Page 34 of Needed You

“Can I—” I clear my throat. “Can I touch your chin . . . right here?” I reach out again, my hand shaking slightly. My heart is pounding in my chest.

He nods and licks his lips.

I gently touch his chin, lifting it so I can get a better look at him, and wipe the blood away. It looks like his nose isn’t broken and that it’s stopped bleeding.

I wet the cloth again and dab at the small cut above his eyebrow. He flinches, and I step back.

“I’m sorry,” I say.

Dare reaches out and takes my wrist gently, moving my hand back to the cut on his eye. When I touch it again, he closes his eyes, and I hear him take a deep, shaky breath.

“You okay?” My voice comes out near a whisper. He nods. I wet the cloth again and touch his eyebrow once more, carefully wiping the dried blood off his skin. “I don’t think you need stitches, but I have a few Steri-Strips to put on, okay?”

Dare nods, and I apply the few Steri-Strips it takes to keep the cut on his eyebrow from opening and bleeding more. I know that I have to clean his cut lip and hands next, and my heart is pounding even harder now.

When I’m finished with his eyebrow, I dip the cloth into the water and gently put my hand under his chin once again so I can lift his face up and see the cut on his lip. I just hope he doesn’t feel my hands shaking while I do this.

I try to be soft when I touch his lip, and to my complete shock, my pinky finger brushes his lip ring. Heat rushes through me, and my dick is close to springing to life.

Dammit. Do NOT get hard right now, Lev.

I try to think about anything else I can to stop it from happening. But I also want to be in this moment with Dare so badly. I swallow hard and wipe his lip again. The cut there isn’t deep, and when I’ve wiped away all the blood, I take a step back to collect myself.

Dare’s eyes open when I release his chin. His breathing seems a little bit shallow, like mine, but neither of us say anything. The silence is so loud that I just stare at him for another second longer. I both want to rush through this so that it’s over and also make it last all night.

I rewet the cloth and move to the scratches on the right side of his face. One looks like a brush burn, and the other is definitely from fingernails or jewelry of some sort. Thankfully, none of them are deep, and once the blood is cleaned off, I put a Band-Aid on to keep the wounds clean.

After I get a new washcloth, I saturate it and then wring it out. This part isn’t going to be pleasant for him. Something tightens in my chest. The last thing I want to do is hurt him.

“I need your hand,” I say, gently offering my palm to him. He sucks in a breath and stalls a beat but then flattens his palm against mine. The touch sends a jolt into my arm, and I swallow hard and try to ignore it as I look at the knuckles on his right hand. They’re swollen, and the skin is broken open on a few of them, scrapes on the others. I purse my lips and touch the cloth to the wounds on his hand. He hisses but doesn’t pull back. “You’re doing so well,” I say quietly. “I’m sorry if I’m hurting you.”

His eyes snap to mine, and all I can do is stare back at him. I can barely breathe, and my throat is so fucking dry. I try to get through his right hand, cleaning the blood off as best as I can. When I’m done, I gently set it down on his thigh, grazing his knee with my fingers. His breath catches, and the air in the room feels like it’s supercharged.

I reach for his other hand, and he gives it to me without hesitation. We make eye contact again when I touch the cloth to his knuckles, and time stops.

This man is absolutely everything.

We both freeze in place, left hands connected. Dare’s touch on my palm is as light as a feather, yet I can feel him trembling. He doesn’t break eye contact, and he swallows hard.

“Lev.” His voice is rough and scratchy but also quiet, barely a whisper. “What is happening right now?”

I shake my head. I feel like I swallowed sand, and I’m pretty sure that there’s no air in the room. I manage to clear my throat and wet my lips.

“I . . . I don’t know. I feel like I . . . I really want to kiss you,” I blurt out. I can’t believe those words just left my lips. They’re true, but the fact that I voiced them is shocking, even to me. This is Dare I’m talking to!

Dare smirks at me, his long eyelashes fluttering. He barely hesitates. “Then kiss me,” he says, so quietly I wonder if I even heard him correctly.

My heart is going to beat out of my chest. I wonder if he can hear it as I reach my hand down to his shoulder. I need to steady myself. He tips his head up, and his pink tongue sweeps his bottom lip before it disappears. I slowly lean over, swallowing hard and taking a step back to get a better angle. Our eyes meet, and I find myself searching his face for any sign that this is not a good idea. Dare tilts his head upward, slightly parting his lips to give them another swipe of his tongue.

When my lips are a hair’s breadth from Dare’s, I stop. I can feel his shaky breath on my lips, and I whisper, “You sure you’re okay with this?”

I don’t even get to take another breath before his lips brush against mine. It’s quick, and he pulls away slightly before meeting my gaze. I give him a soft smile, and then our lips meet again in a warm, gentle kiss.

Dare tilts his head a little more, and I feel his mouth open ever so slightly. I meet him movement for movement as our lips slide over each other’s. It’s tender and slow, our lips fitting together like puzzle pieces as we melt into one another. I’m pretty sure I hear a whimper come out of his throat, and that tells me it’s okay to keep going. I kiss him more deeply.

I don’t even know how much time has passed when Dare pulls away. I lick my lips, tasting him and a little bit of copper from the blood that’s still there. I’m pretty sure he’s panting. He stands up and meets me at my height. He’s maybe just an inch or two shorter than I am, and for some reason, I think that’s just absolutely perfect. His arms land on my shoulders, and his hands slip around to cradle the back of my neck as he licks his lips.

“Kiss me again,” he says.