Page 22 of Catch of a Lifetime
Dave’s eyes were still closed but he was frowning.
Jerry pushed back up to sit on the floor beside me. “He’s feeling better already,” he said dryly.
God, I hoped so. “Right. Um. I want to get him comfortable first, and then do something about his wounds.” I looked around. Comfortable. How to get the giant merman comfortable in my little cottage.
Usually, it wasn’t a challenge.
Usually, he didn’t have a massive tail.
“Maybe…? Okay. We’re going to need to keep him damp. D’you think?”
“Yep. Can’t hurt, anyway, can it? Lotta heat coming off him. Or is that normal?” He cocked a brow.
I flattened my palm over Dave’s tail, and sucked in a sharp breath. “No. No, he’s never this hot. He wasn’t like this down on the beach.”
Dave’s eyes opened to little slits and he stared up at the ceiling before his gaze tracked down to my face. He looked at me. He looked at Jerry. He looked at me again.
He shifted.
“Dave!” Jerry and I both yelled.
He lay there panting, neck arched and body tense, his eyes on mine. He pushed up to his elbows and drew his long, long legs in, and then with a shuddering groan, he pushed up to his feet.
We scrambled up after him, and Dave slung an arm around each of our shoulders. He grunted and turned to the stairs.
“Okay,” I said. “Okay. We’re on the move.” We shuffled awkwardly across the room to the stairs, and then even more awkwardly began to go up them.
We made it up two steps before we got wedged. They weren’t wide enough for the three of us.
Especially when one of us was Dave.
“Ack,” Jerry said, and flailed. “This ain’t working.”
Dave swayed, blinking rapidly.
“Get behind him and push,” I said to Jerry.
He squirmed out from between Dave and the wall. “Shouldn’t you be the one behind him? How’s he gonna…? Like? What am I pushing here, Joe, because…?” He trailed off and cleared his throat.
I looked back to see Jerry’s eyes locked on Dave’s round, bare arse.
“Oh my god,” I said. “Just push!”
Jerry swallowed and raised his hands. He cupped them but didn’t make contact.
“Are you being homophobic right now, Jerry?” I demanded.
“What? No!”
“Thenpush.”
“Fine, but if he kicks me down the stairs for grabbing his arse, I’m taking you up on those quad bikes. One for me and one for Marcy.”
I heard the smack of hands landing on flesh, and immediately shouted, “Don’t spank him!”
“I’m not spanking him, I—oh, there he goes.”
Dave lurched away from Jerry’s overenthusiastic shove.
