“I sit here most mornings or pass out most nights just to catch this glimpse,” Case began to explain to her. “It has a calming effect, I guess.” He sounded sheepish.
They sat in silence enjoying the kaleidoscope of colors as they crossed the sky. Marveled as a massive Hawk soared through the air, dipping low to hunt for its prey. Just when she thought it’d disappeared into the trees, the magnificent bird flew high above the clouds, a mouse gripped in its claws.
“They’re so majestic.” She was enamored with its sleek beauty.
“A beautiful sight, for sure,” he agreed.
Ev glanced towards Casey to find him not watching the bird but gazing at her. A look in his eyes she couldn’t or maybe wasn’t ready to decipher just yet.
“I have to show you something else.” His words sounded ominous. His eyes darkened with fear. What could he have to fear?
“All right.”
“Let’s go inside then.” He helped her down the ladder after tossing the blankets to the ground. Once he’d gotten everything packed away, they went inside his small cabin-like home.
She watched as this enigmatic man puttered around his kitchen, making coffee, pulling muffins from the fridge. He seemed…restless. As if he were dreading having to tell her whatever it was he wanted. Which in turn, had her terrified of what it could be.
Was he married? Was he playing her?
Did he think she was a waste of time?
Did he have children and was worried she wouldn’t like it?
All those questions plus a thousand other off-the-wall ones were rolling through her head. What could be so bad that he was avoiding telling her?
He pulled out a chair at his kitchen table for her to sit. As soon as she was settled, he shocked her by unbuckling and dropping his pants.
What was even more shocking was what he revealed. Certainly not a question that was rolling through her mind as she waited.
Her silence was deafening.
Was she disgusted? Would she run?
Did he sound like a hormonal teenage girl? Because he sure felt like one.
He’d never had the inclination to share his biggest insecurity with anyone other than Dom before. For him, this was a huge moment. It felt as though this could be a make it or break it moment for them. If she couldn’t get past this, they were going nowhere. If she hesitated in her response, he would always wonder if she were actually fine with it. And if she accepted it, he would be on top of the fucking world with happiness.
Her eyes were wide with shock, her mouth slack in her speechless state.
He waited for what felt like forever when she finally cleared her throat and asked, “That’s it?”
Looking down to his leg then up to her eyes and back to his leg again, he wasn’t sure who was in shock anymore, her or him. “What do you mean, that’s it?” His eyes were squinted in a semblance of a glare, but he wasn’t quite there yet, not until he found out what she was feeling.
“Well, I’ll admit I’m shocked as hell. I mean you sometimes have this small limp, and I wondered about it, but this answers that question.” She didn’t sound disgusted. Upset maybe, but that could be because she wasn’t expecting him to have an amputated leg. “But this was not one of the million questions running through my mind on what you had to tell me. I expected a wife, or a child, or you admitting you just wanted a good time. Not this.”
He still couldn?
?t get a read on how she felt. When he went to pull his pants back up because he was tired of feeling exposed, she rushed to kneel on the floor at his feet. Gripping his jeans, she begged, “Please, don’t.” Releasing them to her hold, he waited for what she would do next.
Her gentle hands stroked up and down his thigh and through the coarse hairs covering his skin when she finally ran the fingers of one hand over the sleeve of his prosthesis and slowly drew it all the way down to the boot on his foot.
“Does it hurt?” Her hesitant question had him looking back to the soft features of her face. She held nothing but inquisitiveness in her expression, and he felt a moment of regret and worry for revealing himself so soon.
He thought she wouldn’t be ready to finally see the real him, but now the question was, was he capable of showing her his true self?
“Sometimes,” he finally answered.
“You’ve had it on all night. Do you need to take it off?” She sounded eager. As though she wanted to know and see all of him.