Page 11 of Dirty Desires
“Shit! Is it that bad?” he asked.
It was awful. “No. No,” I lied as I put the towel on his nose very gently.” I looked at Julia. “Do you think you can get me a little baggie of ice?”
She nodded. “Damn, that’s going to leave a mark.”
Ashton’s eyes were bloodshot as he looked at me and asked, “It is?”
I tried to downplay it. “It’s going to be all right. No reason to worry.”
After Julia came back with the ice, the others headed inside to change. Pool-time fun was over, and it was all my fault. My eyes must’ve conveyed how guilty I felt because Ashton took me by the wrist. “It was an accident, Nina. Don’t look so guilt-stricken. I’ll be okay. Sure, a little bruised and battered, but I’ll get over that.”
Biting my lip as I pulled the towel back to see if the bleeding had stopped, I found I had hit him high up on the bridge of his nose. Both eyes would surely turn black, but it didn’t seem to be broken. “At least there’s no bone jutting out. That’s a good sign.”
“I would say so.” He laughed then stopped abruptly. “Ouch. Don’t make me laugh. It hurts.”
“Noted. No funny stuff with you for the rest of the day.” Covering the plastic bag of ice with a hand towel Julia had brought with it, I placed it on the bridge of his nose. “If you keep this on for a while, I think it will lessen the swelling.”
“It’s so cold,” he whimpered.
Leaning over him, I kissed his cheek. “I really am sorry, Ashton.”
Even bloodshot, his cerulean eyes were still gorgeous as he looked into mine. “Don’t be. It got you this close to me. That can’t be a bad thing. Not in my book.”
There were so many things I wanted to ask him, to tell him. But I knew that now wasn’t the time to do it. I just had to let the moment be for now.
“I think we can move you, now that the bleeding has stopped. You’re going to want a shower. I’ll help you get to your room.” I got up and took his hand, helping him up too.
He wrapped his arm around my shoulders, and I wrapped mine around his waist to make sure he was steady. “Thanks, Nina. I am a little woozy.”
We headed inside and then up the stairs. He stumbled a little, and I felt his arm go tighter around me. “You okay, Ashton?”
We stopped for a moment. “Yeah, I’m okay now. My head just got really light right there.” He looked at me, then smiled as he held the ice on his nose. “I’m not entirely sure if it was from the injury or this.” His arm tightened around me even more. “I kind of like this.”
“The pain?” I asked, thinking he was crazy. I had heard about people liking the euphoria that happened after an injury as the adrenaline rushed to the brain.
“No, silly girl.” He took another step up. “Holding you. You, holding me.”
My face heated as I blushed. Ashton had never talked to me that way before. It was so odd, even though I had wanted him to see me as more than just a friend for a long time. It was just a little weird.
And when I didn’t say anything back as we kept walking, I felt his hold on me loosen. When we got to his bedroom door, he moved his arm off my shoulders.
“I’m going to shower and change. If you need me to help you back down …”
“That’s okay, Nina. I think I can handle it from here.” He went into his room without looking at me at all.
My silence had been a stupid move on my part. I stood there, looking at his closed door and wondering if I should just go inside and tell him that I was happy holding him too.
But I didn’t do that. I just stood there for a solid five minutes before turning and going to my bedroom. Stripping the bathing suit away from my body as I walked toward the attached bathroom, I wondered why I had reacted like that.
It was proving harder for me than I’d thought to go from friends to more than friends after all this time. I had watched what I said to Ashton for so long, keeping my feelings from him was like second nature to me.
All kinds of silent words of affection had gone through my mind over the years as the two of us had talked. I had kept those words to myself, and it seemed that was a habit I was going to have trouble breaking.
But I knew I had to, if I ever wanted to hear Ashton say something like that again.
Turning on the shower, I cranked it so it was steaming hot, then got in and let the water run over me. Moving my hands all over my body, I recalled just how often I had done that and imagined them to be Ashton’s hands instead of my own.
I couldn’t count all the times I’d pushed my fingers deep into my cunt, fantasizing that they were Ashton’s thick fingers inside of me. I could touch myself, pretending it was him, but I couldn’t find words to say when he told me he liked how it felt for us to hold each other.
