Page 69 of Crossing Paths
“I don’t know.” Molly switched legs to work on her other quad. “It’s not so bad now that we’ve stopped.”
“That’s the problem,” he grumbled, eyes closed. “They never stop. They just keep running and running and running—”
“C’mon,” Molly interrupted, rolling her eyes. “Let’s go to your place to shower. Our water heater will beg for mercy ifwe try to take four showers here.” She offered John a hand up, and Norah immediately saw the flaw in that plan. Sure enough, John accepted her hand with an innocent look before immediately pulling Molly down on top of him.
“Stop!” Molly was laughing as she tried to avoid being pinned. “No sparring! No fair! You know I’m not at my best on the ground!”
Watching the two with a small smile, Dash moved closer to Norah. “You weren’t kidding about them always being like this.”
“Not at all.” Norah shrugged and headed for the house. “They’re either fighting or…uh…making up.” For the millionth time, she cursed her fair skin that showed every hint of a blush.
Dash chuckled, and the rare sound made her embarrassment worth it. “Thanks for letting me clean up here. Davies’s shower is tiny.”
“Least we can do when I was probably the reason your place is currently uninhabitable.”
His frown returned. “No, the only ones to blame are the…ones who did it. You’re an innocent victim.”
He left her side to jog to his car, and she felt his words poke at a mental bruise she didn’t even know was there. As he popped his trunk and grabbed a gym bag, her thoughts firmed into a resolution. She didn’t want to be the innocent victim—or even an innocent bystander—anymore. These past few weeks with Dash had shown her that as terrifying as being in the middle of the action could be, it was also exhilarating. She didn’t want togo back to her quiet, peaceful, boring, Dash-less existence. She wanted…more.
He jogged back over to her, slowing as he took in her expression. “You okay?”
“Yes. Better than okay. I’mwonderful.” Driven by her new resolve, she grabbed his hand and towed him toward the house. He followed for about two steps before moving next to her, but he didn’t let go of her until they reached the front door.
When he held out his hand, she unzipped her shorts pocket and pulled out the house key. Not quite sure why he wanted to be the one to unlock the door, she mentally shrugged and went along with it. It was likely one of Dash’s weird rules of etiquette. Once they were inside, she relocked the door and silenced the warning beep of the alarm, resetting it tooccupied. Turning from the control panel, she saw Dash was prowling toward the kitchen as Warrant wandered out to greet him. Giving the dog an absent pat, Dash glanced at her and gestured silently for her to stay where she was. At least she was pretty sure that was what his hand motion meant.
Leaning against the wall, she waited as Dash checked the kitchen and even the garage before soundlessly climbing the stairs. It wasn’t really a chore, since she could watch him move in that jungle-cat way for hours. Warrant meandered over to sit next to her, and she scratched behind his ears without taking her eyes off Dash. Once he disappeared upstairs, she got a little jittery, imagining him being ambushed by fortune-hunting burglars hiding in her sisters’ closets. Tense, she stared at the ceiling, straining to hear any creak or hint of sound to indicate where he was and if he was in trouble.
“It’s clear.” As welcome as they were, his words made her jump.
Relieved, she grabbed the bag he’d dropped by the door and crossed the living room to meet him on the stairs. She expected Warrant to follow, but he headed for his doggie door instead. Handing over Dash’s things, she gestured toward the second floor. “Bathroom’s up there.”
“I saw.” There was a teasing glint in his eye as he moved over to let her pass and go in front of him. “You can shower first.”
“Um…” Resolutions were all fine and good when she was making them in her head, but their execution was a lot more terrifying. Still, she was determined. “You can too.”
He shook his head, and the thought of him turning down her offer made her chest feel like it was caving in. “It’s your house, your shower. You go first.”
Her first thought was that he would’ve insisted she go first even if they were at his house, but then overwhelming relief swamped her as she realized he wasn’t rejecting her offer. He’d just misunderstood. Despite knowing that, asking the second time wasn’t any easier than the first, especially since she wanted to be very clear about what she was offering.
“Do you want to shower with me?” The words came out in a rush before hanging in the air, so brash and revealing she couldn’t just leave them there alone. “Together. Shower together. If you want. Or we don’t have to. If you don’t want. Up to you. Because I want. But not if you don’t want.”
His eyes widened in surprise, and she was just about to rescind the whole offer—forget those resolutions to be braveand seize the day and all that—when he gave her the hottest, most searing look she’d ever seen. His voice wasn’t much more than a growl as he answered, “Yes.”
“Yes?” Her head was spinning a little, everything moving faster than she’d expected, just like during their first training sessions when she was practicing blocking. For some reason, that memory jarred her out of her shock. Even back then, when she barely knew him, she trusted him enough to not even move when his fist was flying toward her face. Every single time, he stopped it millimeters away, just as she knew he would. It was the same feeling now, that he would never hurt her, would always protect her, and that she could end everything she’d just started with a single word. Somehow, knowing that made her even more eagernotto stop. This was what she wanted, and this time, her answer came out sure. “Yes.”
As soon as the word left her lips, the world swooped around her as he picked her up, lifting her right off her feet with an arm around her hips. She gave an embarrassingly high-pitched squeak of surprise. Still holding her with that one impossibly strong arm, he rushed up the stairs and down the hall.
His eagerness loosened some of the tightly wound strands of anxiety inside her, and she started to laugh. He was normally so stoic that seeing him hustle into the bathroom like he couldn’t wait for their shower made her feel wanted and sexy and like she was the coolheaded one for once…not that her head was especially cool. It was the first time he’d let down his guard enough with her to act this eager, and she really, really liked it.
He set her down in the bathroom, and her worries aboutawkwardness returned for just a fraction of a second before Dash grabbed the back of his T-shirt and yanked it over his head. Once that happened, her brain turned off all thoughts except the ones admiring his defined chest and abs and arms and… She could go on for hours, since everything about him was absolutely perfect.
Although he stood still, letting her look her fill, there was the slightest insecurity in his expression that she noticed, mainly because it was so unusual for the ever-confident Dash.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah.” His hand rubbed over his collarbone and up his neck to his jaw, all the places where shiny pink patches of scar tissue interrupted the smooth tan stretch of skin. “Sorry. I know it’s ugly.”
“What’s ugly?” She almost laughed at the idea that anything on Dash could be described as ugly. “The scars? I like them.”
