Nothing happens.
He doesn’t appear in the hall with his mane of blond hair and electric-blue eyes, and silence reigns. God, I’m an idiot. But thinking about my new roomie’s hair is apparently all the distraction I need to put one foot in front of the other and make it to the kitchen unscathed.
For real, the dude has locks like a mermaid. Like spun fuckin’ gold. And his eyes are as blue as the creek that runs past my place in Winooski. I know this, because I looked. Because my therapist told me to.Instead of analyzing how you feel, take note of your surroundings. What you see. What you notice.
Eyes and hair, folks. That’s all I’ve got when I’ve counted every tile and screw in that damn fuckin’ kitchen already.
Also, Joss’s hair was hard to miss when he tumbled it down his back and retied it with fingers as banged up as mine.
I open the refrigerator for something to do and stare at the groceries I bought this afternoon for no other reason than I didn’t want Joss to wake up to bare shelves. And that was before I met him. Before I spent twenty minutes showing him around the kitchen downstairs without bothering to mention that he’d be seeing me every dayupstairs.
Is it weird that I got distracted by his hair?
No…not weird. Therapy, remember?
Fuck, I don’t evenrememberbuying half this shit.
“All right, mate?”
Goddamn. I jump. In my heightened, overwrought state, my arm jerks of its own accord and slams the refrigerator door.
The sound is unnaturally loud to my sensitive ears. I fuckin’cringeand spin around with a sharp gasp.
Joss is behind me, an easy smile twisting his lips. If he notices I’m sweatin’ bullets and hyperventilating like a maniac, it doesn’t show. “Can’t sleep?”
I blink. “Um…”
He grins wider and leans in the doorway. “How about we start over, eh? Sorry about earlier, mate. I was off on one thinking about burgers and fuck knows what else. I didn’t register who you were till Tanner came back and told me.”
“He’s back?”
My gaze flashes to the hallway and guilt eats at my stomach. I was kinda hoping he and Jax would stay out. Hole up at their cozy cabin in the woods now someone else is here to babysit me.
Then I remember Tanner worked the late shift tonight and closed the bar. That hetoldme he’d be here tonight, like he has been every night since he saved my fuckin’ life.
“Hey.”
I refocus. Joss hasn’t moved, but somehow he seems closer, and his grin is less assured.Say something.But nothing comes to me. I just stare at him until he seems to nod to himself.
He moves with a light tread, footsteps that make no sound on the tiled floor of the small kitchen. The distance between us evaporates, and up close, his smile is a thousand megawatts brighter. I’m a straight guy, but even I can see there’s a glow in him that outshines anyone I’ve ever met. Also, he has seven silver earrings in one ear and three in the other. And a tiny tattoo of a skull on his neck.
Therapy.
“Are you hungry?”
“What?”
“Hungry,” Joss repeats. He takes my wrist and tugs me away from the refrigerator. “Tanner gave me a bag of groceries earlier, and I got the feeling he’ll be offended if I don’t eat it all immediately.”
A laugh I don’t recognize wrenches from my tight chest. That’s so fuckin’ Tanner. “Um…”
I glance down at where Joss is holding my wrist. His hand is as scorching hot as it was this afternoon when I shook it. When I forgot to let go because…well, I forgot.
“All right.” Joss releases me. “I’m gonna make sandwiches and eat them on the couch while I google the fuck out of haddock suppliers, and I reckon it’s a two-man job, so stay with me, yeah?”
Stay with me. Okay. In a world where not much coalesces, those three words hook me in.
I prop myself against the counter while Joss makesweirdsandwiches. Shredded cheddar cheese, thick slices of ham, and potato chipsinthe bread.
