Page 97 of Merry Mayhem
I feel Josh kneeling next to me. He slides one big hand under my head, cradling it gently. “Thea, sweetheart, are you okay?”
“Did she get knocked out?” one of the twins asks.
“Did she break anything?” the other asks.
I open my eyes to show the boys that I’m alive.
“I’m in one piece,” I tell them.
“Wow, that was…” one of them starts.
“Not graceful,” the other fills in.
I laugh and close my eyes again because that makes my head twinge.
“Thea, keep your eyes open for me,” Josh urges.
“No,” I say. Mostly because I really like his hand on my head and him leaning over me like this. He smells really good and his body is warm.
“Danger, come on now, open your eyes,” he coaxes. “Let me see those pretty blues.”
I moan because I love that nickname and how his voice sounds right now. Turns out his reassuring, paramedic sweet-talk sounds a little like his bedroom sweet-talk. I open my eyes for him.
He’s leaning over me, and our gazes lock.
God, I love his eyes. And his mouth.
All of him. I love all of him.
I really don’t want to give up looking into his eyes. Or his mouth. I don’t want to give up the right to be this close to him, to have his hands on me, to hear this low, rough voice.
“There you go. Are you hurt?”
“Yes. Ice is very hard.”
He huffs out a laugh. “Yes, it is. Which is why you shouldn’t fall down on it.”
“I’ll try to remember that,” I say, letting my eyes slide shut again.
“Hey,” he says, rubbing his hand over the back of my head. “We can’t have two Chabert girls with concussions.”
“It’s not a concussion. I’m okay. But if I open my eyes, you might stop.”
“Stop what?” he asks. I can hear the amusement in his tone, though he still sounds concerned.
“Touching me and being sexy Mr. paramedic,” I say.
He’s quiet for a second, then he says, “I think I’ll keep being a paramedic for a little bit if that’s okay with you. I wanna be sure you’re all right. Can we get you up off the ice?”
“If you keep your hands on me. And if we can role-play paramedic and patient later.”
He gives a cough-choke sound. I open my eyes and look up at him. And realize there are about a dozen people gathered around us.
Oh. Crap.
“Oops,” I say, meeting his gaze again.
“And to think, I was going to use a confetti canon to tell everyone how I feel about you.”
