Chapter 19
19
NATHAN
“ S top that.” Her breath was hot puffs of air against his lips. She pulled back a centimeter and was frowning at him all accusingly. Heat and lust and confusion had her bruised face flushed and her eyebrows furrowed.
“Stop what?”
“Kissing me like that.” She huffed, annoyance overriding her lust for the moment.
“Like what?” Nathan knew exactly what he was doing and why she was annoyed.
She didn’t want him kissing her like she mattered to him. He watched her waffle for the right words, annoyance furrowing her brows and casting shadows on her already bruised eye sockets. Her eyes narrowed and settled on his lips. Like she couldn’t put all her attention on being ticked at him, like he distracted her. Good, he liked that.
“You know what . Stop.”
“Fine.” Nathan couldn’t help the accompanying growl.
She wanted to pretend like this, them, was some inconsequential encounter they could forget about later. He didn’t know at what point he’d made up his mind about having her, but damn it, why couldn’t she just not be difficult?
Right. And world peace would descend and he and all his family and half the world’s population would all be out of a job.
“What are you smirking at?”
If she knew his thoughts, he’d either receive a sucker punch to the gut or she’d laugh in his face and roll her eyes. Neither option sounded particularly fun.
“You’re alive. I’m alive. We’re not sporting toe tags or body bags and we’re safe.” Nathan watched her head tilt and then her dark eyes started to look concerned. Like she was afraid all the blood loss had crippled his brain.
“Yes... and?”
“Well, if memory serves, this is the part where you kiss me until I am blue in the face.”
Lush lips pulled into a sweet smile and her eyes lit from within. Dark chocolate brown eyes were locked on his own. Had she always had such pretty eyes? Had they always been that color? Hadn’t they been black? Under the mess of bruises, blood, and swollen lumps, she smiled a genuine, honest-to-god smile. Nathan swayed where he sat, once again rendered deaf, dumb, and speechless at the rare glimpse of her soul.
Sweet Jesus, he wanted more of that. All of that. He wanted to kiss her pretty lips and taste her mouth and feel her tongue against his. He wanted to bury himself inside her.
Her lips covered his. Her warm, soft mouth stopped any and all thoughts. Soft and sweet. He couldn’t kiss her like that but she could him? What a hypocrite.
Her bruised eyes closed and her good hand settled on his chest. The warmth from her hand seeped into his chest and made a shudder rack his body. Christ, it was like he’d never experienced sex before.
He needed to control his shit before he embarrassed himself.
She didn’t like soft and tender. Fine. Nathan could do hard and hot.
He bent his head and took control of the kiss. Her lips fit perfectly to his, supple and soft under the bruising heat of his mouth. She gripped his shirt like she needed something to keep her grounded and moaned. He caught it and pressed deeper, and Caden opened her mouth.
She tasted like Skittles and copper.
Nathan used his good arm to anchor her to his chest and then ran his hand over her side and cupped her ass, bringing her up to meet the hard bulge between his thighs. He braced for protest, but she only blinked her pretty eyelashes at him and gave a hungry moan. Her teeth found tendons on his neck and her fingers sunk into his hair again.
Another shudder went through him. More and more blood left his brain to surge to his dick. His head spun, even as he pulled her tighter against him. Caden let out another breathy moan and arched into him, the swells of her breasts pushing against his chest. It was at that moment Nathan’s brain poured out his ears and all the remaining blood in his body rushed to his dick.
He bit her lip, and she gasped and moaned. The sound made his hips buck of their own accord, and Caden pressed closer to him.
Closer, he needed to get her closer.
Too many clothes.
Her fingernails raked down his chest and made him kiss her harder in response.
But then her lips turned cold and calloused. Why did she smell like a dog? He felt her body jerk away, but her lips stayed—no, not lips. It was a hand.
Not at all as shocking as it should have been, Reid was scowling down at them. His cold, calloused goddamned hand all but muzzled Nathan’s face in a death grip.
He was going to strangle Reid with his own stethoscope.
