Chapter 2 #3
“How do we want to do this? Have me look at your shoulder? It’s not as if we have a lot of space in here.
” She loved writing, but it was more of a side gig than anything else.
And she didn’t sell a ton of books, but even so, she treasured each and every message she’d ever received from fans, saying how much they’d enjoyed her stories.
But the thought of meeting someone in person who’d read her words was overwhelming. Even if it was highly unlikely that this man, this real-life hero, had found one of her books with the millions that were currently out there in the world.
“I think if you slip your hand into my flight suit, you can feel around back and see if you can figure out what’s in my shoulder.
I’ve got a T-shirt on, and if you can, maybe try to feel under it.
But if you’d rather not, you should still be able to tell if there’s a chunk of something in my shoulder.
If that doesn’t work, I can try to turn around.
Or if you really prefer, we can wait until it gets light outside. ”
“Hold still,” Kara ordered, as if he was a little kid who might squirm the second she started probing his injury.
He brought a hand to his throat and unsnapped a fastener there, then unzipped the front of his flight suit a bit, loosening the wet material. He tilted his head to the side, giving her more space to slip her hand under his T-shirt.
The feel of his bare skin against her palm was extremely intimate. Too intimate. Especially after—
No, she wasn’t going there.
Kara tried to maneuver her hand to his shoulder blade under his shirt, but the neckline was too tight.
“Shoot, I can’t get close enough.”
“It’s okay, it can wait until morning.”
“Are you bleeding?”
“No clue.”
The thought of this man bleeding didn’t sit well with Kara. Not when he’d gotten hurt because of her. “I don’t think we should wait.”
“It’s okay, Kara. It’s not as if we’ve got any bandages or antibiotics or anything anyway. Besides, other than the pain in my shoulder, I’m comfortable enough. We can wait until the wind and rain dies down.”
“You’re comfortable?” Kara asked incredulously.
He smiled. “Yup. I’m not in that fucking river anymore, we’re out of the rain—for the most part—and I’m snuggled up to a beautiful woman. What more could I want?”
He’d called her beautiful. Kara blocked out that part. Because he was most certainly messing with her. “How about dry clothes, food, medical care, and not to be in the middle of the woods, having creepy crawlies all over you?”
“You feel ’em too, huh?”
Kara shivered. “Yes.” She’d felt ants or, God forbid, ticks or some other bugs on her legs and arms ever since she’d lain in the dirt under these rocks.
“They won’t hurt us. And we’ll do tick checks in the morning.”
Kara realized her hand was still under his shirt, and she quickly pulled it back, gasping a little at the pain of her palm rubbing against his flight suit.
“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
“I’m okay.”
“Is it your hand? Let me see.”
He took her hand in his and held it up close to his face.
“Damn, I can’t see shit.” His thumb brushed lightly against the abused flesh of her palm, and Kara hissed. “I can feel that it’s torn to hell. I’m sorry.”
To her utter shock, he brought her palm up to his mouth and kissed it.
Then he froze briefly, before swearing under his breath. “Sorry, sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean— That was so out of line it’s not even funny. I just…I hate that you’ve been hurt.”
He was tripping over his words, trying to apologize, and it made any uneasiness over his actions dissipate.
“It’s okay.”
“It’s not. You’re in a vulnerable situation, with a man you don’t know. It was disrespectful and rude. I’m usually not so…boneheaded.”
“After the last two weeks I’ve had, I’ll take any kindness I can get,” Kara said softly.
Arrow stilled. Kara felt every muscle in his body tense. “You want to talk about it?”
“No.”
“Okay.”
She let out the breath she hadn’t known she was holding.
She certainly did not want to talk about Nolan right that moment.
How terrified she’d been. How badly he’d hurt her.
How he’d insisted she belonged to him, and there was nowhere she could escape that he wouldn’t find her… and make her regret leaving him.
She began to shake. In reaction to what she’d been through, both tonight and with Nolan.
“I’d like to…I promise you’re safe with me. Can I…can I hold you? Try to warm you up? And myself in the process?”
He sounded so unsure. So sincere.
She nodded.
Slowly, and very carefully, Arrow shifted and pulled her against his chest. He was lying on his side, as was she, and even though the ground was hard beneath her, being in this man’s arms made her feel as if everything was going to be all right.
Eventually the shivers faded and Kara grew tired. She’d been up for hours and hours, and the adrenaline dump suddenly made it feel as if she’d taken a handful of sedatives.
The last thought she had before she succumbed to the lure of oblivion was that she hoped Arrow Porter was a man of his word. That she hadn’t jumped from the frying pan into the fire.