“Nothing, just my father hated when I snorted. And three fingers.”
“Who had three fingers?” he asked. “And I think you’re cute when you snort.”
“You do. You have them raised. Three fingers. And snorting is not cute.”
“Oh yes, it is. When you do it anyway.” He held her chin again as he studied her eyes. “Pupils look okay.”
“I don’t have a concussion. It was just a small bump.”
“Can never be too cautious. Why did you jerk back like that? If you don’t want me to kiss you, just pull away and tell me no. Or I can give you a safeword if you like.”
There was a strange note in his voice. It almost sounded like he felt unsure? Vulnerable?
Shoot. She hated that she might have made him feel that way.
“It’s not that. I didn’t want to stop.”
“It didn’t look that way to me,” he told her.
“No, it’s just that . . . urgh, I haven’t brushed my teeth!” she blurted before she chickened out.
He blinked as he stared at her. “That’s it?”
“That’s a big deal. My breath is probably rancid. This is so embarrassing.”
“Nothing should be embarrassing between us,” he told her. “You can tell me everything. And your breath isn’t rancid. Next time, just tell me you need to stop. But, just so you know, I don’t care about your breath. All I cared about was the way you kissed me back. Like you wanted me.”
“There shouldn’t be any doubts about that,” she muttered.
He grinned. “That’s good to know. Now, I’ve ordered breakfast, it will be twenty minutes. Kellan said he will be back by then. I’m going to take Horse out and I’ll get you a toothbrush from the hotel shop, all right?”
“Thank you.”
“Then I can kiss you without you giving yourself a concussion.”
Oh yes, please.
“Anything else you need?” he asked.
“Um, maybe a hairbrush if it’s not a problem. Or I can go down.”
“I can see it’s going to be hard to teach you how to let others take care of you, isn’t it? Stay in bed.”
Getting off the bed, he grabbed Horse’s lead. “Come on, Horse.”
Horse just stared at him balefully before sighing and laying his head back on the bed.
“Horse, go with Eli,” she said. “It will only be for a moment.”
Horse climbed off the bed, moving slowly like this was a huge inconvenience for him.
She loved that dog.
“We’ll be five minutes. Don’t open the door to anyone. Kellan has a keycard and so do I. Behave.”
He said that like he thought she wouldn’t behave.
Sheesh.
