Page 28 of Dove
It was with a familiarity and gentleness that proved otherwise.
He laid my hands out between us, my palm half resting on my thigh as my fingers spread over his muscular leg. He reached for the Neosporin and thumbed opened the cap, squeezing a tiny amount onto his finger before dabbing at the worse of the cuts I’d acquired. It didn’t hurt, not really, but I nearly flinched regardless.
The steady rhythm of my heart became a sped up staccato, and my breathe caught, the urge to hold my breathe near unbearable as the air around us filled with the musky, woodsy scent of him. My occupied fingers itched to pinch myself, because the sweep of his skin over mine was like a dream. God, it was too much. It wasn’tenough. I wanted nothing more than to take my hands back and tell him I could do this myself, while at the same time my body ached to lean closer. The hand currently cradled in his? I wanted it buried in his damp hair so I could tughimforward.
But I did none of those things.
Instead, I sat as still as a statue while he continued to tend to the worst of my wounds, completely unaware of the improper thoughts running through my head.
When he was all done, a pile of Band-Aid wrappers lay beside us on the coffee table. His thumb swirled a soothing circle on the back of my hand as our eyes met. “I’ve missed a lot while I’ve been gone, haven’t I?” Josh murmured, his brown eyes darker and more intense than they’d been minutes before.
My heart cinched into a vise. Were we really going to talk about this now? I didn’t want to talk about this now.
Not when I was barely holding it together.
He turned my hand over, his thumb smoothing over the edge of a band aid before trailing down lower to ghost over my fluttering pulse.
“Josh,” I protested with a wary shake of my head, my voice just above a whisper.
“Dove, I?—”
The doorbell rang, startling me, and my hand ripped away from his as if I’d been scalded.
Josh let out a displeased huff. “Of course, the one time they decide to be on time.”
I choked out a small laugh, feeling nothing remotely close to humor right now. Not when my body was still trying to calm itself from that strangely intimate moment.
Honestly, I was grateful for the interruption, not only for the conversation it helped me dodge but for the space it put between Josh and me. With each stride he took across the living room toward the front door, my breath came easier, from the break in contact and the space growing between us.
Josh gave one a quick look back at me before he was opening the door, resting against it as he greeted the delivery person.
Who we both instantly recognized by booming voice alone.
“Jay!”
“Hey, Eddie,” Josh greeted back happily, but with dialed back enthusiasm. From my perch on the couch I could spy his widening grin, the dimple on his cheek making an appearance, and for the first time I realized that in leaving, Josh hadn’t just left me behind, but his friends, too.
“Long time no see, bud.” Eddie maneuvered the delivery boxes expertly to pull him into a one-armed hug. “Sorry to hear about the circumstances, though. The Gallardo fam sends their condolences alongside your to-go order.”
“Thanks.” Josh cleared his throat as they separated. “It was… unexpected.”
Eddie nodded his head deeply, the boxes shifting in his arms. “Couldn’t even imagine, man. If you need anything we’re here. I’m surprisedyou’restill here, though. I figured you’d be back up in?—”
“Just making sure everything’s okay here,” Josh cut him off quickly. “Couldn’t let Dove be all by herself.”
Josh’s gaze flicked over his shoulder, drawing Eddie’s with it.
“Pidgeon!”he bellowed.
I gritted my teeth against the infuriating nickname, but two could play that game.
“Eduardo,” I greeted back.
His eyes narrowed. I knew how much he hated when he was called by his given name. He demanded everyone call himEddie, only tolerating his parents using his full name. But we’d made it a bit of a game, since the first time Josh had introduced us. He refused to call me by my name, making a point to call me any and every bird name under the sun butDove,so I made it a point to call him nothingbuthis.
His glare lessened, eyes softening with sympathy. “Sorry ’bout your mom, kiddo.”
Eddie was Josh’s age, only a few years older than me, but still the endearment and the sincerity had tears biting at the back of my eyes.
