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In the pitch-black house, he started up the stairs with me pressed against his chest as he carried me bridal style.
“Just stop talking. You probably don’t even know that you’re fucking bleeding.”
I gently prodded at my face. It was sore, but as I pulled my fingers away, I could feel something wet.
“Go left, the door is open,” I muttered as Killian cleared the top of the stairs.
Light from the bonfire bled in through the back windows, shedding enough illumination that I could see us in the mirror as we walked into the bathroom. Killian used his elbow to hit the switch, dousing the darkness, and forcing me to wince at the bright intrusion.
“Set me down, I can walk.”
He pulled me closer before finally situating me on the counter. The surface was chilled under my thighs as my shorts slid up, and a hiss left my mouth as he tilted my face and began inspecting the wound. His fingers were gentle, but his eyes held an ire inside that made me shudder.
Killian hissed, while inspecting my face. “What the fuck was he thinking?” He stepped back eyeing my shoulders. “And take this fucking thing off.”
He peeled Kip’s cut from my body with shocking gentleness and tossed it to the floor. My sweatshirt came next, leaving me in just my tank top. I waited as he dipped below the counter to dig for the medical supplies before speaking again, especially as his face became level with the apex of my thighs. I thought of last night, but also…my mind went back to that first time he snagged a piece of not just my heart, but my hope.
Your eyes are Cinderella blue.
I blinked to push away the memory and focused instead on the way he was applying ointment to my face in such a gentle way that it made me wonder who else he’d ever touched like this. Then I remembered the girl he was hugging tonight.
“Why were you following me anyway?”
Killian’s gaze stayed on my wound, his fingers bracing my face as he gently cleaned it. I watched his dark brows and the way his thick lashes fanned the tops of his cheeks. The silence filled the room, but music and the revving of engines could be heard from outside. Orange flickered through the clouded window over the tub, making the room feel cozy and safe.
“I was headed back to the apartment, got tired.”
He was lying, and for months I had been letting his little lies slide because I didn’t want to confront the truth, but tonight, I wanted nothing but honesty between us.
“But you were with someone. I saw you.”
His movements paused, his eyes drifting down to mine.
“You mean Jill?”
Fuck if I knew. I shrugged, hating that it made pain flare in my shoulder.
Killian dipped his head, resuming his gentle ministrations against my wound.
“I said hello to her, she’s a good friend.”
It irritated me that he wasn’t telling me the whole story. He wasn’t explaining why he’d been there to pull Kip off me or telling me why he’d been watching me all night as if I belonged to him, only to stop the second she showed up. I wanted to go back in time and erase the fact that I knew he’d done it at all. But saying anything more on the subject would lead him to believe that I cared, or that I was jealous. While I knew I was, there was no way I wanted him to catch on.
The silence grew again, and this time, I wasn’t going to fill it with stupid questions that didn’t matter. Regardless of why he was watching me, he had been there in time to save me.
Gripping his wrist, I forced him to pause and look at me.
“Thank you.”
He searched my face, the intensity almost overwhelming. His rigid jaw was shadowed with a day’s worth of growth, just barely. It seemed he could grow a very effective beard if given the chance. I had the strangest sensation to run my hand along his wide jaw to feel the harsh growth against my smooth palm. His dark eyes seemed to hold a question he was too stubborn to ask out loud.
Then he leaned in and pressed his lips near my ear, invading my space completely.
“Don’t thank me, Daisy. Just don’t ever put yourself in that position again. His hands ever go near your body again and I will cut them off. Do you understand me?”
Daisy.
That fucking nickname again. God damn him and that stupid nickname.
