Page 32 of Huge Dynamite
“What do you have?”
“Only beer. If I had known you’d be here tonight, I would have picked up wine.”
“Beer is perfect, thank you.” She smiles.
“Yeah?”
“Yes.” Glancing down at the ground between us, she raises her eyes back up to meet mine. “Um, would you mind if I took a shower?”
“Mind? Of course not. I’m sorry I didn’t think of it.” Of course, I thought of it. Holly, naked in my shower isallI’ve been thinking about. God knows I don’t need any more of a nudge around her. “Come on.”
Taking her by the hand, I lead her from my minimalist kitchen, through my sparse living room, down the hallway, and to the master bedroom.
Holding out my hand, she walks before me and then turns back and raises an eyebrow as she stalls outside my bedroom. Right now, I’m incredibly happy that I’m pretty clean by nature and that my bed is made up with a decent cover and there are fresh sheets on the bed.
“I, uh, the bathroom is bigger and nicer in the master bedroom,” I explain.
Nodding, she walks into my bedroom. When I see her standing there, it’s all I can do not to pick her up, toss her onto the bed, and claim her once and for all.
“I’ll get you towels—” Doubling back to the linen closet in the hallway, I grab a couple of my softest towels and bring them to her.
“Thanks.” Taking them from me, she smiles. “Um, you wouldn’t happen to have anything I could wear, would you? An old T-shirt? Sweats?”
“Yeah, of course.” Damn. The thought of her wearing one of my shirts and nothing underneath is giving me a raging hard-on. I am so freaking grateful that my dresser is on the opposite side of the room to give me some space. Turning my back to her as I rummage through my drawers, I do a quick adjustment, but nothing helps. Shit. Thankfully, the light in here is dim, so when I turn back toward her, I have some kind of camouflage. Walking past her, I place the clothes on the counter near the sink in the bathroom. Turning back, I find her standing close to me. Really, really close.
“I, uh…” Putting a fist to my mouth, I clear my throat. “It’s all yours.”
“Thank you.” As she passes by me, she reaches out with her finger and runs it from my wrist to my fingertip. Her touch is light and it happens so quickly it would be almost imperceptible if it wasn’t for the shiver it gives me running straight up my spine.
“I’m sorry about what happened to your clothes.” I have to say something to break the tension.
“It’s okay.” Smiling, she shrugs. “An occupational hazard, right?”
“Right.”
Stalling, neither of us moves.
“Well, uh, I’ll just be a second.”
“Sure, right. Please, take your time. The shower has good water pressure.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
Good water pressure?As soon as she goes into the bathroom and turns on the shower, I rush to the kitchen to get as much space and distance between us as possible. Doing anything I can to keep my mind off of the naked goddess in the room next to me, I busy myself by answering emails and returning texts, but nothing helps. Tonight, like every night of my life since I’ve met her, I can’t help but think about Dr. Holly Boling.
And right now, I’m thinking about her in my shower…
Damn. I was not anticipating this surprise visit, and I am freaking grateful that I cleaned the place this morning before grabbing lunch with Colt.
Colt. What was up with him tonight? When Holly told him about my injury, he murmured something about me one-upping him. But the weird part is he didn’t sound like he was kidding. What the fuck is going on there? We had an okay lunch today—I took him to that place outside of Hoppa with the really good barbeque and he seemed happy, so what was all that about?
Turning so I’m leaning against the counter, I cross my arms, replaying our lunchtime conversation. Sure, we talked about our aunt who raised Colt when I went away for those years, but he didn’t seem to hold a grudge against me for abandoning him when I went to juvie. No, I can’t go back and change what happened then, but I can try my best now.
Standing up straight, I’m certain I heard the water turn off. Shit. How the hell am I going to keep it together?
Beer. We need beer. That’ll cool me down. Opening the fridge, I grab two bottles of beer, glad that I have a backup sixpack.
Rummaging through the drawers of my refrigerator, I look for anything I can offer her, but all I turn up are some old carrots and leftover Chinese food. Crap. I haven’t been food shopping in forever, and if I knew she was going to be here tonight—well, hell, I would have had the night catered. Fuck. Abandoning the fridge, I plow through my cabinets, but the best I can come up with are a couple of boxes of cheap chocolate cakes. One box falls from the cabinet, but I catch it just before it lands.
