Page 13 of Hot Touch
I set the matching neon green shirt down and went with the white oversized shirt. Only to pull it up and over my head to find out it was a crop top. I was too curvy to pull this off.
“Ooo! That looks super cute on you! You should keep that whole outfit,” she complimented. I fought from making a face.
“I might have to.”
“Ale—“
“Depending on if any of my clothes survived the fire,” I muttered, glancing down at myself. There were so many things I had to figure out, I wasn’t sure how to wrap my head of how this fire was going to affect everything. My life. The everyday routine of it. I didn’t even want to think about my things. My books. What survived and what didn’t.
No, I couldn’t go there. I had to stay positive. In the meantime, I’d focus on what was in front of me. Day by day, hour by hour.
My eyes dropped to the pants I was wearing. There was no way I could pull off this look. Where they looked wide legged on my little sister, they were fitted on me. Not hiding anything.Every curve was out there to show. My hand dropped to the front of my belly, and I made a face.
“Let me look at you,” Jack called out. I looked up at her, noticing her phone in her hand. “Smile for me.”
“Jackie!” I groaned, but she shook her head.
“Nope. Uh-uh.” She shook her finger with a bit of attitude. “None of that. You just had some hunky, older fireman daddy wrapped around you all night long. One who carried you out of a fire, no less. That’s not the face of the girl who experienced that.” My lips twitched because she wasn’t wrong. I felt my lips tip upward thinking about the way he’d held me. not just when he found me in my apartment but all through the night.
I remembered the promise I’d made myself.No regrets.
“Got it!” Jackie exclaimed. My sister stood next to me, leaning in to show me her cell phone. Right there was a full-body shot of me, smiling. I didn’t just look happy, I looked good. Curvy but confident.
“See, you look great!” I couldn’t stop staring at the picture.
My first instinct was to scrutinize every roll and curve, but I didn’t let myself. Jackie wasn’t lying. Somehow, the joggers that were more fitted on me looked good with the boxy crop top that might have shown a sliver of skin, but not a whole lot with the high waist of the pants.
“Thanks.” I smiled, tossing my hair down, about to adjust it back into a messy bun. Jackie’s hand took mine and stopped me.
“You should leave it down.” I blinked.
“What? Why? It’s a frizzy mess.” I shook my head, but she didn’t let go of my hand. “Jackie, I look like a lion.”
“You have great hair,” she said gently, almost like she was afraid I’d scoff off her remark.Maybe because that’s exactly what you do whenever she compliments you.“I’m serious.” Her tone was genuine. “It’s pretty. Wavy. Kinda wild.”
“I’m not—“ I stopped mid-sentence.
I’d made myself a promise.Take risks. Live boldly. No regrets.
“I can be wild,” I corrected myself, and my sister tried to mask the enthusiasm that brought to her.
“I know you can.” She winked with a wicked sort of gleam in her eyes as she glanced towards the shut door. “When do you think he’s going to come back?” I didn’t need to ask who she was talking about. I knew.
Nathan Benson.
My beautiful snoop of a sister had searched him on Instagram, and I’d acted disinterested when she showed me his profile and the images of him on our little mountain town’s fire department’s page. It was scary what she could find in just a little while and a lot of determination. She could give the FBI a run for their money.
“He’s probably long gone by now,” I mumbled and could have bet money Jackie rolled her eyes at me.
Not that I looked at her. I didn’t want to risk her seeing me sad about it. He’d said he’d be back, but that had been a while ago. Or had he? I shook my head. I was being silly. He didn’t have to come back. Hell, I had probably somehow guilted him into cuddling with me all night. I just hoped he didn’t get in trouble at work for staying overnight.
“Oh yeah, a guy happens to ride with you to the hospital?—“
“It’s his job, Jack,” I reminded her.
“His job!” she scoffed. “Hate to break it to you, but nowhere is it protocol for a fireman to ride with a patient and stay with them.” I ignored her. “I looked it up,” she added.
But I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I didn’t want to let myself believe that what I felt when I looked into his eyes, when I first saw his face, could possibly be real. That those feelings, so strong, could possibly be reciprocated. Instead, I got busy. I grabbed the extra clothes Jackie had brought, because my sisterloved to give me choices, and put everything back in the hot pink duffle bag she’d been kind enough to bring for me. I smiled at the array of colors inside the bag. My beautiful, bright, bolder-than-life little sister could teach me a thing about the whole no-regrets thing.