Heat dissipated and blood returned to his brain. Well, enough to string together a few different colorful curses and threats that had no outward effect on his goddamned brother. Probably because they were all muffled by the hand still covering his face.
“What the hell, Reid!” Finally, Nathan thought to remove his hand from Caden’s backside and use it to pry the fingers off his face.
“No intercourse.” It wasn’t so much that Reid was woefully unadjusted, it was just that any and all social niceties went in one ear, were deemed trivial and tedious, and slid out the other ear.
“What the hell is your problem?” Sexual frustration was pumping through him in waves. Caden’s frame trembled on top of him and Nathan couldn’t bring himself to look at her just yet. If Reid scared her off, Nate was going to kill the bastard.
“No sex.” This he said like he was scolding a couple of teenagers intent on getting knocked up. He casually wiped his hand off on his slacks and then put them on his hips, looking for all the world like they were the ones doing something insane.
“Are you insane?”
“What?” Reid blinked like he was confused as to why Nate was yelling at him and not the other way around.
“You can’t go around shoving—this is not—read the room, shit.” Nathan did not want to have to explain why a person did not go around shoving their hands into people’s faces. Especially not in front of Caden. He wanted her to like his family, not run away screaming.
Caden’s body jerked and Nate glanced up to see her biting her lip like she was trying to restrain laughter. Well, at least she wasn’t looking like she was going to hightail it out the door.
“What’s to read?” Reid got angry and defensive. His arms folded across his chest and he glared. “There ain’t no writing on these walls.”
“It’s an expression. Look at what’s going on around you, process that information, and then adjust.”
“I did.” Reid was scowling now and doing that thing with his face that made him look annoyed and exasperated and derisive all at once. “You two were too busy to hear me. So I read the room, deemed you both too horny to acknowledge my presence, processed that information, and then adjusted so your horny asses would pay attention.”
“Clear your throat next time, damn.” Nathan rubbed at his face and felt the flush of heat and arousal dissipate completely.
“I did!” He unfolded his arms and then started looking stern. “I already told you both, multiple times, do not stress your wounds! But do you listen to me? No! I only saved your lives and am responsible for your well-being—no need to listen to the only certified doctor in the room! No sex!” He paused in his rant to glare pointedly down at Caden until she slowly removed herself from Nathan’s lap.
Ridiculous. Nathan sputtered and tried to form some kind of coherent protest at the absence of her heat.
“We aren’t stressing our wounds,” Caden spoke up, frowning.
“No fornicating—which was where you both were going with that little spit-swapping session you were doing. Don’t even try to deny it! I was here, remember? No sex! None whatsoever. Do you understand? Do you need a reminder that you have two bullet holes in you, Nathan? And Caden, you aren’t even stitched up yet! And you’re battered and broke seven ways from Sunday! We haven’t even x-rayed your arm or checked your forearm stab wound for infections! Neither of you will be doing so much as batting an eyelash at each other until you are both better healed. Honestly, Caden, I expected better from you.”
Caden deflated and looked completely flabbergasted. Like she couldn’t comprehend how he came to that conclusion. Nathan didn’t understand it either.
“ Her ? Why her? She’s the stubbornest, most single-minded woman on the planet.” Nathan watched as she tensed and quirked her eyebrows and got that look in her eye that said he was the special kind of stupid.
“Says the stubbornest male on the planet.” Caden shot a glare at him and cocked her eyebrow like she was daring him to deny it.
“No sex!” Obviously, Reid felt like his message wasn’t getting through. “None.”
“You’re not my mother, Reid. We are two grown adults capable of making adult-like decisions.” He only felt slightly guilty for completely disregarding his trained professional of a brother’s advice.
Cold, calculating silence fell. Reid glared for a long minute before he turned on his heel and marched right out the door. Which was weird. Reid didn’t give up. He stood his ground until the other party either gave up or died.
“Wow.” Caden’s voice was teeming with amusement and warmth. “I’ve never been so unsubtly cock-blocked before.”
