Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
INDY
“I’m Penny, nice to meet you,” the strange red-haired woman tells me, looking flustered. Why was she reacting to me like that? I had to be at least ten years older than her. “This is the part where you tell me your name, cowboy,” she whispers.
“Cowboy?” I shake my head. “No, my name is Indy.” I say, standing back up to my full six foot three height. This woman is so tiny compared to me.
Her eyes light up like I’ve given her something amazing.
“Your name is Indy? Like Indiana? Do you have a whip?”
“No, just Indy. And no, no whip, I don’t like using them on my horses.”
“You know… you do kinda look like him,” she says as she studies my face. Like who? Has she met my brother?
“Who?” I ask to be sure.
“Indiana Jones! God, he’s so hot! I always had such a crush on him, especially in The Last Crusade, when he was riding his horse…” she trails off, her eyes going wide, as if she just realized how much she’s just revealed to me.
I slowly smirk as I look down at her. “Did you just say—”
“Nope!”
“I think you di—”
“I said no, you must have heard me wrong.” She glares at me as she crosses her arms over her chest.
“Hmmm, so you didn’t just tell me that I look just like a man you’re attracted to?” I say, crossing my own arms now.
“That’s not what I said! I said you remind me of him, you’re actually way more attractive.” Her eyes go wide and her hand shoots up to cover her mouth, making me beam at her.
“Oh, Penny… what a delectable little mouth you have on you.”
Her face goes so red it almost matches her hair. I decide to stop embarrassing her for the moment and figure out what we’re going to do next.
“So, Penny. I guess we need to get you back to those men of yours, huh? What did you say their names were?” I ask as I start to check my riding bags, ensuring nothing fell out or came loose on our run through the forest.
“Oh, umm, Ryker and Braxton.”
“Right. Your mates who aren’t related.”
“Why do you say it like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like it’s weird.”
“I didn’t say that,” I tell her as I turn to face her. My eyes go wide at the sight of her face, covered in blood.
I quickly move in front of her, my hands hovering over her face, afraid to touch anything that’s injured.
“What happened? Where are you hurt?”
“What do you mean?” she asks as she raises her hand to touch her face. I quickly grab her hand to stop her from making contact and she hisses out in pain. I release my grip and we both look down at her hand and the sight has me gasping.
“Penny! Your hand! What happened?” She lifts her other hand and I see now that both of them are practically shredded across the palms and covered in dirt and blood.
“I told you I fell down a mountain, didn’t I?”
“Dammit woman, you should have told me this straight away, I was standing around when I could have been tending to you.”
“Tending to me?” she asks with a raise of an eyebrow and a smirk on her lip.
I pretend to ignore it and answer her question. “Yes, I need to get your hands cleaned up before they get infected.”
I move my arm behind her, so I hold both her forearms and lead her over to the stream.
“You know, Indiana, it’s my hands that are injured, not my feet. I can walk just fine.”
“It’s just Indy. And I want to make sure you don’t fall on your hands and injure them further,” I tell her as we step up to the stream. “Sit here.” I indicate a large rock that sits half in the water where she can stay dry.
“Don’t touch anything.”
“Yes, sir.” The moment the word leaves her mouth, I feel my cock twitch in my pants.
Fuck, why was that so arousing? Maybe I could get her to call me that again.
Maybe she’d call me that while I’m commanding her in the bedroom.
Nope. I couldn’t think like that. She already has two mates.
But was that enough for a wild woman like Penny?
A woman who seemed to get up to trouble every five minutes?
A woman who made my heart beat frantically in my chest?
I kick off my boots, roll up my pants and step into the water so I can properly clean her hands. She tries to twist around to face me while keeping her feet on straight ground, but it looks awkward and uncomfortable.
“Here, hold on. I got you,” I tell her as I move back out to the dry shore and take her boots off. As I try to roll up her pant leg, I find they’re too tight.
“What is this strange material?”
“They’re jeans.”
“They don’t seem very practical.”
“They’re actually pretty sturdy and warm. But yeah, skinny jeans don’t really roll up. I’ll have to get the bottom of them wet.”
I shake my head at her. “No, you can’t walk around with wet pant legs, you’ll have to take them off.”
