SCARRED - Part 4 (The SCARRED Series - Book 4) Read Free Page B

been proud of the thud when she thought it was Jesse, but now remembering the sound made her wince. “The lights kept flickering. I went down to the machine room to check the fuses. I never heard you come in. I’d just flipped the switch down there and was on my way back when they went off again. I was going to see if I had a bigger flashlight before I went back down to the machine room because it’s pitch black down there.”
    “Oh damn! I feel so bad!”
    He laughed again and reached up and put his big arm around her. He pulled her off her feet she was crouched on and into his lap where he was still sitting on the floor.
    Letting his lips brush softly against hers he said, “You’re deadly baby, that’s kind of hot.”
    In spite of the adrenaline and anxiety that was still coursing through her veins, she laughed. “I’m two and “0” this week.”
    “You kicked someone else’s ass too?” he asked her. She laughed again.
    “Yeah, my instructor. I’ll tell you about it at dinner. Let’s get you up off this floor and check your ribs.”
    Chloe helped him up with considerable effort. She was discovering there was a great deal of difference between the strength she felt when she was loaded with adrenaline and that of an ordinary day. She was no weakling anymore either way, but the adrenaline seemed to pour into her muscles and make her feel indestructible. She held onto him on the way to the bathroom.
    “I think I’m okay,” he said.
    “We’ll see.”
    When they got inside the bathroom she flipped on the light switch. Sometimes still she was consumed all at once by how incredibly gorgeous he is. The bright fluorescent lights illuminated his deep blue eyes and he had a smile playing along the corners of his full, sexy lips. She had to shake herself and focus on the task at hand instead. She would re-visit those lips later...
    “Take off your shirt,” she told him.
    He let the smile slowly spread and he said, “Are you trying to have your way with me now?”
    She grinned back and said, “When I’m trying, you’ll know it. You won’t have to ask. Now strip!”
    With the grin still in place he unbuttoned his shirt while Chloe searched the medicine cabinet in hopes of finding some kind of salve to put on him. He was going to be sore even if they weren’t broken. She had her back to him and when she turned back around she felt her breath catch in her throat. His hair was disheveled from the “attack” and his cheek bright red. It gave him a just woke up look. The best part was that he’d done as she asked...or ordered, and he’d taken off his shirt. Her eyes consumed his body, all the bulging hard lines and ripples and she had to quell the hunger she felt ignite in her core...at least long enough to doctor up the damage she had done to him.
    His right side was reddening, almost growing darker as she looked at it. She used the fingers of her left hand and starting at the top of his ribcage, she felt along each one, gently.
    “Does that hurt?”
    “No,” he said. His voice sounded husky and she looked up at his face. He was looking at her with desire smoldering in his sexy blue eyes.
    He smiled and she said, “Stop that, I have to check for injuries.”
    “I’m not doing a thing,” he said.
    She looked back down at his chest. That was almost worse. She let her fingers continue down, softly prodding along each rib until she reached the bottom of his diaphragm. That’s when she felt his lips touch the top of her head. When she looked back up at him he let them slide down the side of her face and pressed them against her ear.
    “See, I’m fine.” His voice sounded breathless...sexy...masculine.
    “You’re sure?” she asked.
    Her own voice sounded husky as well and her lips were so close to his chest that it seemed a shame not to let them reach out and land against it, just for a second. When they touched him he shivered and she could actually feel the heat from his body rising against