Chapter 19 #3
Her hands come up to rest on my chest and fiddle with my tie.
It sends tingles up my spine as I feel the warmth of her fingers through my cotton shirt.
The thin material is only a small barrier between me and her full warmth.
She’s playing along nicely with this narrative we created, that we’re still together, a fact my brain seems to forget with the way my hands hold her with a bruising grip.
“It was long. We had four new intakes today. All dogs found abandoned close to the old roller rink. Clearly dumped! I mean, come on, you can’t even drop them at a shelter?
Those poor babies were skin and bones. Adorable little Lab mixes.
I think they were all part of the same litter.
We had a call earlier, and I raced in the truck to get them.
I mean, it was only thirty degrees out this morning when the call came in!
Someone had tried to stop, but they were so scared.
I raced out of bed,” she fumes, clearly still fired up about her day.
Her face is so animated as she talks, her brows furrowing and her lips pursing with frustration.
Usually, I would have leaned down and kissed her just to make her relax a bit, watching those divots between her brows straighten out, but I keep my place on her hips.
My fingers make slow circles on her back, feeling the velvety material beneath them.
My heart stutters, knowing how lucky I am to get this contact with her.
I have been starved for her touch. I think it would take a couple natural disasters to pull me away from her right now.
“So naturally, you did something unsafe by going to that part of town to get them. Did you go alone?” I quip, a constant argument between us about the situations she would put herself in for those dogs.
I love her passion and how much she cares for them, but sometimes I wish she cared enough about her own safety.
I can remember the countless times she got a call early in the morning or late at night about a dog, and I forced her into my truck instead and drove with her.
I knew while she was getting those animals to safety, I could focus on her safety.
No matter how tired I was after. She would care for and look after the dog, and I would look after her.
I would stay vigilant and alert, scanning the surroundings for anything off when she came running back with her prize.
“Before you start lecturing me, Dad,” she quips as her black nail digs into my chest. “I did not. Keith went with me, thank you very much. He met me there with all the supplies from the truck.” She tries to back out of my hold, and instead, I grab on tighter and bring my hands around her back, resting them just above her ass.
The one that looks so appealing in this dress my hands are itching to slide down a little bit farther.
This back-and-forth is easy between us, a small break from the mounting tension that has filled the moments before this.
It feels like a truce. It feels like a good reminder that the chemistry is still there between us, and that this is still just as it was meant to be.
I stand here staring down at her, my eyes searching for those missing freckles, hoping she feels the same rightness I do.
She looks up at me, hands still playing with my tie, and her breath hitches. The moment seems to slow, and I wonder if she wants me to kiss her. I usually would have by now, and we’re here to put on a show. People think we’re still together. There is nothing to stop me from doing it.
Still, I hesitate. Would she even want that right now?
Would I be crossing some invisible line she drew when she said she needed space?
The longer I stare into her eyes, the more my gaze traces down to her soft, pillowy lips, begging to have that lipstick smeared by me. I slowly pull her in closer, giving her time to say no, but she comes willingly, her hands sliding up my shirt and linking around the back of my neck.
Seconds tick by as her body molds to mine, her front entirely flush against me. Every piece of her fits so perfectly against me, like our bodies remember exactly how to come together.
All the worries about my dad and this party fade away the longer we stay here, in the middle of the chaos, locked into each other.
Her head slowly rests on my chest, and I feel some of the tension she held when she walked in fade away.
My own body relaxes as I breathe in her familiar scent.
The soft sounds of music and conversation surround us, the cool breeze from the finally set sun kicking up.
Goosebumps trail up her arms, and I rub my hands up her back to warm her as I hear the faint hum of the outdoor heaters turning on.
“Kane!” a deep, foreboding voice yells. The tension of it goes through my body, making every muscle taut as I brace myself for an incoming fight.
Slowly, Avery picks her head up and sends me a you ready?
look. I give her a small nod and reluctantly peel myself away from her.
My right hand grabs hers before she can get too far, and I guide her in front of me.
My left hand lands on the small of her back, the strands of her hair so long they brush against my hand as she walks.
We shoulder our way over to where my father beckons us.