Page 19 of Until We're More
A few more seconds and I was mostly under control again.
The second we sat down to eat, George hopped up on the couch and wiggled between us. He sniffed the food, then turned up his nose, leaped off the couch, and went to his food bowl near the patio door.
I tried to bite back my laugh. And failed.
Chelsea gave me a ridiculously cute scowl—no wonder she had trouble pulling off hard-ass boss at work. Even when she tried to give off the mad vibe, she radiated warmth. “Just hush up and eat your food.”
Stirring the mixture with my fork only revealed more burned chicken and things formerly known as vegetables. “Cruel and unusual punishment. Maybe you should try cooking dinner for the employees you’re training. The threat of that torture, and they’ll jump to do anything you ask.”
Chelsea shoved me, but she snorted a laugh. “I was trying to thank you for your help and for letting me stay here.”
“For future reference, I take cash, Visa, MasterCard…”
She shook her head as she poked at her dinner with her fork, trying to unearth the edible bits. She stuck a chunk of squash in her mouth and fought a gag.
I shoveled a bite into my mouth in solidarity. Or possibly masochism. “I appreciate you trying to take care of me. You don’t need to, though.”
“When I tried to tell you the same thing, you insisted you were going to anyway, so I’m going to point that right back at you. Only I promise I’ll take care of you in other ways besides cooking.”
Why, why did my mind automatically turn that dirty?
Sure, she had a bra on now, but those tiny shorts left a whole lot of leg on display. My gaze snagged on the large spot of purple marring her shin. “Dang, what’s with the giant bruise? You been in the cage recently?”
“I live life to the fullest. I see an adventure and I dive right in.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“What? Is that so hard to believe?” I continued to give her my hard stare, and she slumped back against the armrest. “Okay, I rammed into a step stool, which then bumped into the journal display the other day when we were in the bookstore. Did you, uh, see that part?”
“Just the aftermath with the books on the floor. I was about to go in for an assist, but you grinded it out.”
“Not so sure about that. It’s not like Kevin’s texted, and yeah, I could be assertive and text him, but I did the assertive thing already. I asked him out and gave him my number, so I think he should work for it a little.”
“Agreed,” I said. I thought he should work for it a lot. Or not at all, because there was no way he deserved her, and since she seemed sad he hadn’t texted, now I wanted to kick his ass even more—the guy couldn’t win with me. Either way I’d dislike him, but if he made her happy, I’d try to deal.
“Like, have some balls and text me already.”
“Right.” My attention drifted to that bruise again, and I couldn’t resist reaching out and running my finger across her shin. Her skin was so smooth and soft, and I wanted to run my hand higher. Up over her knee, up her thigh. Then I’d trace my fingers over the place where those tiny shorts ended, dip underneath the material, and…
Fuck.Now I’m getting hard all over again.The guy from the bookstore needed some balls, and I needed to not have any. Or for someone else to play with them for a while. I jerked my hand off her leg and pushed to my feet—I had to get out of here before I did something I’d later regret. “I’m headed to the bar. With Finn.”
“Oh. Okay.”
A twinge in my gut tugged at me. I should invite her, but then I’d never end up taking the edge off, and if I was going to survive the next month or so, I’d better handle my shit.
“I had a bad day, so I was just going to watch a comfort movie,” she said. “I thought I’d get to multitask and guilt you into watching it, but lucky for me, George loves chick flicks.”
I glanced at the cat. “Suddenly I’m appreciating George a whole lot more.”
As if he wanted to prove how little my approval mattered to him, he heaved up a slimy fur ball. Two inches to the left and it would’ve hit the hardwood floor instead of the rug, but he’d aimed for the fabric, I was sure of it.
Chelsea grimaced. “I’ll take care of that.”
“And I should go change, and…” She looked so fragile and alone on the big couch without me by her side, and I couldn’t help adding, “Unless you need me to stay?”
“No. Go. Tell Finn I say hey.”
“I will. That reminds me, my dad requested you to stop by and say hi.”
