Page 9 of Healing Hazel
Seemed the day’s surprises were not yet done after all. Not only had she beaten me to the punch, she’d asked a question I’d been asking myself for the past two months. Had there been times when I’d wanted to pull her over my lap and redden her arse? Yes, countless times, and not to discipline her for some error or misstep on her part. In fact, my palm had itched to spank her in the context of showing her how a bite of pain could enhance our lovemaking. But while I might have popped her butt, it had never been more than a couple of swats and those had never had any true oomph behind them.
Why was that?
That was just one of the questions that needed answering.
When her gaze shifted from mine and I felt her hands loosening their hold, I just tightened mine. “Look at me, Zellie.”Once she had, the light I’d seen had dimmed a bit which made me want to kick myself in the arse. “I’m not evading the question because it’s a really good one. It’s just not one I feel needs discussing out in a parking lot in the cold. Let me get some food into you and then I promise, I’m yours to answer whatever questions you have. Deal?”
Expecting her to nod or parrot, “deal,” I was taken aback when instead she asked, “Do I have to answer yours?”
Forget shooting webbing from my wrists,thatquestion had me wanting to pull on the entire skin-tight black and red body suit with a giant spider on the chest. But I wasn’t a comic book character and this wasn’t some fantasy world. This was a place that had come to mean the world to me because the woman in my arms was a huge part of that world.
“Not until you’re ready, but, Hazel, I want you to know that whatever it is you’re too frightened to tell me isn’t going to change the way I feel about you.”
The disbelief was clearly visible in her gaze, but she didn’t comment on it. Instead, she simply remained silent until I slid one arm free in order to cup her chin with my fingers to keep her eyes locked on mine.
“It’s okay. We can take it one step at a time,” I said and then bent to kiss her forehead. “Starting with dinner. What do you fancy?”
Chapter Four
Hazel
I was trying not to consider a hamburger topped with a big scoop of Chef Connor’s famous macaroni and cheese, a side of extra-crispy tater tots and a large chocolate shake with double whipped cream and two cherries as my last meal because I knew it wasn’t. Granted, it might be the last one I ate with the man presently sitting across from me. But my last? Probably not unless I popped like an overinflated balloon from all the food I kept stuffing into my mouth.
Did that keep me from taking yet another huge bite of my burger. Nope, not at all. My life might be a mess but the food anywhere on the Ranch or the Ridge couldn’t be better. As for my dinner companion, the man I’d been drawn to like a bee to a flower the moment I saw him in Moira’s kitchen? He’d kept his word, not asking me a single question as he ate his own hamburger sans the macaroni.
“You really don’t know what you’re missing,” I said after swallowing the bite I’d just taken.
“I’m pretty sure I do. A burger is supposed to be just that, a burger. If you want cheese, then by all means, a nice slice of Swiss is fine, but to smother the patty beneath a mountainof pasta? He gave a comical expression of horror. “That is just unnatural.”
I laughed and popped another tot into my mouth, loving the crunch it gave as I bit down. “You know, for someone who comes from a place where they serve up dishes like bangers and mash and people actually think baked beans go with bacon and eggs, that’s like the pot calling the kettle black. Oh, and come on? Spotted dick? I mean I don’t think I even want to know what that is but I promise you it absolutely has to be unnatural.” I gave a very realistic shudder that had nothing to do with the chill of the ice cream I was attempting to draw up through the straw that was obviously far too thin to allow the deliciousness to escape its glass prison. Dipping my finger into the whipped cream and sucking that instead, I added, “I’m sorry, but I honestly can’t consider you a culinary expert.”
When he didn’t respond, I looked from my plate to him to see him staring at me. “What? Do I have lettuce stuck in my teeth or something?” When his gaze didn’t move a millimeter from my lips, I said, “Earth to Nigel?”
“Huh?”
“Now I know how Brooke felt this morning,” I muttered and forgot about lettuce, choosing the bigger of the cherries as my next bite.
“Why is everybody hung up on Brooke all of a sudden?”
Oops, I’d come too close for comfort on spilling the tea all by myself. Pretending ignorance, I tried to draw up some ice cream again.
“Sweet lord, have some mercy and please stop doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“That!” He pointed to the straw that was a fraction of an inch from my lips.
I sat back, looking at him as if he’d come from a place even further away than the United Kingdom. Like perhaps Pluto?“Are you telling me that England doesn’t approve of milkshakes either?”
“No, I’m telling you that if I see your cheeks hollowing one more time today, I’m either going to go all caveman and drag you out of here by your hair or I’m going to humiliate myself by shooting my load in my pants like some virginal teen.”
Wow. I honestly didn’t know which visual would be more shocking, but since my pussy had clenched when he’d mentioned pulling my hair, I had a pretty good guess. I opened my mouth to state I’d rather like to see him in all his Neanderthal glory. Instead, what came out was, “I suppose then I should let you know that I’ve been sorta lying all this time.”
If you’ve ever wondered how fast a man can go from looking as if he wanted to devour you to looking at you like you’d just told him you were that Pultonian alien, I could provide the answer.
Less than a single heartbeat.
“Care to repeat that?”