She was grinning. Damn, he liked those smiles.
It took him longer than it should have to speak. But he was okay with losing his mind every time she smiled like that. Embarrassment stung his cheeks when he realized that a full minute had passed and he still was unable to speak.
Mentally, he rallied.
He needed to get his shit together. He was supposed to be seducing her into loving him and his crazy family. He was not going to do that by turning into a blundering idiot whenever she smiled.
He needed to go Bond.
James Bond.
Women loved that, right? He could do suave and sleek and smooth as a baby’s bottom.
Her head cocked at him again and another tiny smirk pulled at her lips. Shit. Had she asked a question? Was he supposed to respond?
“Yeah...” What was the question?
Who the fuck was he kidding? James Bond was his antithesis. He’d have to hope and pray that what little charm he did possess worked on her.
“Sorry about Reid.” Nathan did not have an excuse for his brother. “He’s always been...” What was the right descriptor? “Reid.”
Reid slunk back into the room. Triumph all but oozing from his smug face. Suspicion crawled up Nathan’s spine, and he glared.
“Reid what?—”
All bright colors and dimples and stern looks, his mother waltzed into the room.
The bottom dropped out of Nathan’s stomach and he had to bite back the curse he wanted to hurl at his brother. He wanted to introduce her to his family in small doses. Not chuck her into the deep end without a floaty. His brothers had already swarmed her and now Reid was playing tattletale. Nathan was going to strangle him with his own stethoscope.
“Ma.” It came out sounding like an excuse, but hell, it was a knee-jerk reaction to the scowl on her face. He could just feel the reprimand in the air around her.
Caden went rigid beside him. She tensed. Her muscles locked. Her jaw clenched, and she stared forward. She was going to bolt.
“Nathan Albert Savage—you listen to your brother. He knows what he’s talking about.” Her thick born-on-the-bayou accent rang with reprimand.
Already her focus slid off him and to the woman beside him. He wanted to reach over and touch her or hold her hand or move closer, but he felt that any sudden movements on his part and she’d be up and out the door before he could blink.
“Can’t believe I had to get Ma.” Reid was muttering again, but Nathan tuned him out. “I’m a doctor, for Christ’s sake—I shouldn’t have to tattle to your mommy to get you to listen to me.”
His mother’s dark face softened, and she broke into her all-consuming smile. Gold glinted in her teeth. Necklaces tinkled and bracelets jingled as she moved closer to the bed. She reached a hand out to touch Caden’s shoulder and her smile gentled.
“My boys tell me I have you to thank for bringing Nate home alive.” He watched her hand squeeze Caden’s good shoulder, and she leaned closer. “Thank you. Thank the heavens you were there.” Caden’s face went white under her bruises and then pink, but she remained absolutely still. “Can I hug you, darlin’, or are you too beat up?”
“Err... yes—no.” Caden pulled out of his mother’s reach and shook her head. “Yeah, I’m—I’ve got blood all over—my back is—” She leaned further back as if his tiny mother had hidden weapons on her person and was planning to use them. “No. No hugs.”
“All right, I understand.” Not at all put off, his mother took a step back and outstretched her hand. “I’m Ellen Savage, these hellions’ mother.”
“I’m Av—Caden Quinn.” She took his mother’s hand and shook it. “Mercenary.” Like she was reminding herself.
“Caden, thank you for bringing my son home.” She grinned mischievously and leaned closer. “And for scaring the hell outta them all when you woke up. I hear you woulda handed all their asses to them if Nate hadn’t been produced.” She leaned back and beamed at the younger woman. “They need to be taken down a few pegs.” She cackled, and Caden tensed.
“I’m sorry about that—I thought they were the enemy—I didn’t?—”
“Don’t you go apologizin’. You have every right to protect yourself. It is their own fault for not explainin’ things better.” His mother jolted and glanced down at her watch. “Oh shit, if I don’t get that bread outta the oven before it burns, Bobby’ll never forgive me.” She turned back to Caden and smiled again. “Gumbo and cornbread if ya’ll are up for it tonight. Bobby is makin’ it, so don’t you two start complainin’.” She turned on her heel and waltzed out, but not before shooting Nathan a look and ordering him to listen to his brother.
