CHAPTER 16
CARA
The doctor was exiting the kitchen as me and Cal walked in, a short while later.
He had leant me another hooded sweater, this one pale blue, and some more socks.
I’d taken a quick shower, feeling the need to wash away the blood smell I could feel clinging to me.
I knew that was likely my emotions playing tricks on me after everything, but the shower had helped me to feel better.
Afterwards I had pulled on some sleep shorts – which had been the last clean item in my back pack – with the items borrowed from Cal and then gone in search of him again, feeling better when he was at my side in that vast, strange house.
He'd answered my knock on his bedroom door in seconds, also freshly showered and dressed in shorts that ended midway up his muscular thighs, and a t-shirt that highlighted his toned and tight body beneath it perfectly.
His hair was wet and brushed back from his face, making him look older and neater.
Either way – wild or neat hair – he was hot.
He’d held my hand as we left his room and walked down all of the stairs towards the kitchen, and I hadn’t said a word, because I enjoyed his touch, even though I knew it was a little odd to be so attached when I hadn’t even known him twenty-four hours.
I was touch starved, and had been for many years.
I wasn’t turning away contact that I desperately needed, and that soothed me the way Cal’s touch did.
“Ah! Here they are, our wee gun slingers!” Arran joked uproariously as we walked into the kitchen. I loosened my grip on Callan in case he wanted to let go in front of his brother, but he just grabbed my hand tighter in his and pulled me closer to his side.
“Jesus Arran, I’m six feet two. You can’t call me ‘wee’ anymore,” Callan groaned.
“Yer know yer’ll always be wee to me, brother,” Arran told him with a grin. He was sitting at the central island opposite Dante, and for some unknown reason I hadn’t noticed until that moment that Dante was shirtless!
I was transfixed as my eyes roamed over the tattoos and muscles on Dante’s upper half, and there were so many of both.
His body was just as I had imagined it to be beneath his shirts.
There was muscle on muscle, his biceps bigger than any man I had ever seen.
The muscle continued down his arms, up his neck and across his tight chest. His abdomen was hidden from me by the counter, but I imagined it had a perfect six pack, or an eight pack?
What was the biggest ‘pack’ you could have, because I was sure Dante had it.
His golden skin was hidden beneath tattoos that covered every inch of him from the waist up, I was assuming, since I couldn’t quite see all the way to his waist. I was too far away to make out what the art work was, but it covered his skin from where I could see, went right up his chest and onto the bottom half of his neck.
The tattoos covered his shoulders and the tops of his arms, but there was nothing further down his wide, muscled, and veiny forearms. The designs did sweep around the side I could see, and I was eager to move and see if they covered his back too.
I wanted to get closer to see the artwork.
“Eyes are up here, Love,” Dante said, and when I moved my roving gaze to his eyes, he was smirking at me.
“Um, sorry,” I whispered. “Just…your tattoos. You have a lot…” I stuttered nervously as I looked anywhere but at him.
“They all do, except me. I’m no’ into the pain. I much prefer pleasure, hen, if ye ken my meanin’” Arran flirted mercilessly.
“Ken?” I questioned as I looked right at him, refusing to let him embarrass me or see my blush.
“It’s a Scottish word. It just means ‘know’ as in ‘know what he means,’” Callan explained.
“Oh. Well then, I do ken that you are in infernal flirt, Arran,” I teased as I pointed a finger towards him.
“Me? Nah, lass. Ye’ve got me all wrong,” Arran said as he fluttered his eyelashes at me innocently.
“She hasn’t,” Dante cut in flatly.
“No, she hasn’t,” Cal agreed. “Where’s Terza? Cara needs to eat something before she wastes away.”
“She went into town to pick up the dry cleaning. I can make something,” Dante offered as he got to his feet with some struggle.
“Sit back down!” I barked as I rushed towards him and set my hand on his giant shoulder.
I’d like to think I pushed him back into his seat, but it was clear Dante didn’t move anywhere unless he wanted to.
He was an immovable tank of a man, and when I stood as close to him as I was then, I felt as small as I ever had in my life.
“Bossy wee thing, aren’t ya?” Arran laughed.
“Dante was shot! He’s not cooking anything for anyone. He should be resting!” I told them all with annoyance.
