Page 79 of If This is Love

“Ohhh…” Ruth cooed, her hand appearing in my line of sight as she stroked the side of Gunner’s snout with the back of her fingers, and I loved the way she loved my dog. “You sweet, sweet boy. You take such good care of your papa, don’t you?” She got on her knees again, this time slightly out of my line of sight since Gunner had taken her previous spot. “Okay, all this is is a little lemon juice, saltwater, and some apple cider vinegar, so it might be cold, and you’re obviously going to need a shower.”

“A shower?” Yeah, ashowerwas definitely happening after this.

“Yeah,” she said with a small laugh, “I don’t think you’d want to go around smelling like lemon juice and vinegar.”

“Oh.” Well,obviously. “Right.”

A damp chill landed in the center of my back, right on my spine, and then it swept all the way down to my belt, then all the way back up to coat the back of my neck. She painted the delightfully cool mixture across my shoulders in long, smooth strokes, and I wasthis closeto coming right here, on my couch, in my slacks, and with both Ruth and my dog watching.

I managed to reel myself back in, but a full-body shudder shot through me, and a deep but quiet groan escaped my lips.

“Ohhh honey,” she cooed again, her free hand settling on my head while she stroked my hair. “Is it bad? This is just supposed to relieve pain. It’s more for regular burns, but it can still soothe it and help with healing anything that might be out of sorts.”

Yeah, it was prettybadhow there was no way I’d ever be able to mentally talk down my raging erection, so I was basically trapped on the couch like this until she left. And yeah, then there would definitely be a shower.

Alongone.

“It’s not,” I mumbled, staring at the half of her face I could see with half my face buried in the cushion. “It’s helping a lot. Thanks, Ruth.”

She smiled, absently tracing the movements of her hand with her eyes while she continued to paint my back. I was in such a state of blissthat I knew it wasn’t going to last long. And it didn’t.

Ruth eventually set the small bowl and cloth on the coffee table and sat back on her knees, holding out her hands to me. “Okay, friend, I’ll help you up, and then I’ll get going so you can clean all that off or nap or whatever you feel like doing.”

Fuck.

“Uh.”

She leaned toward me again, her amber eyes wide with concern. “Are you okay, Gabe? Do you need help standing up?”

“No, I just…”Jesus, between the raging erection and being not quite all the way back inside my head, there was basically no blood in my brain, and I was flirting with disaster trying to talk. “I just don’t think I can stand up right now.”

“Ohno.” Her concern intensified. “Does this ever affect your spine?”

Oh for fuck’s fucking sake.

“No, it’s just if I got up right now, it would be…”Think of a word that hasnothingto do with your cock.“Crass.”

Her dark brows quirked. “Crass?”

“Yeah, like…”God, her eyes were beautiful. And I couldn’t remember what I was going to say after that.

Ruth’s eyes flitted to and from mine a couple of times before they widened slightly like she just realized what I didn’t mean to say. After four excruciating seconds of stillness in her expression, her full lips quirked with a coy smile, and she dropped her gaze, bringing her hand to her mouth for a second.

“Well, in that case.” She politely cleared her throat. “I should just get going because I’d hate for you to get too uncomfortable.”

It was all too fucking zany, but this was definitely one of the better aftermaths of my episodes, and I went ahead and let myself laugh. Turning my face into the cushion, I chuckled like a mischievous teen, and Ruth’s lovely, velvety laughter followed shortly thereafter.

We laughed under our breath for another few seconds until it fizzled into a content, comfortable silence, and I turned to look at her again.

She slowly, methodically combed my hair back with her nails, looking at me through a serene, lidded gaze. “You are very endeared to me, Gabe.”

I didn’t know what she meant byvery endeared, but if she was going that far with this, I would be right there with her.

“You’re very endeared to me too, Ruth.”

She smiled and leaned toward me, pressing long kisses to my head, my temple, my cheek, and I had so many butterflies, and fireflies, and dragonflies, and all the other flying stomach lovebugs ricocheting around my gut that I felt like I was lifting off the couch a little.

The words stumbled out of my mouth before I had time to think them through. “Go to the engagement party with me.”

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