Page 59 of Escape
Josie
“Now what?”
That question came from Huck, and all I could think was that I was in trouble.
I’d been out of the hospital for only a couple of hours, and things were already so unexpected. Challenging, even.
Maybe it shouldn’t have been that way, given what I knew about the man who’d stepped up to care for me. I thought I already knew just what kind of guy Huck was, but now I was getting the opportunity to see him in such a different light.
He was even better than I had originally thought, and I believed that was saying something, considering I already deemed him to be the best man I’d ever met.
Granted, the competition in that area wasn’t tough. I had no choice when it came to my father, of course, but when it came to romantic relationships, I hadn’t exactly chosen well and allowed a good man into my life. So, the bar hadn’t been set high, but even if it had been, I had a feeling Huck would have easily soared above it.
Huck had just finished helping me get dressed after going out of his way to wash my hair for me. I still hadn’t recovered from that. Everything from his willingness to put me in one of his shirts to the way he ran his fingers through my hair and along my scalp. He hadn’t simply washed my hair. He’d given me an experience unlike anything I’d ever come across in my life. His fingers applied just the right amount of pressure, and he was gentle.
God, he was so gentle.
And I loved the way he looked at me whenever I had my eyes open and on him. Most of the eye contact came after I was out of the bathtub when he’d helped me get myself dressed. Or, I guess, when he’d technically been the one to dress me.
I didn’t know if there was a word to be found in the dictionary that would accurately describe what those few minutes felt like. A shiver ran down my spine as I recalled the way his knuckles accidentally brushed up against my legs when he was helping me with my underwear. I was convinced I could still feel the spot his fingers touched when his hands made it to my hips. And I knew I’d never forget the look in his eyes when he stood before me after doing that.
The air crackled between us, my heart hammering in my chest at the tenderness he showed me while Huck’s eyes told me so much more than words ever could. He hadn’t been lying when he said it would be his honor to wash my hair. It wasn’t about the specific thing he’d done; it was about him wanting to take care of me.
And that was precisely the reason I knew I was in trouble. Because I didn’t want to wind up disappointed. I didn’t want to have expectations about just how deep Huck’s concern for me went and read more into something that wasn’t actually there simply because I was desperate to be loved.
I refused to put that burden on Huck—he was already doing more than he needed to for me.
“Now what?” I repeated, a question in my tone.
With a slight nod, he said, “Well, it’s your first afternoon out of the hospital, and you’ve just had a bath and gotten dressed. We also got your hair dried for you, so I’m curious how you’re feeling, and what you’d like to do now?”
Despite how wired I felt having Huck’s hands on me, the truth was that I now felt like I’d just finished running a marathon. “Can I be honest?”
“Josie, honey, I never want you to think you need to be anything but honest with me,” he returned.
“I just… well, I feel bad, because even though the bath was relaxing, I’m terribly exhausted,” I confessed.
He shrugged, seemingly indifferent to what I’d just shared. “So, take a nap. There’s nothing to feel bad about.”
“Take a nap?”
“You’re tired, so you should get some rest,” he reasoned.
“But I don’t think taking a nap late in the afternoon is going to help me get myself into some kind of routine,” I explained.
Huck let out a laugh. “You don’t need to be on a routine. You’re trying to heal your body right now. And if you’re feeling tired, your body is probably trying to tell you something. It’s going to take you time to get back to normal. That’s okay.”
He made it sound so easy. And I had to admit he had a good point. My body needed to heal, and rest was the only way that would happen quickly. I’d been so conditioned to work through any pain I’d experienced at the hands of Kurt that the idea of napping in the middle of the day never dawned on me.
“Okay,” I agreed. “I’ll take a nap, then. Are you sure you won’t mind?”
Tipping his head to the side, a hint of amusement in his eyes, he asked, “Why would I mind?”
“I don’t know. I just don’t want you to feel like I’m taking advantage of your kindness and not even staying awake to talk to you or do something useful,” I answered.
Concern and a hint of frustration washed over him. “You don’t need to do anything other than heal yourself, Josie. That’s all I want. I invited you to come and stay with me so you’d have a safe place to be. If it would help, try to look at this as you would if you and I were roommates. I’d have no say in how you spend your day, so you can do whatever you like. If taking a nap is what you need, then that’s what you need. There’s nothing to question about it.”
The man was perfect.