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Chapter Three
Caitlyn
I stretched my arms up and over my head and smacked them into a headboard. I didn’t own a headboard, so where was I? I blinked slowly and took stock of my body. My head ached as if I had overindulged with alcohol, but I hardly drank during the week so I knew the fogginess was not from a hangover. Turning my head, I noticed my uniform folded neatly on an unfamiliar nightstand next to a bottle of water, a rounded jar with a thick ointment inside and a slim red plastic case.
What in the hell?
Images assaulted my brain, and I rubbed my temples to stop the onslaught.
Devil’s Park. The couple in the car who had been fighting. A man brandishing a gun. The masked man who tried to help me. That was the last thing I remembered.
Starbursts flashed behind my eyes and I closed them again.
Why can’t I remember all the details?
I blindly reached for the bottle of water and took several swallows, and forced myself to focus on the memory of the stranger with the mask and the kind voice who had been so determined to help me. Had he brought me somewhere safe? Was he here?
Blinking my eyes open again, I sat up and studied the room. I definitely wasn’t in some hole in the wall motel. Fancy curtains hung on the window, gorgeous throw rugs added color to the gleaming hardwood floor. Simple flower prints hung on the walls spread out in a tasteful pattern, and a vase full of flowers stood on the windowsill. It was like falling asleep on the devil’s doorstep and waking up in a Country Living magazine.
“Caitlyn?”
A man stood in the doorway, but I didn’t know who he was or how long he had been there.
I stared at him, blinking.
“My name is Kade. You passed out in the middle of Devil’s Park and I brought you back to my home.”
“That’s weird, Kade. Why am I naked?”
“You’ve had quite a high fever the past few days and you sweat right out of your clothes.” He approached the bed. “My sister is a nurse at Greymoor Regional Hospital and she’s been by to check on you as well.”
I touched my forehead with the back of my palm, but the action neither confirmed or denied the presence of a fever. I wasn’t going to stay here longer than I needed to, so I smiled. “The fever is gone. I’ll get dressed and be on my way.”
“You can’t tell that way. And you aren’t going anywhere until I know it’s gone for sure. Let’s check it really quick. Your body’s been through a lot.” Before I could protest, he picked up the case from the nightstand and produced a glass thermometer. Kade shook down the instrument and twisted off the lid of the jar.
“Oh no! No, no, no,” I protested, recognizing the thermometer as a rectal one. This stranger was not sticking anything in my private places. “We don’t need to check anything. I’m feeling better.” I gulped down more water. “Much better,” I lied.
“If your fever spikes to 105 or higher than we need to rush you to the hospital. You were at almost 102 a few hours ago. We are going to check it again. Better safe than sorry.”
His blue eyes locked on mine with an intensity I wasn’t used to. He was serious about my condition, and I could tell that my rebuttal would fall on deaf ears. “If I don’t have a temperature, you’ll let me go?”
His lips tightened into a thin line. “When I am sure you are fully mended,” he answered, vaguely noncommittal.
My eyes narrowed and my gut twisted as I stared at him. But he said I could go when he was sure I was fully mended. I wanted to get out of here. If this was what it took…
“Okay, I agree, but do you have another thermometer? I’d rather you not use the one in your hand.”
“No, I don’t, and this one is more accurate anyhow.” He gestured for me to roll onto my stomach. “It doesn’t hurt. The faster we do this, the faster we can get some food into your stomach and get you feeling better. Please cooperate.”
“I don’t like this.”
He only nodded, cocked his head to the side and waited. When I didn’t move, he shook his head. “I’ve already done this several times while you were out you know. Don’t worry, I was a perfect gentleman.”
With a defeated sigh, I shifted into the position he’d requested. Kade lifted the edge of the sheet and spread my cheeks. He slid the small glass instrument into my most private hole and rested his other hand on the stem of the intruding instrument. I forced myself to remain still, but his fingers were on my ass and it distracted me. No one had done this for me, and while nerve-wracking, it almost felt comforting to have someone care for me so wholly.
“Do you normally go around rescuing women and then nursing them back to health, Kade?”
And how often does that involve sticking things in their ass?
