Page 18 of My Last Dance

Oh. My. God.

I was going crazy.

I could not get flustered overKappy.

Closing the door behind me, I quickly undressed and got in the hot shower.

He was just being nice because I had a horrible day. My mind was just tired, and my body was just confused. The only reason I felt this spark of attraction was because I’d never felt this alone in the world and he was like a beacon back to familiarity.

I could not afford to forget our past.

The last time I thought it was “our time” and that we’d date, I was basically slapped with a major reality check. I promised my younger self that I’d never let myself feel that stupid ever again.

_________

After quickly brushing out my wet hair and dressing in the warm flannel pajama pants and oversized long-sleeved Centre Ice Hockey shirt that I knew was Kappy’s, I wandered out to the kitchen.

With gray sweatpants slung low on his hips, thick socks, and a t-shirt, Kappy plated the pasta and poured some water in tall glasses for us.

“Where’s your mom?” I asked, gingerly sitting at the small wooden table.

“She went to bed.”

My heart dipped. “Oh, I’m sorry, did I take too long?”

“Nah.” He gave me a close-lipped smile and took a seat across from me. “It’s just late.”

“Sorry,” I said again, annoyed with myself for making this mess in the first place.

He paused and frowned. “I don’t know if I’ve ever heard you say ‘sorry’ before.”

My shoulders dropped.Great.More evidence that I was an evil bitch. “Do you have a laptop I can borrow?”

He shoved a large bite in his mouth and shook his head. “Nah, everything’s okay,” he mumbled.

“Huh?”

He took his hat off and scrubbed a hand over his messy hair while he finished his large bite. “Mer called up your dad. His financial dude is putting a stop to all your cards. It’ll take a minute to get everything sorted again, but it’s all okay for tonight.”

“Oh.” The tightness in my chest eased a little. “Thank you.” I breathed out while pushing up the sleeves of his large shirt.

“Whoa.” His eyes narrowed on the burn mark on my arm. “What happened there?”

“Nothing.” I tried to gently pull my sleeve down.

He grasped my wrist and tugged my arm toward him to inspect. He pulled the sleeve back and released a hiss. “It looks like a burn.”

“Spilled my coffee at the airport,” I muttered.

“Shit, Piper.” He pushed his chair back and started rummaging in the cabinets.

Seconds later, he was smoothing some aloe on the burn, soothing the hurt.

“Thank you,” I said with a sigh.

His forehead creased. “I didn’t know you were hurting. You should’ve told me.”

“It’s fine.”

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