Page 26 of So Right
He handed her one of the sandwiches he’d made that morning. “Yay me.”
She unwrapped the plastic. “Good choice of bread. This looks delicious.” The sandwiches were on little baguettes with aioli, arugula, and swiss cheese.
“I have apples and some trail mix too.”
“Sounds great. I’m starved.”
He pulled the fruit and nuts from his pack and set them on the grass between them. They ate in silence for a few minutes.
After she finished off her turkey sandwich, she licked the edge of her mouth. It was incredibly erotic. Or maybe only to Luke, who’d somehow taken on the role of sex-starved lothario today. “You make a mean sandwich, Luke Westcott. Thank you.”
She sipped from her water pack, and Luke decided he was far too fixated on her mouth. And every other part of her.
Get it together, man.
He’d finished his sandwich and downed a few handfuls of nuts before getting up. “I suppose we should head back.” He checked his phone for the time. It was nearing one.
She got to her feet. “Sounds good. Ready when you are.”
On the trip back, he focused on distracting topics, such as movies and books.
“I love that you read books,” she said, smiling at him. “Sometimes I worry it’s a lost art.”
“And that’s a librarian’s worst nightmare, I’d imagine.”
She laughed. “Actually, that’s censorship. At least for me. So let’s see, your favorite genre is outdoors or environmental nonfiction. Do you read any fiction?”
“Sure. I like spy thrillers. And some speculative fiction. I got a little burned out on that, though. Lately, I’ve started reading historical fiction.”
“I’d be happy to recommend some titles when you come by the library.”
The trail narrowed a bit, and the surrounding foliage was thick. “Thanks, I’d really appreciate that. I’ll be sure to stop in soon.”
She looked over at him and didn’t see the branch until it smacked her in the eye.
Luke hadn’t seen it either because his attention was too focused on her instead of their surroundings. He also wasn’t fast enough to catch her before she fell.
The stinging pain brought tears to Kelsey’s eyes as her knees buckled. She shouldn’t have fallen over at all, but she’d been hit too many times, and her reflex was to ball herself up. Not that she did that exactly; she just ended up on her butt.
Luke immediately dropped down beside her. “Are you okay?”
She blinked, but the pain was still there. The branch had snapped against her left eye—the side that had always taken the most abuse. “I’ll be fine.”
How many times had she told herself that? She took a deep breath, held it for a count of three, and slowly let it out. How many times had she done that too?
“Hey, you’re bleeding a little.” He shrugged out of his backpack and brought it around to unzip the main pocket. He drew out a first aid kit and found a piece of gauze that he dabbed against her brow, just above her eye.
She couldn’t stop herself from flinching.He’s trying to help you,she reminded herself.
“Yikes, that really hurts, doesn’t it? I’m so sorry, Kelsey.”
“It’s not your fault.” Those words tasted so damn bitter on her tongue, which was stupid because in this case ithadn’tbeen his fault. Goddammit, had Noah absolutely ruined her?
She already knew the answer to that.
“I wish I had some ice to put on that,” he said. He stared at her with such care, his brow creased, his brown eyes tinged with concern. Close up, she could see the fine stubble along his jaw. She’d never seen him quite clean-shaven, which she found incredibly sexy.
“It’s all right, I’m good.” She tried to stand, but he reached out and took her hand, then pulled her down.
