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Drake’s eyes narrowed as he absorbed her account. “And why didn’t you think it important to call me?”
“You were busy,” she whispered, distress radiating from her voice. “Your note said you would be busy and that you would be wrapped up in important meetings all day and that you’d be late for dinner. It was nothing worth disturbing you over. Your doctor stitched it up in just a few minutes and gave me medicine to numb the wound.”
“He had to stitch you?” he asked behind tightly clenched teeth.
Her eyes grew larger with fear and nervousness, but he was too determined to get to the bottom of this whole mess before allaying her fears that he was angry with her. Jesus. He should have been the one with her. The whole goddamn time.
“Only a few,” she said defensively. “I don’t know why he even bothered. I’ve suffered far worse before, and slapping a bandage over it worked just fine.”
“That may have been okay before,” he said, trying to get a grip on his emotions. “Before you belonged to me, that is. But it is not okay now. You belong to me now, and I will always ensure you are cared for above all others. Your comfort and safety are second to none other. You should not have had to go to the clinic with only a strange man to comfort you. I should have been there to hold you and to carry you up to our apartment after and ensure your absolute comfort. That’s my job, Angel.”
He pinned her with an intense stare. “Now tell me. What’s your job?”
She looked confused and her brow creased in obvious puzzlement. “I don’t understand what you’re asking,” she said helplessly. “I’m not being deliberately obtuse, Drake. I’m just confused by your question.”
“My job is to always take care of you. To provide for you. To ensure your safety when I cannot be near and most especially to ensure that you are comfortable above all else. You only have one job, my angel. Obey.”
Evangeline stared in wonder at Drake as a myriad of conflicting emotions assailed her over his matter-of-fact stating of the facts—the truth—as he saw them. She felt slight irritation. But mostly she felt profound relief. As though a great burden had shifted and had been lifted from her shoulders.
Could it really be as easy as he made it appear? That this man, this beautiful, dominant man would cherish her, pamper her, spoil her, protect her, take care of her and in return, all she had to do was to obey? It was almost more than she could fathom. Like she was in a never-ending fantasy and if she opened her eyes it would all be gone in the blink of an eye, and so she held tightly to the dream, squeezing her eyes tighter shut to keep reality at bay.
Then he leaned down and very carefully peeled away the bandage, and after a moment’s inspection, he reverently pressed his lips to the wound. She was astonished that in one moment he was all raw power, bristling alpha male about to discipline his submissive, and in the next second he was so exquisitely loving and tender that it brought an altogether different kind of sting to her eyes.
“From now on if anything, and I mean anything, should happen to you, I want to know about it immediately. I don’t care how insignificant you think it is. I expect to know about it the minute it happens. Understand?”
She swallowed and then somehow managed to verbalize her consent around the knot in her throat.
Then to her further shock, he gently slid her body further over his lap until he cradled her against his chest. He pressed his lips firmly to her brow and then stood, lifting her higher into his arms. He carried her into the kitchen and then eased her down on the island with the rest of the kitchen surrounding her.
“Tonight, I cook for my injured princess,” he said, a gleam in his eyes.
Appalled, she immediately launched her protest. “In no way do a few stitches keep me from cooking dinner. Besides, everything is nearly done except for the steaks, and they’ll only need a few minutes to grill on each side.”
He tweaked her nose affectionately and then followed it by kissing her long and leisurely on the lips.
“Then I won’t have much left to do, will I? You will sit right where you are and direct me from on high. You tell me what to do and how, and I’ll have supper served in no time.”
Evangeline watched in fascination as he tended to the meal, pausing from time to time to ask her if he was doing it right. And as she was watching him and as she replayed the events prior when he’d forgotten all about her punishment and had instead instantly made certain she was all right and taken care of, she had an epiphany of sorts.
