Read Online Meant to Be by Terri Osburn - Free Book Online

We need the first aid kit.”
    Beth smacked her forehead. Great. Now the whole place would be outside in seconds to see what had happened. “Did you have to do that?”
    “Do what?” he asked, lifting her foot and taking a seat again. Beth ground her teeth and tried to keep her foot hovering half an inch above his thigh.
    “Everyone is going to come out here to see what the emergency is. You couldn’t walk in and get the kit yourself?”Before he could answer, she said, “Forget it. I’ll put on these Band-Aids and I’ll be fine.”
    “The hell you will,” he said. “Bring the other foot up here.”
    “Why?” she said, bracing herself to bolt. “The other foot is fine.” He cocked his head to one side and lifted a brow. Why couldn’t she be a better liar? “You’re insufferable, you know that?”
    “The foot,” he said, that damn eyebrow still lingering near his hairline.
    She gave him her foot and called him a jerk. In her head.
    While Joe untied the laces on her right shoe, Beth ignored the throbbing in her left thigh from holding that foot up off Joe’s lap. If she let the limb drop, her heel would be much too close to a crucial part of his anatomy. A part she shouldn’t be contemplating but the more she tried not to contemplate, the more she felt heat shoot to the tips of her ears.
    “Does it hurt that bad?” he asked.
    “What do you mean?”
    “You’re holding your breath.”
    Beth exhaled and let her foot drop but kept it as far down his thigh as she could. “I told you, it’s not that bad.”
    Joe pulled off her right shoe.
    “Shit and stickers!” she yelled.
    “You’re getting better at that.” He set her foot gently on his leg and turned to face her. “Sorry.”
    Removing her nails from the wood of the bench seat and invoking her yoga breathing, Beth took almost a minute to speak again. “Not your fault.” Another breath and the fire shooting up her calf eased. “Guess they’re worse than I thought.”
    “They’re bad all right.” As Joe bent for a closer look, Tom stepped onto the porch.
    “What happened?” his dad asked. Spotting the blood, he moved forward and kneeled before the bench. “Did this happen tonight?”
    Beth shook her head. “This morning, but I guess I aggravated them running the tables.” Uncomfortable with the attention, she tried to put her feet on the floor. “I really am fine. A couple new Band-Aids and I’ll be ready to tap dance.”
    With a firm hand around her right calf, Joe held Beth in place. Ignoring her protest, he addressed Tom. “You have any peroxide in there?”
    “Should have.” Tom flipped through the first aid kit, drawing out a small brown bottle. “Let me find some cotton balls.”
    “That square pad there should work,” Joe said, pointing into the plastic box.
    Beth couldn’t get over the way they were ignoring her as if the feet in question belonged to some lifeless mannequin. “I’m still here, you know. Why won’t anyone listen to me?”
    “Stop talking nonsense and we’ll listen.” Joe looked to Tom. “Might be best to pour the peroxide on. You got a towel?”
    “I’ll grab a clean one from the kitchen. Be right back.”
    As they sat alone in silence broken only by the sound of crickets and the occasional passing car, Joe cleaned the blood from around the blisters with an alcohol swab while Beth pretended not to be affected. Closing her eyes, she sent her brain elsewhere by focusing on the chirping crickets. The creaking of the Dempsey’s sign swaying in the night breeze. The smell of salt and male in the air.
    Her eyes shot open to find Joe watching her. “I thought you were nodding off.”
    As if she could fall asleep with him so close, wreaking havoc on her nerve endings. “I’m awake.”
    “Good,” he said, sharing a half grin that turned her inside out.
    “I brought two,” Tom said, joining them again. “Toss ’em when you’re done.”
    Beth reached out a hand. “I don’t want to ruin your