Page 46 of This Spells Love

But then Dax stops and lets me down slowly. My thoughts shift to how hard his body feels as it’s pressed to mine.

And how I can smell him.

All scotch and sweat and pheromones. And although I should be thrilled that I’ve finally received the Dax McGuire bear hug my body has been craving, now all I can think is that his eyes are such a beautiful shade of green. And that our faces are unnaturally close right now. And how everything about this moment is borderline dangerous.

No. Wait. This isn’t how things go.

Dax and I do not have sexy moments like this. We high-five. We make asshole remarks under our breath. We do not get mesmerized by each other’s eyes and the flecks of forest green we never noticed despite four long years of deep friendship involving ample eye contact.

“We should check on Sunny.” I end the eye business, completely chickening out on whatever is happening.

Dax takes a step back, putting much more pheromone-free air between us.

“She texted me while you were flipping. She got called in to the hospital and had to leave.”

“Oh,” is the best reply I can come back with.

Okay. This is fine. It’s just me and Dax. Dax and me. We’ve done this more times than we can count. NBD. Nothing to get worked up about—

“Hey, Dax—” a male voice calls.

Oh, thank god.

I welcome the sight of yet another one of Dougie’s rugby dudes.

“We have a bit of a situation outside.” He inclines his head toward the back door.

“Do we need to find Dougie?” Dax asks.

“ItisDougie.”

We follow Rugby Guy to the yard, where there’s a wooden ladder perched up against the roof of the detached garage and a plus-size Spider-Man sitting on top of it with his head between his hands.

“Why the hell did he go up there?” Dax asks, echoing my thoughts.

Rugby Guy shrugs. “We thought it would make a cool photo for his Instagram. Dougie forgot to mention he was terrified of heights. He was fine going up, just freaked the fuck out when it was time to come down.”

Dax’s eyes meet mine for a long moment before he grabs the rungs of the ladder and climbs up onto the roof. He pulls himself to a seat next to Dougie, who is huddled in a ball, shaking like a leaf.

“Come on, Dougie,” Dax coaxes. “It’s not that high up. Even if you do fall, odds are you’ll be fine.”

Dougie visibly shudders. Obviously that wasn’t the pep talk he wanted to hear. It’s followed by a screech so high the neighbor’s dog starts to bark.

I climb the ladder before I can think of a reason not to. It feels a lot higher up as I settle in next to Dougie and eye the grass below.

“Hey, buddy.” I rub slow circles around his back. “I know you’re feeling pretty terrified right now, but Dax and I are here to make sure you get down safe. Okay?”

Dougie nods.

“So,” I continue, “when you’re ready, I want you to look up, but when you do, I want you to look at my face. Right into my eyes. Nowhere else, okay?”

Again Dougie nods.

It’s a full five minutes before there’s any more movement. Eventually, Dougie lifts his head, and when he does, he looks directly into my eyes, just as I’ve asked.

“You feeling okay?”

He nods, although he’s sweating so badly that it looks as if he’s been sitting out here in the rain.

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