bump that was nothing more than a tender spot today.
I turned a glare in Dawson’s direction as he ambled over.
“I never figured you for a snitch!” I said, shoving my hair back. A frozen look came over both his and Jada’s faces at my words.
“What?” he choked out.
“I got drunk. Big deal. Lots of people get drunk, fall down, do stupid things. It wasn’t like I was dancing naked on the table,” I said, thrusting aside my own guilt over doing the exact same thing―being drunk.
He swallowed hard at my words, eyes scouring my body, and I remembered I’d been partially naked last night. Reminding him of it, pushing his buttons, gave me an odd sense of pleasure that returned me to the memories of me doing the same thing as a teen.
“You going to eat that or put it on the wall to admire it,” I said, coming up behind Dawson, startling him out of whatever silent conversation he’d been having with the snickerdoodle in his hand. He didn’t respond, and I’d added on, “Cuz, it’s the last one, and if you’re not going to eat it, I certainly will.”
He’d grunted, splitting the cookie in half and handing me a piece.
“Thanks,” I said.
Then, we watched each other as we ate the sugary delight. Lips merging with the cookie. Chewing. Swallowing. Tension building with each move while my eyes couldn’t be torn from his lips.
He had beautifully shaped lips. They weren’t overly large, but big enough that biting the lower one looked inviting. There were bits of cinnamon sugar dusting them. Tantalizing pieces. I swiped my finger across the soft pink skin before he had a chance to react.
“Sugar,” I said, but I left my finger there for a second longer than was necessary, feeling the slight hitch to his breath.
My reaction to his quickened breath was a reflexive closing of my hand, and it caused the small piece of cookie I had left to fall into pieces. The crumbs flew down my tank top and into my bra. I jumped back, wiggling, dancing, trying to get the crumbs out, and finally resorting to sticking my hand down my top to figure it out. Dawson’s eyes widened and then shrank, closing against my motions.
“Shit. Never going to be able to get it all out until I’m completely naked,” I said.
He groaned and then choked out, “Don’t swear.”
But we both knew the groan had nothing to do with the swear word Mandy and Leena were attempting to break me of and everything to do with the word naked accompanied by me.
The look he was boring into me tempted me to take the tank off right there. He coughed and said, “Well, I’ll leave you to get that sorted.” Then he left the room before I had a chance to actually do it.
I came back to the present. Jada and Dawson shared a look again, and I turned away from them to walk into the house. Dawson was the first to follow. Instead of being contrite about having told both Jersey and Jada about my drunken predicament from the night before, he was actually on the defensive.
“You’ve picked up a bad habit from your sister. You act as if letting anyone help you will cause you to go all Hulk-like, breaking everyone and everything. But regardless of your last name, you don’t have to go it alone. Contrary to what Bruce Banner thought, he didn’t have to go it alone either.”
“I’m not Jersey! I don’t need you throwing comic book references at me to prove a point,” I said, starting to pull out the items to prep the breakfast for the next day. “And besides, you’re the last person to be giving a lecture on letting people in.”
Dawson crossed his arms over his chest, stance wide. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
I tried to ignore the smirk on Jada’s face as she joined us in the kitchen. She was enjoying this immensely.
“The mystery man himself telling me I refuse help. Half the time Truck doesn’t even know where you’re at. So, it’s okay for you to have your privacy, just not me?”
I wasn’t really irritated at him for having told everyone I was drunk. I was far more upset about how I felt. The sense that I was sixteen again and lost in a sea of Dawson, pining for something that could never be mine.
Dawson stepped forward. “I accept help every day. Dax, Ma―” He halted mid-word, and Jada shot him a wide-eyed