“I wasn’t shot. A bullet grazed me. It’s not even bleeding now. Doc stitched me up,” Dante told me, but I was relieved he had sat back down.
“You still lost too much blood. You stay there and don’t move. I’ll make some food. You need to eat too,” I ordered him, but when I tried to turn away to go to the fridge, Dante caught my hand in his and pulled it, turning me back to face him.
“I don’t take orders, love,” he told me.
“Especially not from a tiny thing like you.” He was staring into my eyes and I became lost in those deep dark pools.
He looked older than the others by a few years, the hint of some tiny lines in the corners of his eyes, but it didn’t take anything from him.
He was devastatingly handsome, in a very rugged kind of way that I found I very much liked.
“It wasn’t an order,” I told him as I came back to my senses. “It was me taking care of you, and you will let me do that. No arguments.”
“We’re supposed to be taking care of you.”
“I thought this was a family. Shouldn’t we all take care of one another?
” I questioned. Dante just nodded, then finally released the grip he had on me.
A huge part of me didn’t want him to release me.
I had this insane urge to curl up in his lap and just feel his size and strength around me, to feel the rumble I knew would rattle his chest when he spoke.
“Of course we should. You’re completely right. Come on, Cara. I’ll help you make something,” Cal spoke up and I nodded, shaking my head of thoughts of Dante and returning to the task at hand.
Callan and I decided to just make some sandwiches, since it was pretty close to dinner time anyway. I enjoyed the way we worked together as Callan sliced the home baked bread while I prepared a selection of fillings, then we set to work making the sandwiches together.
By the time we set the large platter plate we had filled with a mix of sandwiches down on the island, my stomach was going wild for food, especially after me smelling the amazing crusty bread the whole time.
“Who wants a drink?” Callan asked.
“Water please,” Dante answered.
“Ye makin’ coffee?” Arran asked.
“I will. I need coffee too,” I offered.
“I’ll make it, babe. You sit down and eat before your stomach erupts again,” Cal chuckled as he shooed me away.
“Thank you,” I told him happily, then I went back over and took a seat happily between Dante and Arran. I couldn’t say I trusted them yet. It would take time for me to feel that sure of them, but I felt safe with them, and that was a huge step for me.
“Which sangwich do ya want, lass?” Arran asked me, taking me by surprise when he grabbed the plate from before me and held it, looking to me for my answer.
“Oh…erm, any please. They all look good,” I shrugged, feeling unsure. I sat speechless as Arran grabbed two different types of half sandwich and set them on my plate, then positioned it before me. He hadn’t even grabbed his own food yet, instead taking care of me. It was odd, but so nice too.
“Thank you,” I whispered shyly as I glanced up to him with a nervous smile.
“Yer welcome. Now eat up, afore there’s nothin’ left of ye.”
I picked up my first sandwich and took a bite. It was cheddar cheese with apple and pear chutney. I hadn’t eaten anything like it before, but damn, it was good. I moaned a little in delight, then took another huge bite, the saltiness of the crumbly cheese setting my taste buds alive.
“That good?” Dante asked, and when I looked to him he was smirking at me again, but in a humorous way. I got the impression I was amusing him with my enthusiasm for a simple sandwich.
“Get used to it. I enjoy eating decent food,” I shrugged, refusing to be embarrassed. I knew the importance of food after living with the bare minimum for so long. I was never going to be ashamed of showing how grateful I was for what I had, now that I had it.
“It’s a cheese sandwich,” Dante told me.
“Have you ever eaten cheddar cheese in America? I can tell you it does not taste like this, and even if it did, I couldn’t have afforded it in the last eight years anyway. Trust me, this is decent food.”
I polished the rest of the sandwich off in two bites, Dante not saying another word about the noises of enjoyment that slipped from me with each bite.
By the time I was reaching for the second half – this one filled with chicken mayonnaise and salad, Callan was setting down my coffee for me – black, just the way I liked it.
I thanked him and smiled widely as he took the seat opposite me.
I knew I was ridiculous, but I was having the best time I could remember having, sat there with the three of them, eating and laughing.
I felt relaxed and I couldn’t seem to stop smiling.
“Were there other foods ye missed while ye were over there, Cara?” Arran asked me. I moved my head side to side and thought about the question as I finished the too big bite I had taken.