Page 84 of The Obsession
He lifts one shoulder as the corners of his lips tilt into a cheeky smirk. “Do you want me to go over and get some?”
“I thought you said she was in an assisted living facility.”
“Yeah, she is, but I can ask the new owners if they’d let me cut off a few pieces.”
“You’d do that? You’d go over and ask them?”
He releases my hand and scrubs his palm over his short hair. “Typically, no. I’ve never met them, but I’d do it for you if it’ll help.”
“It would, but I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
He audibly sighs, turning to open one of the drawers, and pulls out a pair of scissors. “You didn’t ask, Em, I offered.”
I’m standing at the sink, drinking a glass of water, when Dominic returns.
I glance over my shoulder when I hear him enter, and a smile curves my lips as he holds up four long aloe vera leaves. He looks proud, like he’s just accomplished something heroic.
There’s a faint pink tinge on his cheeks, and for a split second, I wonder if maybe he got a little sunburned too. But then I remember the men stayed inside after lunch while we went back out to the pool. Is he blushing?
I turn to face him as he closes the distance between us.
“They didn’t mind you taking some?”
“I was going to cut a few off without them noticing,” he grumbles, “but they pulled into the driveway as I wascrossing their lawn. When I told them why I wanted it, the wife thought it was sweet, which pissed me the fuck off.”
“She’s not wrong,” I say, rolling my lips to hide the smile when he grunts.
He grabs a knife from the drawer, sets three of the leaves on the countertop, and slices down the centre of the fourth. “Give me your arm,” he says.
I extend it, and suck in a sharp breath as the sticky gel hits my skin. Within seconds, the burn begins to ease, a cool wash spreading over the angry red. “Oh, God, that feels good,” I breathe.
Dominic freezes, his eyes snapping from my arm to my face. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” I ask. “Say it feels good? It does, I’m not lying.”
“Don’t say it in that breathy fucking voice,” he snaps.
My eyes narrow. “Okay then, jeez. No need to bite my head off.”
He clears his throat as his eyes move up to lock with mine. “It’s just?—”
“Just what?”
“You’re too close,” he admits with a tight jaw.
“I can do it myself then,” I reply, but my backside is pushed up hard against the sink, so it’s not like I can move. “I never asked you to do it, Dominic, you offered.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I don’t understand, do I smell or something? I just got out of the shower.”
He glances off to the side before saying, “You smell like cupcakes, Em. You always smell like damn cupcakes.”
“And that offends you? You devoured the cupcakes Peach and I made the other day.”
When his gaze returns to mine, I can see the conflict in his eyes as his tongue sweeps across his bottom lip. “No … it affects me,” he admits, tilting his head back with a frustrated groan. “You do something to me, Emily. I shouldn’t be this affected by you.”
I stare up at him, still not fully grasping where he’s going with this.
