Page 50 of Protecting Josie
Was it stupid that she’d gotten used to hearing him say that? And that she loved it? Probably. “I forgot until just now,” she told him.
“Well, Happy Birthday, Spirit.”
She grinned at him, then turned around and brought her knees up. She clasped them against her as she felt the first spray of detangler against her scalp.
Was she upset that her thirtieth birthday was in that hellhole? Not really. It wasn’t as if she would’ve celebrated all that much if she’d been in Vegas. Even though she lived in Sin City, she didn’t go to the Strip that often. To her, it was gross and dirty. She understood the draw for tourists, but the glitz and glamour did nothing for her.
When she’d been a little girl, she’d always assumed by the time she was thirty, she’d be married and have a couple of kids. Thirty seemed so old to her back then. But now? She felt as if she was just figuring out who she was and what she wanted out of life.
Josie went into a kind of trance as Nate worked on getting the snarls and mats out of her hair. The tugging didn’t hurt, and the way he ran his hand over her head again and again felt amazing. She loved being touched, hadn’t had a lot of opportunity to experience it much in her life.
And while he worked on her hair, Nate talked. Told her all about his SEAL teammates who had died and been injured. Spoke more about his current team. About his brother and some of the shenanigans they got into when they were little. More about his dad, who sounded like a man she really wanted to meet.
He told her about boot camp, and training to be a SEAL. How he’d almost quit a few times, but obviously stuck it out.
Listening to his deep voice was comforting. Soothing. By the time Josie realized he was running the comb through her hair from her scalp all the way to the ends, over and over, she was a pile of mush leaning back against the couch, his thighs cocooning her, making her feel safe and cared for.
“I don’t think I’ve ever talked so much in my life,” Nate said. “But there’s something about you that makes me feel comfortable spilling my guts.”
Josie tilted her head back and looked up at him. “I love the sound of your voice.”
“And I love that you’re finding yours,” he returned. Then he leaned forward and kissed her. The angle was weird, and feeling his nose on her chin made her giggle.
He straightened, and she loved the grin on his face. “Your hair is amazing,” he told her. “So long and silky. And I had no idea it was so blonde!”
Josie wasn’t surprised. It had been thoroughly coated withdirt and grime. Her white-blonde hair had looked almost brown the entire time he’d known her.
She licked her lips, wanting Nate to kiss her again, but her stomach chose that moment to let out a loud growl.
“I need to feed you,” Nate said, sounding concerned. “Come on. Up you go. Wren and Remi totally went nuts and sent what looks like the entire store. I cut up some strawberries, you can munch on those while I see what I can whip up real quick.”
Before she knew it, Josie was sitting at the table with a bowl of strawberries in front of her, while Nate puttered around his kitchen, muttering about the fact it was closer to lunch than breakfast now as he pulled things out of the pantry and fridge. Being waited on was a new experience, so she decided to enjoy it. Tomorrow, she’d insist on pulling her own weight, but at the moment she was still feeling kind of floaty after having Nate’s hands on her for so long.
She couldn’t stop herself from reaching up and running her fingers through her now detangled hair. It felt so soft, and she smiled as she stared at Nate.
He turned then, catching her looking at him. He returned her smile, and the electricity that had been arcing between them flared for a moment. She thought he was going to stalk over to her and kiss the hell out of her, but she underestimated his self-control.
Nate took a deep breath, then turned his attention back to the lunch he was preparing.
Twenty minutes later, he put a plate as big as her head in front of her, filled to overflowing. He’d used an air fryer to cook some strips of chicken, then smothered it with salsa andsour cream. He’d added garlic toast, a salad, and some instant mashed potatoes.
It looked and smelled delicious.
“It’s too much,” Josie said.
But Nate simply shrugged. “Eat what you can. We’ll box up the rest and you can either eat it later or tomorrow.”
To her surprise, Josie was able to eat almost everything on her plate. She was stuffed but felt absolutely amazing. She’d forgotten what it felt like to be so full. She’d never take food for granted again. Not after going without it for so long.
“Go sit,” Nate ordered. “I’ll clean up and join you when I’m done.”
But Josie was done being lazy. She ignored him and picked up her almost-empty plate and brought it into the kitchen. “Do you want to do dishes or pack up the leftovers?” she asked, trying to sound firm.
Nate grinned. “I can’t decide if I liked it better when you didn’t talk and did what I asked, or this new bossy Josie.”
She lifted a brow at him.
“Fine. I’ll pack up the leftovers.”
