| |
DYLAN
Worry over Kayla amped up my adrenaline. Her scream had been bloodcurdling and I wished I had been stung and not her. I carried her carefully back to the condo.
“Do you want to take a bath? Or would you rather just go to bed?” I set her gingerly on her good leg while I unlocked the door and let us in
After I got inside, I looked up man-of-war stings on my phone. The information I found said she’d be in pain for a few hours but as long as there wasn’t any swelling or difficulty breathing she’d probably be fine.
Fresh water was bad as long as the stingers or barbs were still in there, but the man had gotten them out. She needed to relax and a bath was the best place to put her.
She’d gotten rather quiet since the water and I was worried she might be having problems with an allergic reaction.
“A bath sounds nice.” She spoke softly and held onto my arm to steady herself.
I opened the bathroom door and helped her limp into the bathroom. Running a warm bath, I turned, so she could get into the bathtub with some privacy. After she settled in and drew the curtain up to cover her body from the neck down, I turned and knelt on the ground beside the tub.
Kneeling beside her, I wrung out the washcloth and handed it to her. Where I was still wasn’t comfortable so shifted to sitting on my rear end with my back to the tub, my forearms resting on my knees. I leaned my head back and stared at the light reflecting in the mirror. “That was one way to end the evening.”
She reached over, taking a chunk of my hair in her fingers and twisting it. She spoke softly, as if she wasn’t sure she wanted to speak. Her touch was intoxicating, but she was injured and I wasn’t going to force the issue we’d agreed on earlier. “Why are you pushing us? You never did this at home.”
My head was still angled back but I tilted it so I could see her face. “Because I believe in us. We’re too good together to throw away.” The moment was raw and deserved nothing less than brutal honesty.
“Why would we have to throw us away?” She lifted her head to look at me more fully.
She presented my chance to me as if on a silver platter, the opportunity to really make a statement and try to get through to her. “Because I’m in love with you and all your quirks and your generosity and everything. It hurts. I’ve always felt this way. You don’t see me. Not the me that I am. Not the man that I am.”
“I do see you. You’re amazing. You’re better than any guy I’ve ever met. You’re the one I compare all my dates to. Every man falls short compared to you.” She was vehement.
I was the one she compared them to? “Then why not give me a real chance? Give us a chance?”
She shook her head sadly, releasing my hair and dropping her hand back into the bath water. She looked up toward the ceiling, tears in her voice. “I told you...”
I shook my head in return and held up my hand as I pushed away from the tub. “No. I’ve heard it. I’ve never left you. Sixteen years. It’s been sixteen year and I’ve never left.”
She reached up to me, grabbing my hand and pulling me back down to my knees. She leaned over the bath so her chest was against the tub. She reached up, putting her hand behind my neck and pulling me down.
Our lips touched, gently at first and then harder as if we were starved for contact. After a long moment we disconnected, her breath hitching and panting. Her luminescent blue gaze snagged mine. We were just inches away from each other. “My leg is fine... Don’t sleep on the floor tonight...”