His eyebrows pinched together, like he was trying to understand. “My hand?” He lifted his right arm to inspect his hand.
“Aguyhand,” I corrected.
I could practically see the moment the realization dawned on him. “Oh.” He tucked his hand beneath him, as if he could hide it.
Embarrassment slammed into me. I folded my hands over my face. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry, this was…I just got confused. Bad dream, and I… You have great hands,” I tried, feeling awkward.
He arched an eyebrow. “Now I’m doubting it,” he said with a forced chuckle.
“Please put them back on me?” I joked.
His eyes darted over to me before his face softened. “Yeah, c’mere,” he said, holding out a hand to help me to my feet. “It’s early, let’s rest a few more minutes.”
7. JP – NO MATTER WHERE
We laid there so still that it was one of the few times I could actually feel the ship swaying. Her body was stiff as a board, and it felt like all the progress we made last night was completely wiped out.
I rubbed her bare shoulder and back, trying to relax her. “Didn’t hit your head, did you?”
“No, I'm okay,” she said quietly.
“Do you want me to go?”
She paused for a beat, and I practically held my breath. “No.”
I nodded and continued rubbing her back. While so much was the same, my eyes trailed over the subtle differences. The added gold piercings up the cuff of her ear, the slight crows feet that made her eyes look even happier when she smiled, the way she’d leaned out in some places, flared out more in others. She was beautiful, but she was scared.
“All right, where's the rest of little Miss Ali’s tattoos?” I asked, trying to distract her mind. “How many am I looking for?”
She gave me a wary side-eye. “Five, but you have to promise you won’t make fun of them.”
My eyebrows pulled together. “Why would I?” I hated that shefelt the need to be so guarded. I swore right then that I’d do my best to earn her trust because I wanted her to feel safe with me more than anything. “Mmm, okay, so here’s one.” I tapped behind her ear, then I picked up her right arm to inspect.
“That arm already has this.” She pointed to the scar that snaked down her forearm, a result from the surgery after a fateful fall at Centre Ice.
I pressed a kiss to her scar, and her eyes softened. Picking up her left arm, I turned to see the inside and was rewarded. Right above her elbow was a small tattoo in tiny, bubbly handwriting that read:No matter where.
“Ah-ha, number two. It’s nice.”
“It’s Annie's handwriting,” she said with a small smile.
“Interesting,” I said as neutrally as I could.
“Don’t be mean. She's my sister,” she said with a little laugh, finally loosening up.
I nodded. “She’s just a little crazy.”
“I know.” Her face lit up with a laugh. “That’s why she has one that saysNo matter whatin my handwriting.”
“That’s really nice,” I said earnestly. And it made sense. Anastasia was dubbed “the Wicked Witch of the West Rink” by Kappy, because she was a terror back at Centre Ice, and even though we’d occasionally hear Annie and Ali bickering with each other at the rink, they were also always the first to stick up for one another.
“Hmmm, okay, where else…” I wanted to look under the loose slip dress she still had on but wasn’t sure if she was ready for that. I moved down the bed to look at her legs.
Lifting her right ankle, I spotted number three. I turned and kissed the little bird tattoo, making her gasp in surprise.
My eyes flew to hers. I liked that sound. I liked it a lot. Moving slowly, I kissed up her leg.
“JP,” she said breathlessly.
