AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As I shut the cupboard as gently as possible, I catch the scent of cinnamon wafting in the air.
“There’s cinnamon rolls in the oven,” she says, with a lazy, slow tone. “Maybe two or three more minutes.”
“Excellent,” I say, just as a yawn escapes me.
“It’s my reading day, but you’re not going to bother me being around the apartment or making noise by thy way,” she says.
I round the corner, Will’s eyes bouncing up and back to her book so quickly, I nearly miss her looking in this direction.
“I thought I might catch up on some reading myself,” I reply. “If you don’t mind me joining you in here?”
“For real?” Her eyes shoot up, studying my face, a look of curiosity on hers.
“Yeah,” I say. “I don’t get to read as much as I’d like through my work week.” I shrug my shoulders, though I’m sure my face is painted in disappointment.
Will stands, bookmarking her spot and closing the book. She moves toward me, and suddenly she’s so close I can smell the coconut in her hair. I press my shoulders back, unsure what to do. Will doesn’t move. She’s practically toe-to-toe with me, her eyes locked on mine.
“Derek?” she whispers.Did she whisper? Am I imagining that?Her voice sounds so soft, so timid.
“Yes?” I ask, swallowing hard on the word.
“I need to get past you,” she says. “The cinnamon rolls.”
Christ. I’m an idiot.I laugh, stepping to the side, her body brushing mine in the doorway while she steps past me. I blink in rapid succession, keeping my back to her for a moment. That was weird, right?
“You want some?” Will asks, putting two rolls on a saucer. She places a third on a second saucer and hands me the one with two.
“Thank you,” I say, setting them down on the table next to the window. The armchair next to it looks like a good reading spot.
After collecting my book and settling into my seat, my eyes wander past the top of the pages and to Will. She looks completely enthralled with what she’s reading, simultaneously turning the page and taking a bite of her sticky pastry.
I strain to see the title on the front cover.The Gorgeous Slaughterby Christina Hart. Well, it certainly has an intriguing title. I make a mental note to pick up a copy, finding myself genuinely curious about her reading tastes.
“What are you staring at, weirdo?” Will laughs.
Damn, I’m caught.I clear my throat, thrown off by her question, even though it’s a perfectly normal question when you find someone staring at you. “Just checking out the title of your book.”
“You can borrow it when I’m done, if you want. It’s really good,” she says.
“Yeah?” I ask.
“Yeah, sure. Although, I don’t know if it’s your taste,” she says, nodding to the book in my hand. I’m currently reading a biography on Winston Churchill. It doesn’t exactly screamfun, so I get it.
“Hey,” I quip. “I like reading all kinds of things.”
Will gives me a nod, though I can’t detect the emotion behind it.
The two of us settle into a comfortable silence, the only noise in the room coming from the occasional page turn. Will changes positions, stretching her legs out across the couch and sitting on the end furthest from me.
Again, my attention snags on her legs. She’s got on small pajama shorts that look so soft. I make every effort to be more discreet as I study the tattoos on the tops of her legs. A scene of moths flying up from a skull on one. The other leg has a snake wrapped around a dagger. A few smaller ones pepper all the way down her legs.
I personally think her legs are beautiful. I’ve observed that people are either way into tattoos or aren’t at all. I happen to be into them. Hawk is currently working on my back piece and I have a chest piece. Now, I’m not nearly as tattooed as my brother or even Will, but I have a few to speak of. Though as a doctor, to this point I’ve kept mine mostly in places easily covered. Sure, the medical field is becoming more relaxed about them, but for now they remain a well-kept secret.
My mind recalls seeing Will in a bikini several years ago. At the highest part of her thigh, just before the edge of her bathing suit, there’s a tattoo there. A set of cherries on a V-shaped stem. The artist who did them did an amazing job at making them look realistic. A shudder runs down my spine.
I make every attempt to return to my book, but I’m distracted now with thoughts of Will and her tattoos and how many more she has on her body I haven’t seen and if her skin is soft anddear god, I have to stop.This is quite unlike me.
Her bikini was hot pink and she’d dyed a chunk of her hair to match. It was very Punk Barbie of her, but I liked it.
