Page 39 of Through My Window
“It’s okay.” He squeezes my hand, and his palms are soft. “You’ll be fine.” He smiles at me, and for the first time it’s not a smug or mischievous smile. It’s a genuine smile, one that he hasn’t shown me before. Ares Hidalgo looks so honestly grateful that I’m okay that I feel the stupid urge to kiss him.
It’s at this moment that I realize that he and I have never kissed even though we’ve done intimate things together.Why have you never kissed me? I want to ask him, but I don’t have the courage, not now. Besides, what would I gain by asking him that? Especially if being with him is out of the equation.
He has been sweet and kind. He behaved like a gentleman, but that doesn’t mean that his way of seeing things has changed, nor mine. Ares strokes the back of my hand with his thumb, tracing circles, and I feel the need to thank him. “Thank you, really. You didn’t have to do all this. Thank you very much, Ares.”
“I’m at your service, always, Witch.”
Always. . .
That makes my stomach flutter and my heart beat faster. He reaches over and takes my chin.
“What are you doing?”
He assesses the bruised side of my face. “I don’t think you need to take anything, but if you’re in pain, you could take an analgesic. You should be fine.”
“Are you a doctor now?”
Ares gives a small laugh. “Not yet.”
“Not yet?”
“I want to study medicine when I finish high school.”
That surprises me. “Really?”
“Why so surprised?”
“I thought you’d study business or law like your father and brother.”
“To work for my father’s company?”
“I never imagined you as a doctor.”
You would be a beautiful doctor, though.
“That’s what everyone thinks.” He grimaces. “I’m sure my parents and Artemis think the same thing.”
“They don’t know that you want to study medicine?”
“No, you’re the first person I’ve told.”
“Why? Why me?” The question leaves my mouth before I can stop it.
Ares looks away. “I don’t know.”
I bite my tongue so as not to ask him any more questions.
He stands up. “I should go, I promised Apolo I would take him to the animal shelter.”
“To the animal shelter?”
“You ask a lot of questions, Raquel.” He doesn’t say it in a bad way. “Apolo fosters puppies when Mom is in a good mood and lets him. If it were up to him, we would be overrun with dozens of dogs.”
Ah, that explains the different doggies I sometimes see in the backyard.
“Apolo is a really sweet boy.”
Ares becomes serious. “Yes, he is.”