“Damn right, you should listen to me.” Reid had never really quit his ranting. He’d just gathered more steam. “Tattle to your mother. Ridiculous. You can maybe have the broth but we’re gonna take it slow with food. I don’t want to be cleaning up vomit.”
“Err...” Caden cleared her throat and unlocked her muscles. “Where’s the shower?”
The only certified doctor in the room turned even more grumpy at the mention of a shower. But he was knocked out of his sullen stupor when the woman carefully stood and started messing with the lines on her wrist.
“No, don’t you dare take them out.” Reid reached over and blocked her hand. “You can take it with you. It has wheels.”
“What—no, I’m good. Honestly. I don’t feel dehydrated at all.” Caden was using her earnest voice and Reid’s face was pinching with irritation.
“That is a crock of shit and you know it. It won’t kill you to take it with you. Don’t make me get Ma back in here.” He folded his arms across his chest and already looked smug. Like tattling to someone else’s mother would work on Caden Quinn.
Nathan waited for Caden to scoff at his social leper of a brother and roll her eyes.
“Fine.” She capitulated instantly. Eyes going wide and alert like she was waiting for Ellen to burst through the door at any moment. “Where’s the bathroom?”
“Turn right out this door and it’s the last door on the left in the hallway.” Reid hovered over her as she struggled with the portable IV. “Lukewarm water, I mean it. I want to get you stitched and cleaned up, and I don’t want to have to deal with swelling.”
“Got it.” Caden glanced back at him and Nathan was relieved to see the calm in her gaze. Maybe he was wrong about her bolting. A devilish smirk curled her lips. “Nathan, do you want?—”
“No sex,” Reid growled and glared for all he was worth. Caden glared back and scowled harder. Which made Nathan grin like an idiot.
She wanted him as much as he wanted her.
Her shoulders slumped the tiniest bit, and she frowned and then turned towards the door.
“I put some towels and extra clothes in there for you. If you get dizzy or feel like you’re going to faint, sit down. Don’t overdo it, Caden.”
“All right. All right.” Caden nodded absently and frowned at Reid as she hobbled out the door. “I understand.”
Nathan watched her exit with a stupid grin on his face. Reid had a certain effect on people. Socially inept he may be, but when he wasn’t doing awkward things, he was making people feel like being where they were and who they were was the easiest thing in the world. For that, Nathan decided he wouldn’t strangle him.
“You know she’s leaving, right?” After a long moment of silence, Reid turned his attention back to him and Nathan frowned at the confidence in his brother’s voice.
“Maybe.” It was a strong possibility, but she’d most likely stay for a couple of weeks. Long enough to heal, at least.
“As soon as she gets what she wants... she’s gone.” His words were stated so matter-of-factly that Nathan didn’t register what they actually were until they’d sunk in and put him on the defensive.
“Reid, there’s nothing she wants from me.” What the hell was he saying? Was he accusing her of something? Nathan growled and Reid rolled his eyes and looked ten shades of exasperated.
“Sex.” Like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Well, maybe.” He couldn’t help but grin again. As soon as they got a moment alone, Nathan planned to have her naked and going mad.
“No, not maybe.” Reid shook his head and frowned like he was being purposefully stupid. “Sex is what she wants from you. She doesn’t want to stay because she feels too vulnerable here. She’s scared of us and of you. Give it up to her and she’s out of here.”
“She’s not scared of me.” No way in hell was Caden Quinn scared of him .
How many times had the woman charged at him without an ounce of fear? Women who were scared didn’t seek out men just to beat the hell out of them. Okay, so she’d never actually sought him out, but she’d never run from him without standing her ground first.
“Not that kind of scared, you idiot. Gah, never mind.”