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“I don’t know,” I spat, praying that I wouldn’t see a tooth come out. My tongue did a quick check of my mouth, and seemed to find everything present and accounted for. “Depends on your definition of ‘hurt.’”
He lifted me not just to my feet, but straight into his arms. Then he gave me the mother of all bear-hugs.
“Okay, okay,” I smiled, actually enjoying the feeling of being almost crushed. “I’m okay, I promise. But Cole—”
Just then the others rushed up, breaking into our little clearing. Like us, they were smeared with mud. Soaked from the rain. Joshua rushed over to me, his face drawn with concern. Evan ran to the crumpled man whose neck now somehow faced the opposite direction.
“She’s good,” Cole promised, before they could even ask. “She took a few fists before I could get here, but—”
“Cole! What thehell, man?”
Evan continued his examination of my fallen attacker and shook his head. Cole only shrugged.
“What?”
“We were supposed tointerrogate, remember?” Evan sneered. “Fuck me, this guy can’t tell us anything now. His neck’s on a swivel!”
“Forget all that,” ordered Joshua. His wet T-shirt clung to his body as he nodded toward me. “Get her inside, out of the storm. Clean her up and make sure she’s good. Evan and I will take care of…” he paused, looking down at the broken man. “The rest of this.”
Before I could even speak Cole swept me up, pinned me against his bare chest, and whisked me away. The last thing I remember was the steady beat of his heart, thrumming warmly against my cheek as he carried me out of the rain.
Twenty-Nine
COLE
I put her in the shower first to warm her up, but also to get the dirt off. I tried not to be mesmerized as the steam swirled around her beautiful body, or while I dabbed every cut and scratch with hydrogen peroxide to make sure there would be no infection.
“Cole?”
“Yes?”
“You’re bleeding.”
So I was. I stared down at my crimson-streaked arms, which had taken all kinds of abuse from the scumbag who’d beaten her. He’d screamed and scratched like a little girl, right before I put him out of his misery.
“Get in here with me,” Quinn ordered softly.
I dropped my boxers, and climbed inside. The hot water felt absolutely fucking amazing. We stood there for several long, baptismal moments, letting it wash away layer after layer of mud and filth from our bodies.
“Turn around.”
I did as I was told, and was rewarded with two loving hands on my back. Quinn massaged my tired muscles with her soapy palms, running them up and down every square inch of my skin. She did my lower back. She did everything, really. When she was done, she reached around and handed the soap to me.
“My turn.”
I reciprocated, again trying to focus on actually doing a good job. It wasn’t easy. My fingers remembered every last one of her womanly curves, and they kept wanting to wander into places that were fun and familiar.
She hadn’t stayed in the house when ordered to, but I couldn’t fault her for it. She was a woman of action, apparently. Quinn wasn’t going to be put in the corner, and told to ‘stay.’ She liked to be involved, and get things done.
She’s just like us…
I shuddered to think of what might’ve happened if I’d shown up a minute or two later. As it was though, the future mother of our child had managed to hold her own. From what I saw, she’d done a more than adequate job of rearranging the guy’s face. She’d disarmed him too, and kept him at bay. She’d saved her own life.
“Hey…”
Setting my hands on her hips, I turned her around again. It wasn’t like I could keep soaping her ass for the fourth or fifth time. Not legitimately, anyway.
“Are you okay?”
