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I winced, remembering the sound it had made, and then placed the bucket of ice on the table and headed over to Viper.
“Viper?” I said again, slightly louder this time, and as I came up by his side, Viper turned his head to look at me. His lower lip was cut and slightly swollen, but other than that, his face was as handsome as ever, the main injury hidden under his hair at the back of his head. “Come over here, would you, so I can ice the cut?”
Viper took a sip of his whiskey. “You gonna play nurse for me tonight, Angel?”
I reached out and took his free hand in mine. “Well, someone’s got to. You obviously aren’t going to take care of yourself.”
As I tugged on his hand, Viper raised his glass to me and swirled the contents. “I’m taking care of myself.”
I snorted. “That might help the headache now, but it won’t later.” When I stopped by one of the chairs next to the table, I pointed to it. “Sit.”
Viper raised an eyebrow as he looked from me to the chair, and then back to me again. “Bossy.”
“Just do it.”
Viper took a seat as I picked up the hand towel and dunked one of the corners into the melted ice. After I’d rung it out, I walked around behind him and looked at the back of his head where I knew that asshole’s camera had come into direct contact. With gentle hands, I lightly brushed the hair away, and when a cut a couple inches long came into view, I grimaced. A small bump had formed, and there was some blood surrounding the immediate area, but the actual bleeding had stopped, thank God.
As I cleaned around the cut, Viper tensed and pulled his head away a fraction, before reaching for his drink and relaxing enough to let me get back to the job at hand. It didn’t take too long, and once I was done with the cleanup, I grabbed a cotton ball and the antiseptic and applied a liberal amount before I moved in front of him and pulled over an ottoman to sit down.
When we were face to face, Viper reached for me and trailed his fingers along the line of my jaw to my chin, and just when I thought he’d lean in and take my lips in a kiss, he lowered his hand, severing the connection.
Yeah, okay, my suspicions were spot-on. Even though the paparazzo had gotten all up in my face tonight, he’d also managed to get all up inside Viper’s head.
“Look at you,” Viper said as he glanced at the supplies on the table. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’d done this before.”
“What? Doctored a banged-up head and bruised lip? Can’t say I have. Not really my style.”
“No?” Viper’s eyes came back to lock on to mine, an unreadable expression in his gaze as I shook my head.
“No.” I reached for a fresh cotton ball, then wet it with some of the icy water and brought it up to his bloodied lip. “Then again, no one’s ever done anything like that for me before either.”
As I gently dabbed at the cut, Viper flinched and wrapped his fingers around my wrist, halting my moves. “What? You mean no chick’s ever decked a guy for you? No wonder you switched sides.”
I rolled my eyes and tugged my hand free. “You’re crazy.” When Viper shrugged, I leaned in to carefully swipe at the cut again. “You could’ve been seriously hurt tonight, and what for?”
“You,” Viper said in an instant, that one word summing up every logical, and illogical, reason he’d had for starting a brawl in front of God knew how many reporters—not to mention opening himself up to one hell of a lawsuit with the way he’d smashed that guy’s camera and face. “I did it for you, Angel. And I’d do that, and a whole lot fucking more, if it meant protecting you.”
I lowered my hand and stared into Viper’s intense gaze, seeing the truth behind those words, and still it blew my mind to think that this magnificent man was all mine. I dropped the cotton ball onto the table and took his face between my hands, and this time I leaned in and took the kiss he’d shied away from earlier, and as our lips connected, Viper’s eyes fell shut.
A soft rumbling sound left Viper’s throat like a purr, and I scooted closer on the ottoman, craning my face up so he could take from me what he needed. But instead of deepening the kiss, Viper stopped and raised his head.
“Angel,” he whispered, his eyes opening as his warm breath floated across my lips. “What that asshole said to you tonight—”
“Doesn’t matter,” I said, and kissed the corner of his mouth. “It doesn’t matter. He means nothing to me.”
