She nodded as she took a huge bite of her sandwich. And when I say huge, I mean, huge. Stuffed her face with it. Not a delicate nibble, hell no. A huge, glad-to-be-alive bite. So goddamned awesome. Then she pointed toward the front of the house and said something that sounded like, “Hecked my beep.”
I took an equally big bite of my sandwich and watched her carefully as she chewed. I studied her every fucking move, every shift of her dimples, every shy blink. She was laughing and trying hard to swallow so she could talk, but she was jumping the gun. She’d just have to wait it out, and in that long, silent moment, I found myself standing slightly closer to her than was totally polite. But I couldn’t help it. She was like a magnet, and I liked watching her suffer—watching her be a good girl and not talk with her mouth full. Thanks to the peanut butter and white bread, clearly stuck to the roof of her mouth, I got a chance to really study her. Her freckles, the curls around her face from where she’d gotten hot under the covers with me before. Christ.
“Wrecked my Jeep!” she clarified, when she’d gotten free of the vise grip of the Jif.
“Seemed like you walked quite a ways. You were caked with snow.” I tucked a quarter of my sandwich into my mouth.
She nodded hard and turned off the simmering water. She poured half into each mug. “I went to your neighbor’s first…”
“Big, white place? Spanish tile roof? Looks like a gigantic Taco Bell?” I asked, wiping my mouth with my palm.
Lisa giggled softly. “That’s the spot!”
“He’s in the Bahamas.”
“Clearly,” she said, stirring the toddies. “It was confusing because I could see the light from your porch, but then I lost it behind the hill, so I just assumed it was coming from his place. Which it wasn’t. So then I had to go back down his driveway and up the hill, and that’s how I found you.”
The thing was, in spite of the fact that she called it a driveway, I knew how far that meant. I jogged my own “driveway” all the time. It was at least two miles, all by itself. So then double that and add whatever she had to walk on the road. “Fuck. That’s a hell of a hike.”
Lisa nodded. She handed me a steaming mug, and the sharp bourbon and lemon scent filled the air. A sudden yawn snuck up on her, and she shielded her mouth with her hand. When she opened her eyes, they sparkled by the light of the hood over the range. “I really am sorry about this. I don’t want to impose. I’m sure the storm will be over soon. I’ll be gone before you know it.”
Two thoughts ran through my head at the same damned time: I’m not so sure about that, and I fucking hope not. The snow was piling up, and the idea of her getting stuck at my house? Sounded pretty damned great to me. I looked her up and down, and I made sure to make a thing of it. I allowed her to feel my eyes on her, just long enough to let her know how she was making me feel already. “You’re welcome for as long as you want to stay,” I told her, and clink went our mugs.
6
Dave
After we finished our drinks, I led Lisa to my favorite of the guest rooms, which—bonus—was on my side of the house, on the opposite end of the mansion from Grandma. One thing I wanted to avoid, at all costs, was Lisa getting turned around in the dark of the night, flipping on the bathroom light, and finding herself faced with Grandma’s teeth in a glass. She’d been through enough already.
“This is really nice…” Lisa said, trailing off as she lightly touched the end of the big mahogany bed frame with her fingertips. She turned to me and blinked. “…So fancy. I’ve never been inside a house this beautiful.”
You’re making it a fuckload more beautiful. “The bed is super comfortable,” I told her, turning on the light switch on one of the side tables. “And it adjusts.” I didn’t give her the whole goddamned showroom shtick, but I raised and lowered the knee rest and a few things like that. I opened the cabinet under the TV and grabbed a few bottles of water for her and put them on her bedside table.
“Thank you,” she said again, with her eyes twinkling with heavy yawn tears. One of them tumbled out and spilled down her windburned cheek. And every fiber in my being said, Wipe it off for her. Touch her. Do it.
But I didn’t. I kept my shit together and played the gentleman. “There’s a spare toothbrush and everything you might need in the bathroom. But if you’re missing anything, just let me know. I’m sure we have it here somewhere. I’ll just be down the hallway. Fourth door on the right. I’ll leave my door open. You’re sure your head is okay?”
It was like the question startled her, like she’d forgotten, and her fingers moved gingerly up to the cut at her hairline. She winced as she touched the wound, and my goddamned heart dropped. “I think so. It’s sore, but I’m all right.”
I wasn’t so sure, though. I took a few steps closer and stood in front of her, holding her by the shoulders. What I meant to do, of course, was check to make sure her pupils weren’t different sizes, to make sure there was no obvious sign of a concussion. I wasn’t exactly an EMT, but I’d played soccer long enough to know a thing or two about what a mild head injury looked like, or worse. But instead of actually checking her pupils, I got totally lost in her eyes. They were this deep green, with brownish flecks at the edges, and one tiny darker fleck inside the outer rim of the left one, giving her the most mesmerizing asymmetry.
She pressed her lips together. “Do I get the all clear? Dr. Dave?”
“I’ve got no idea what I’m looking for, to tell you the truth.” But you are so fucking pretty.
Something between a honk and a snort shot out of her nose. Fucking adorable. Cute, pretty, sweet, and in my pajama pants. “Me neither. But I think I’m okay.”
“You need an Advil?”
“I’m good.”
“They’re in the medicine cabinet. And Tylenol. And some fresh soap.”
She nodded and looked like she was going to giggle. “You’re pretty cute, you know? For a guy in a mansion.”
Awwww, fuck.
Before I literally couldn’t pull myself away—ever seen a magnet get too close to another one and actually become airborne?—I let her go and stepped back.
But her hand snuck out and grabbed mine. It was like a fucking earthquake inside me, like some deep need was coming to the surface. Her thumb was pressing into my palm, her small fingers on the back of my hand. “Really. Thank you so much. I’d never have survived if you didn’t answer the door.”
“I think you’d have been fine.”
“Own it, Dave. You’re a hero.” She lifted her shoulder, which made my hoodie slip off her bare skin just enough to give an eighties vibe to the whole scene, Christ almighty. “No shame in that.”