Chapter 27 Boone #2
What the hell was I thinking? I shouldn’t have fallen. I should have done a better job scoping the lake for rocks and sticks before we went out. I should have taken her to a goddamn ice rink instead of the lake.
Minutes pass, or maybe it’s hours, I can’t tell, before I feel the slightest change in her body temperature.
The trembling eases bit by bit. Her skin grows warmer under my touch, the tension in her body softening. Her lips, no longer blue, bloom back to their soft pink natural hue and her breathing is steadier now.
Finally, her pretty eyes open to see me, just a crack, as the steam fogs up the room around us. She looks up at me, her gaze hazy but warm, recognition flickering in the depths. And then, slowly, her face tilts up toward mine.
“You saved me,” she whispers between chattering teeth.
“I shouldn’t have let us skate,” I respond, guilt tightening my chest. “I thought it was all frozen.”
She shakes her head, her voice soft but steady. “It was frozen until you fell in.”
“We still shouldn’t have gone out.”
“I’m fine, Boone.”
I nod and try my best not to examine every part of her body to reassure myself. “You scared the shit out of me,” I finally choke out.
“I’m sorry.”
“Fuck. Don’t apologize. It was my fault. I just… I’m so sorry, Rosie.”
Her head nestles into my chest. I brush a strand of damp hair away from her face, letting my hand linger on her shoulder to remind myself she’s okay.
She’s still cold, her body trembling faintly against mine but it’s not nearly as bad as before.
I hold her tighter, waiting, feeling the way her breathing slows and then steadies.
When I’m sure her legs can’t take any more standing, I reach past her, switching the shower to the tub faucet and plugging the drain. Warm water begins to fill around us, the sound of it soothing against the lingering panic in my mind.
Slowly, carefully, I shift us both, stretching out in the tub with her soft, delicate frame draped over mine.
She rests against me, her breasts to my chest, her head tucked beneath my chin, and I keep my arms wrapped around her, holding her up above the waterline. Neither of us speaks for a while, the silence broken only by the lapping water as it rises around her shoulders.
When I know she’s finally covered and the shivering has subsided, I lean forward and shut off the faucet. She seems to be warmer now, but I’m still not convinced.
She props her chin under her fist, tilting her head up to look at me. Her eyes studying my face.
“We’re naked, in a tub together. I can’t say that I thought this would be how the night would end.”
Her teasing tone should make me laugh, but it doesn’t. I’m too rattled, my mind still replaying the moment she went under, the terror I felt when I thought I’d lost her.
What would I have told her brother? Her father? Beyond that, how could I have lived with myself without her here with me?
I would have rather been in the lake with her and if it’d come to that, I think I would have done exactly that.
“Hey,” she whispers, her voice softer now. “I’m okay. You look worried still.”
I shake my head; the words clogged in my throat. “That was bad.”
“I had fun,” she says with a small smile. “We’ll do it again once it refreezes.”
“The hell we will. We’re never doing that again.”
“It was a memorable date.”
It was hell for me.
She sighs and lays her head back down against my chest, but a moment later, she lifts it again, her lips twitching into a smirk.
“We’re naked in my bathtub and you’re soft.”
That gets a small, startled laugh out of me, breaking through my shit mood. “Soft as soft-serve ice cream,” I quip, though my voice still carries a rough edge.
She laughs. “That’s not what a woman wants to hear when she’s lying on top of you.”
I shake my head. “You almost just died. There’s no way I’m getting hard after that.”
Her expression softens, and she exhales a quiet sigh, her body relaxing fully against mine. “I’m okay, Boone. I promise.”
Her eyes drift shut, and moments later, she’s asleep, her breathing slow and even. I hold her like that, letting the warm water surround us until I’m sure that it’s done its job.
When her skin is no longer chilled and the trembling has stopped, I carefully lift her out of the tub, her body still limp with sleep.
I dry her off gently, wrapping her in the softest towel I can find before carrying her to bed. Then I tuck her in and slide beside her under the blankets.
I lock my arms around her as if letting go might mean losing her again. And I swear if I had my way we’d never leave this bed.
I lay there, wide awake, listening to the sound of her heartbeat against my chest, each steady thump a reminder that she’s here, that she’s alive.
Outside, the snow from the storm falls softly on the roof, the lake a silent, frozen expanse behind us reminding me how badly I fucked up.
Only when I’m certain she’s okay, the night stretches on and the world grows still, do I finally let my eyes close and allow sleep to come.