“Excuse me, did you just tell me to take my pants off?” she asks. Looking into her eyes, I can’t decide if she’s amused, aroused or scandalized, but as I look down at her hands, I see my error.
“No, never mind, you can’t take them off.”
“I can’t?” She frowns, like she’s confused.
I can’t blame her, my head is all over the place right now, thinking of her with no pants on.
I’m sure I could actually do this without getting her feet in the water, but I have to admit I was very keen on seeing what her legs look like under the strange black fabric.
I shake my head. “No, you can’t use your hands, I’ll have to take your pants off for you.”
“I—You—What?”
“Stand up, Sugar.”
I see her swallow the lump in her throat before she stands on the dry ground, staring at me with wide eyes.
It takes me a few seconds but finally I figure out how to undo the top of her pants and I pull them down, being careful not to take her undergarment with them.
As I kneel on the ground and she steps out, I glance up and suck in a quick breath.
“What are those?”
“What?” she asks with a mix of embarrassment and confusion.
“Your undergarment, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Wait—Indy… are you… are you not married?”
I reel my head back in shock. “Married? No, of course not. What would give you that idea? You think I would touch another woman if I was married?”
“You do remember the part where I told you I’m not from this world, right? I’m still not exactly sure how everything works here. In my world, there are a range of ways men behave. Some of them would cheat on their wives and sleep with other women.”
“What?” I say in surprise. Why would a man do such a thing?
She nods as she continues. “But some men are extremely faithful, women too. Some women cheat on their husbands, but some women are faithful to those they love. Like me, I… I could never cheat on Ry or Brax, I couldn’t do that to them.
” I see a look of panic take over her face as she tries to step back, but with the rock right behind her, she starts to fall, and I quickly grab her hips to steady her.
“Indy…” she says, looking at me with alarm in her eyes.
“I know, Sugar, it’s okay. Let’s just get you cleaned up, all right?
” I can see she was uncomfortable being with me when she had two other mates, but I wasn’t exactly sure why.
Most women had at least three mates. And when I say most women, I mean I’ve never heard of anybody having less than three.
And they were almost always brothers. The rest of us were…
not even worth considering in the eyes of most women.
But Penny… she sees us, doesn’t she? She doesn’t seem to recognize the status of having siblings or she just doesn’t care.
I wonder how different things are in her world, but I don’t think now is the right time to ask.
I want her to feel comfortable around me first.
Right now, I need to focus on getting her cleaned up and getting her back to her mates so she can be protected. Protected and happy.
I step back into the stream and she sits back on the rock and turns to drop her feet in the water.
“Give me your hand, Sugar.” She lifts one of her hands and I move closer, standing between her parted knees so she doesn’t have to lean forward.
It takes everything I have in me not to look at her pussy and the small bit of fabric covering it.
I shake my head to try and get the image from my mind.
I move her hand to the water and the blood trails away.
I see lots of small rocks embedded in her palm, not to mention the skin is practically shredded.
Multiple cuts run the entire length of her palm, and run some down her fingers as well.
I stare at one for a moment to assess if it’s actively bleeding, but I’m relieved to see only a small amount of blood coming from them.
Luckily, she hasn’t cut too deep or hit any major veins.
I check both of them and clean them as best as I can, trying to pick out pieces of rock, but I realize that this is going to take a lot more care than I’m able to provide at the side of the stream.
My eyes meet her as I speak. “I’m sorry, Sugar, but I can’t get these completely cleaned out here. We’re going to have to get some help in the village.”
“Like a doctor… or healer?”
I help her spin back around to the shore as I reply, “Yes, we need someone trained with medical knowledge to help you out. I’m not sure if there’s anybody like that in Havenridge, but if not, I’ll take you to the next village, and the next, until we find somebody who can help you.”
“Indiana, you make it sound like I’m dying, it’s just some scrapes and cuts.”
“Sugar,” I say, turning to face her as I tie up my boots.
“Getting a cut out here could end up giving you an infection. If you don’t get it treated fast enough, it could lead to sepsis and you could die.
It is very serious. It might be fine now, but if we don’t get you cleaned up, who knows what could happen. ”
I can see the fear on her face and reprimand myself for putting it there.