternity. She didn’t want to look away. She wanted to examine his eyes for every fleck and flaw in the vivid green irises staring back at her.

“Hi,” Frost whispered.

When he spoke, her gaze dropped to his lips, and she had to force herself to look back at his eyes.

“Hi,” she murmured back.

He tugged on her hand, pulling her more towards him.

“The popcorn,” she protested.

“I don’t care.” He pulled a little harder.

Hel’s pulse hammered in her ears. What was happening? Okay, she wasn’t daft. She knew exactly what was happening. But with Frost! Did she want this? Dumb question, she desperately wanted this. Was it a good idea? Absolutely not. They had so many reasons not to do this. They lived together. He was gorgeous, he was kind, he made her laugh until she cried, and his tattoos made her want to examine every centimetre of him. She wanted to—No, that wasn’t a reason not to do this.

Frost’s eyes searched between hers and dipped to her lips, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Hel’s breath caught in her throat as he pulled her closer again, and his other hand reached up and tugged on one of her wild curls.

“Your hair is amazing.” He pulled it until the spirals were gone and then let it go, smiling when it bounced back to its original curly form.

“I love it now. I wasn’t so keen on it when I was being teased mercilessly at school and being called ‘Ranga’.”

“Ranga?” Frost whispered, his thumb running over her palm.

“Short for orangutan because they’re orange.” Hel felt his fingers tangle in her hair, and every teasing word, every mean comment flew out of her memory to be replaced by this moment, this man, appreciating her hair.

Frost didn’t say anything else. Instead, he wound some of the hair around his hand, using it to tug her closer. His breath whispered over her lips, and her eyes fluttered shut. They were only millimetres apart.

Hel knew all the reasons she shouldn’t kiss him, but at this moment, she didn’t care. Even with her eyes closed, she knew his lips were about to touch hers. This was it. This was happening.

A hand slammed into the front door, banging hard and repeatedly.

Hel jolted back from Frost, her cheeks flushed.

“I—“ Frost began to speak but was interrupted by more banging on the door.

“Frost. Hey Frost. You in there?” A voice called through the door.

Hel took a deep breath, then another and another, before she extracted her hand gently from his. She tried to move away from him, but his hand was still tangled in her hair.

“Hel.” Frost’s voice held a hint of desperation.

She smiled sadly and shook her head. The moment, that moment where her head was spinning, and she couldn’t think of a good reason not to kiss him, was gone, and all she could think of were the reasons not to kiss him. The main one being he was leaving soon, and then she would be alone again. But this time, with a piece of her heart missing, as she would willingly hand it to Frost, and when he left, she would never get it back.

“Frost,” she replied, and when she looked into his eyes this time, she saw sadness too, as if he realised the same thing she did.

He freed his fingers from her hair, and she sat back down on her side of the sofa. Hel touched her lips and, for a moment, let herself recall the one time he kissed her, before she remembered their unwanted visitor who was still knocking and calling through the door.

“Hold on,” Hel shouted and jumped to her feet, heading for the door. She risked a glance over her shoulder at Frost, who was staring back with melancholy staining his face.

Clearing her throat, she pulled the door open. Aiden stood on the doorstep with a bottle of champagne in one hand and a box of chocolates in the other.

“Hi, Aiden,” Hel said. Genuinely delighted to see the young man and maybe a little relieved he had interrupted something that definitely shouldn’t have happened. She ignored the little voice in her head that piped up it wasn’t relieved, and she should have been on the sofa in Frost’s arms at this very moment, not standing in the door with a young man who bore a close resemblance to a large golden retriever as he bounced around gleefully.

---