Free Air Kisses by Zoe Foster Page A

situation.
    ‘It’s not funny, quick, go to the bathroo—’
    ‘Show me, Hannah.’ Dec appeared from nowhere.
    I flipped over my now red index finger.
    ‘Quick, give me that.’ He held a napkin firmly over the cut. ‘And we’ll just hold that there for now. Okay, now follow me, and I’ll bandage it properly.’
    I stumbled after him, wondering why my finger was stinging so much all of a sudden. He tripped up a step and I laughed out loud, bending over to catch my breath.
    ‘Hannah!’ He was smiling despite his ‘serious’ tone. ‘Cut it out – you’ve cut yourself pretty badly and you need to behave while I fix it.’
    ‘Yes, sir.’ I made the zipper motion over my mouth and followed him into the bathroom, which was glowing with the light of haphazardly placed candles, and the scent of frangipani and coconut. It was kind of romantic, even with Iz’s washing basket overflowing in the corner.
    Dec had to close the door in order for us both to fit, and then he proceeded to run cold water over my bloodied digit.
    ‘Duzzenhurt, you know.’
    ‘It will tomorrow, when the booze wears off.’
    ‘Oh. Well, I’ll deal with that then. Maaan…wonder what time it is? I should go.’
    ‘You can go just as soon as I’ve put on some disinfectant and a bandage, I promise.’
    I looked at Dec’s toned brown arm as he blotted my cut. He was a beautiful man, there were no two ways about it. Or three ways, even. God, I still had the biggest crush, even though I was clearly past the age you should be using the word crush, let alone admit to having one.
    I sighed.
    ‘Everything okay? You’re not going to faint on me, are you?’
    ‘No, no, just, no. I’m fine.’ I looked up at him and smiled, not realising how close his face was to mine. He was completely focused on wrapping my finger, murmuring as he went.
    ‘That should do it.’
    I was still looking at his face when he turned. He looked at me. I looked at him. It reminded me of how a first kiss usually went.
    Sobriety bolted through me and my eyes locked on to his. I couldn’t look away; I didn’t
want
to look away.
    And then he kissed me softly, softly on the lips, as delicate and chivalrous as I’d always expected him to be. My entire body tingled and I started to kiss back into him, to open my mouth to signal that I was totally, incredibly fine with this, and gosh, maybe we should push the envelope a little seeing as though we were already—
    ‘Someone in there?’ A fist banged loudly on the door.
    We pulled apart and my hand flew to my mouth, which was pulsing with the memory of what had just occurred.
    ‘Yep. One second, just putting on a bandage, hang on a second…’ Dec pulled open the door and put out his hand to allow me to go first.
    ‘Thanks, Dec. Man – I’m
busting
. Hand all right, Hannah?’
    ‘All fine!’ I said brightly with a big smile. I walked out into the hallway in a daze. What had just happened there? Had I started that?
Surely not.
    As I neared the kitchen, Dec grabbed my hand gently. ‘I hope this isn’t going to hurt through the night. It should be okay, but you might want some painkillers in the morning.’ He stopped and looked squarely into my eyes. ‘Hannah, I’m so sorry, I don’t know what got into me. I’m so sorry…’ His eyes were wide with concern. ‘Are you okay?’
    ‘Totally.’ I smiled, feigning absolute control and calm. ‘It’s so fine. Our little secret.’
    His look didn’t change; I had expected relief.
    ‘Okay, yeah, probably a good idea.’ He nodded, but was still frowning.
    ‘Well, it’s late and I can already feel my hangover creeping in – I think I’ll go.’
    ‘You need a cab?’
    ‘Yes, please.’
    ‘I’ll call one now.’
    But I didn’t want a cab, and I didn’t want to go home. I wanted to lay down on the sofa with Dec, wrapped up in his arms, and let him kiss me like that again and again…
    He turned and walked into the lounge room, allowing me a small precious moment