Chapter 3 #2
I wet a washcloth in the sink then took it and the first aid kit back to Roy. I sat once again in front of him, my knees brushing the couch between his spread legs.
I breathed him in. His closeness wasn’t scary. It was… exhilarating.
“Here, let me,” I whispered.
I gently wiped the drying blood from his arm. My fingers still shook. My breath still came in short, shallow pants.
Roy shifted forward on the couch, bringing his feet closer together to cage me between his thighs. I glanced up. His gaze wasn’t on the wound, it was on my face. He looked… hungry.
Fascinated.
That was crazy. No one found me fascinating. I was the most boring woman on the planet. Working the most boring job. I wore boring clothes.
My body heated under his attention. Moisture leaked between my legs.
This shouldn’t be hot. He got shot, for God’s sake. And it was my fault.
Why was this so hot? Why was I so hot? I wanted to fan myself.
“You’re a good nurse,” he murmured. His voice was a low, approving purr. The kind that made you want to earn a “good girl” from him.
I chuffed as I tried to open a packet of antibiotic ointment, but my fingers were shaking so badly still that I kept fumbling. He took it from me and easily opened it. “Maybe I should have been a nurse because I’m not a great accountant.”
“Accountant?” Roy handed me the sample packet back and took the gauze package from the kit, ripped it open, then handed it to me as well. “Smart and beautiful. I’m sure you’re great. Better than great.”
He called me beautiful. Why was this guy so into me? It was… unnerving.
Exciting.
No, that was probably the adrenaline talking.
I smeared both sides of the wound with the ointment.
I guessed he was right–the wound had stopped bleeding and no longer seemed as bad as it initially looked.
“I may be good with numbers, but I have terrible instincts. I just ended up in a meeting with men who looked like they’re in the mob or something else really shady and helped them launder a shit ton of money. ”
Roy’s body stiffened, like he was on full alert now, prepared to fight them off for me.
“That’s why you ran?” he asked.
I nodded. “I’m not a money launderer, if that’s what you were thinking.”
He shook his head. “Not a chance. You’re a good girl.”
Oh damn. He said it. My body was so amped up, every nerve ending a live wire, and hearing him call me good girl in that deep, rumbly voice nearly made me come. I was pretty sure my panties were soaked.
Roy’s nostrils flared as he dragged in a long inhale. He looked like he savored the breath.
A weird, warbling, semi-hysterical laugh came from my lips. So embarrassing.
I fumbled with a second package of gauze pads, trying three times before I managed to rip it open.
Roy closed his hand over mine again. “Hey.” I loved how soft and comforting his voice was. “Are you freaking out?”
I forced a smile that probably looked manic. “I, um… it’s just the adrenaline, I think.” I shook out my arms and vibrated my knees, trying to shake it off. “I can’t seem to get my nervous system to calm down. I’ve never been shot at before.”
“I have an idea on how to help with that.”
I didn’t know how it happened. One minute I was sitting between Roy’s knees playing nurse, the next, he stood, lifting me with him, his forearm under my ass, and my legs instinctively went around his waist.
“Oh!” I cried as he strode quickly toward the bathroom. “Um…what are you doing? What about your arm? You’re going to make it worse.”
“I’m fine,” he said. “Doesn’t even hurt. As for you, a hot shower might help. Or a bath.” He stepped into the gleaming white and dove gray bathroom that was bigger than my living room. Marble everywhere. Steam shower. Separate toilet room. A bathtub big enough for two.
In this moment, some temporary insanity came over me.
Maybe I was so relieved that I hadn’t died down in that parking lot.
Maybe it was the shared trauma thing. Maybe it was the flush of endorphins rushing through my veins.
I looked up at him. At his bandaged arm.
At his toned torso. He didn’t appear to be in pain or seem to be affected at all by having been shot.
He was a big boy. I shouldn’t baby him, especially since he carried me around as if I weighed nothing more than a feather. “You’re sure?” I asked, just checking one last time.
“Positive.”
Okay then. I grabbed the back of his head and smashed my lips against his, rewarding him for being my hero.
Knowing I couldn’t hurt him, I just wanted to feel alive after a close call with death.
He didn’t even stumble. His lips answered the call, kissing me as aggressively as I’d attacked him. My back bumped into the wall beside the shower where he pinned me in place, his lips devouring mine in the most passionate kiss I’d ever experienced.
My hips thrust at him of their own accord, wanting more satisfaction than only a kiss could deliver. I needed more.
“Or this could help,” he panted between kisses. His eyes, which I would’ve sworn were brown before, now seemed to glow jade green.
I’d never been hungry for sex before. Never needed it like this. Like where my body craved it so badly it would hurt not to get satisfaction. But right now, if I didn’t get to ride this cowboy and save a horse, I wasn’t sure I’d survive the night.
“Yeah,” I panted back. “I think it really could.”