Page 50 of The Ground Beneath Our Feet
“In the bathroom.” I winced as she wiped up more blood. Speedy the turtle ambled by.
She left and came back with the kit and a bottle of painkiller.
“What happened to you? Do you need me to take you to the hospital? Do you need stitches?”
“No. No stitches. If I need them, I’ll do it myself.”
“But you never would.”
“But I never would,” I agreed.
This was my own stupidity. I didn’t need medical attention. I just needed to go to bed.
I’d tried to work out my frustrations, but parkour was not the way to do that. It required focus, balance, and precision.
Not brute force strength and pissed-off vibes.
She knelt between my knees and started daubing off my knee with disinfectant.
Even though I was in pain, and a lot of it, I couldn’t help think she looked so damn sexy kneeling.
My dick, which was in good working order, agreed, as it decided to get a chub.
Fuck.
She didn’t need to see that.
Was it my imagination, or did she lick her lips.
As I sat in my underwear, trying to hide my stiffy, she bandaged my knee, then tended to the cut on my hand and the other scrapes.
It hurt so fucking bad.
But when she was done, I sat still, slumped in the chair, breathing hard.
She brought me ice in a Ziploc baggie wrapped with a towel.
I caught her eyes as I pressed it to my cuts. “Thanks.”
And I really looked at her, at the concern and focus on her perfect face. She acted, and acted quickly.
This was a woman I wanted by my side. One who knew how to behave in a crisis and went to work. Not one who wrung her hands.
I hated that she saw me at my worst. But even though I was vulnerable, bruised, cut, and almost naked, she treated me with respect.
After she cleaned up the towels, gathered the bloody ones and threw them away, I said, “I think I’m going to bed.” I really wanted her to come there with me. I wanted her weight against my body.
She tidied and fed the animals, then joined me upstairs.
As I lay on my bed in my underwear, staring at the ceiling, she stopped in the open doorway.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“You going to tell me what happened?”
I let out a breath. “I do parkour.”
