Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 58752 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58752 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
“You said scratched,” she accused, looking over her shoulder as she kept walking.
“I was describing it.”
“Badly,” Tamsin snapped, tightening her fingers around my cut as she pulled me down the hall.
16
TAMSIN
Icouldn’t believe he’d gotten himself so badly hurt and tried to downplay his injury as just a scratch. The only reason I wasn’t yelling at him right now was that he was letting me drag him to his room so I could take care of the cut on his shoulder.
When we reached his door, he unlocked it so we could get inside. Then I pointed at the edge of his bed. “Sit.”
He did as I asked without a smile or complaining, and that was how I knew he was actually hurting.
“Please tell me you have a first-aid kit somewhere in here so I don’t have to go right back downstairs for supplies.”
He tilted his head toward the en suite bathroom. “Under the sink.”
“Stay put.”
I hurried over and grabbed the kit, only pausing to dampen a clean washcloth. When I set the kit on the bed next to him, he reached for it. Shaking my head with a deep sigh, I moved it away from his hand.
The corner of his mouth kicked up. “Bossy.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“Still attractive.”
I huffed because it was true, which just irritated me more. “Take off your cut and hold still.”
He slowly shrugged the leather vest off his shoulders, and my concentration lasted about two seconds before my gaze drifted over his bare chest.
He caught me looking and grinned. “Need a closer inspection?”
“I need you to stop talking,” I gritted out.
“Didn’t answer my question.”
My lips pressed into a firm line when I got a better look at the stitches and bruises spreading over his side. All humor gone, I made myself focus on cleaning the cut on his shoulder.
I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that somebody had known the route he’d taken. That he’d actually been ambushed. “I knew you were hurt as soon as I heard your voice on the phone.”
“You’re getting too good at reading me,” he murmured with a glimmer of his real smile.
“You’re staying with me.” I spread ointment over the cut that didn’t look quite as bad now that it was clean. “I’ve been studying you.”
His hands went to my hips to pull me between his knees. “Planning to continue, so you’ll get plenty of closer looks.”
He kept hold of me while I gently laid a square of gauze over his tanned skin, and he seemed amused by my shaky movements. But beneath it all, I could tell he was worn out. “I kind of want to take care of you and shake you in equal measure.”
“I know.”
“I’m sure you do,” I murmured as I grabbed the tape to put over the gauze.
He watched me smooth the final piece over the dressing. “I love you, pretty girl.”
My hands froze as I gaped down at him. “That’s a terrible attempt to distract me.”
“Wasn’t trying to.”
The grin was still on his handsome face, but nothing in his dark eyes said he was playing. “I love you, Tamsin.”
With every outrageous thing he had decided since we met, I shouldn’t have been surprised that he chose this moment to share those three little words with me. I finally understood that his certainty had never merely been part of the danger surrounding us.
My eyes stung, but my smile broke through before the emotion became too heavy. “I love you, too.”
His hands tightened at my waist.
“You look way too pleased for a man with a fresh bandage.”
He shrugged. “You love me.”
“I do.”
He grinned up at me. “Knew you were smart and pretty.”
I swallowed a laugh and kissed him before that smile got any worse. He quickly took it over, locking a hand at the back of my neck while the other dragged me across his thighs until I straddled him. What I had meant as a way to shut him up turned hungry enough that I forgot why we had come in here.
My fingers gripped his shoulders as his hand slid under my shirt, spanning the bare skin at my waist. His thumb brushed higher, and a whimper slipped out of me. I rocked against the thick ridge behind his jeans, and he gripped my hips to pull me down harder.
The roughness of his movements sent heat through me because it made me feel claimed. And the softness that he only gave me was still in the gentleness he used while cupping the back of my head.
Then he stood with me wrapped around him, and my legs locked low on his hips. He turned and brought us down to the mattress, being careful not to crush me, his teeth scraping the sensitive skin at my throat.
I was too consumed by what his mouth and hands were doing to remind him to be careful of his injuries. But then a fist hit the door hard enough to rattle it.