Rocked (The Everyday Heroes World) - Julia Wolf Page 0,25
nice.
“Come on, Lady. Let me be a gentleman for once in my life. Take a hike with me and tell me how you came to conquer mountains with your bare hands.” I tugged on the pad again, and she finally relented.
“Fine.” She shoved the pad at me. “Let me just go tell Rhea bye.”
I’d clearly fucked up, but that was my M.O., so it was no surprise. Didn’t stop me from feeling like shit about it.
Kat stalked back to me a minute later and slung her backpack onto her back. I’d probably gotten off light carrying the pad. The thing was big and unwieldy, but it didn’t weigh too much. I probably should’ve insisted on carrying the backpack too, but from Kat’s narrowed eyes, chances were she’d slice me to shreds if I tried now.
We walked in silence for a bit, but I wasn’t a comfortable silence kind of guy. Silence with another person, especially one I liked talking to, was distinctly uncomfortable for me.
“When’d you start climbing?”
Her hand passed over the side of her ponytail, pinning down a couple flyaway hairs. “I’ve always climbed, but I joined a group in college and learned how to do it the right way.”
When I turned my head to look at her while she answered, my eyes caught on the deep scars on her bicep, the same side as her facial scar. That must have been some fucking accident. Her peaches and cream skin was mottled with both small and big scars, some gouging valleys into the defined muscles. I got the feeling this was why she covered herself in loose clothing most of the time. It was a shame too, but I got it. Why draw attention to the visual representation of something so painful? I didn’t even know exactly what happened, but I was damn sure it had involved a whole lot of pain.
“You have to teach me while I’m here,” I said.
She turned to me, caught me staring at her scars, and rolled her eyes skyward. “There’s a boulder we take the kids to. Ellie learned to climb it when she was six. I’ll take you there.”
“Burn, Lady, burn. Give me some credit. I think I could at least climb the same ones as the elderly.” I laid my hand on her bare shoulder, bringing her to a stop. It was the first time I’d really touched her, not counting when my fingers had swept over her hand at Bertha’s, and her skin felt as fine and smooth under my hand as it looked. “Hey.”
Her lips twisted, her eyes anywhere but on me. “Hey, yourself.”
“I think maybe I insulted you back there, and I’m real fuckin’ sorry. It’s just...” I held my hands out, gesturing toward her form-fitting clothes and ridiculously hot and strong body, “you took me by surprise. I didn’t know all this was hiding under those flannels.”
She cocked her hip. “I know you didn’t think I was some dainty little thing.”
“No,” I rubbed the back of my neck, “I guess not.”
“And now you know I’m more scarred than you thought and I have biceps that won’t quit.” She swung her backpack off her back, kneeled beside it on the ground, then shrugged on a hoodie as she stood. “There. Back to normal. All covered up.”
She started walking again, and my stunned ass nearly tripped over my feet to follow her. God, I was getting this wrong. All fucking wrong.
“Kat.” She looked over at me when I tugged her thick ponytail. “What I was trying to say is you’re hot. All that power is a massive turn-on. I mean, I kind of knew you could kick my ass from the second we met, but now I think I’d like it.”
“Oh my god,” she groaned. Before I knew what was happening, she shoved me with both hands. “Stop it!”
I grabbed her hand as she pulled away and tucked it between mine. I had this urge to nibble at her fingertips and kiss the pulse in her wrist, but I figured she’d maim me if I tried. Plus, I had no idea where that urge had come from.
“Kat.”
She pulled her hand, but not too hard. “Stop saying my name like that, Devon.”
“Why won’t you accept that I’m complimenting you? Isn’t strength a compliment?”
Her eyes were so damn green out here in the woods. Had I noticed that before? Were they more vivid because she was pissed at me?
After a few beats, her features softened, and they were just as green.