LEAP OF FAITH Read Free Page B

fingertips. With only six months allotted to complete a novel she hadn’t even started yet, her quiet mountain getaway was beginning to look extremely bleak.  
    “How long do you think it will take for the blisters to heal?” She asked when Jack returned a few minutes later.
    “Four or five days at least.” Placing a chair in front of her, Jack sat down and riffled through the first aide
aid
kit he’d carried in and pulled out antibacterial cream and gauze. “Some of the water blisters have been torn open and rubbed so raw they bled. You did quite a number on yourself, honey. Are you always this tenacious when you set your mind to do something?”
    “It’s a character flaw, what can I say?”  
    “Give me your hands,” he ordered, whistling between his teeth when Abby lifted her hands about an inch off the table with a grimace. It was apparent she’d put quite a strain on her arms and shoulders as well. “I think there’s a bigger problem than not being able to use your hands. I imagine you’ve over extended muscles you didn’t even know you had.” 
    “Believe me, I’m feeling each and every one of them right now. There’s not a spot on me that doesn’t groan in protest when I move.”
    “I think I can help with that.”
    Even after Jack rose from his chair and circled around behind her, Abby assumed he was going to retrieve painkillers or some other medicinal cure. It never occurred to her that he meant to massage the stiffness from her muscles and was thoroughly shaken by the visceral reaction she had to him. His hands were warm, his touch firm, and yet amazingly gentle as he worked the kinks and knots from her neck and shoulders. It felt…wonderful, although it was impossible to relax completely after an unexpected and disturbingly vivid image of those soothing hands roaming freely over her body popped into her head.
    “Better?” he asked, thankfully banishing Abby’s errant thoughts.
    “Immensely…thank you, Jack.”
    “My pleasure,” he replied, returning to his seat. “I’ll bandage your hands as soon as I’ve finished with your arms.”
    “My…”
    Abby bit down on her lip as Jack’s fingers curled around her upper arm and pressed into the tender flesh. Her muscles were so tight they had locked up, but the throbbing pain had been tolerable as long as she kept her movements to a minimum. Now with Jack massaging them, it felt as though every fiber, sinew, and tissue was being gouged with jagged shards of heated glass. Gradually, the pain began to subside, although Abby wasn’t a hundred percent certain whether that was a good thing or not. Without the distraction her sore muscles had provided, it was difficult to ignore how intimate it felt to have his hands moving up and down her bare arms. 
    It was silly to respond to his touch as if it was a caress rather than the therapeutic balm he intended it to be, but she was powerless to stop it. Even as Abby silently berated herself, the ache in her arms was replaced by the hum of a low electrical current. It pulsed through her veins and threaded its way to various other parts of her body; parts that had no business feeling anything at all for Mr. Jack Burton!
                                                                ***
    Jack smothered a smile. So, he wasn’t the only one feeling the incredible attraction between them; he only hoped he was doing a better job of hiding it than Abby was. He hadn’t missed the way her body trembled when he scooted his chair closer, or the soft intake of breath when his leg brushed against hers. Forcing himself to focus on the task of dabbing antiseptic cream over the blisters, he wrapped the gauze around her hands and secured it with white medical tape. Glancing up at her face, he couldn’t help  laugh ing
help laughing
at the smudges of dirt that covered all but a few small clean patches. 
    "I think I need to take a wash cloth to