Page 29 of Snowbound with the Santas

I fix her with a steady stare. “I have nothing to apologize for.”

“Oh, really?” Rayne crosses her arms over her chest, forcing her breasts to rise over her forearms. “So, you’re just a dick, then?”

She stares at me like she sees me. As if she sees beyond all the walls I’ve spent a decade crafting. Last night, I hadn’t considered she’d see my scars until the moment I turned my back on her.

“I won’t apologize for keeping you safe.”

“Careful, it almost sounds like you care.”

“The mountain is dangerous,” I say, fighting to keep my attention on her stunning eyes. “I don’t need the stress of picking up your slack.”

“You make it sound like this is my fault.” She glances down at her leg, which reminds me why I brought the support bandage.

“Speaking of.” I rummage through the hiking gear until I find it, then approach Rayne. She steps away from me until the bed hits the backs of her knees, and she sinks down onto it. I expect her to tell me to back off since there’s clearly friction between us, but she doesn’t say a word when I kneel before her.

“This is a support bandage. It’ll be tight and it will hurt at first, but it’ll help you walk better. Keeps everything tight… y’know?” A sudden flutter rustles through my stomach as I look up at her, and Rayne nods softly. Her long, black hair drifts across her shoulders, and I fight the urge to reach up and brush it away.

“Can I?”

“You ask to touch me, but not to enter my room?” Rayne smirks slightly. “You’re a strange man, Archer.”

I send her a withering look.

“Fine,” Rayne says, and she stretches out her injured leg to me.

My mouth is suddenly dry when I lightly touch her bare calf and place her foot against my thigh. It’s difficult to focus on unrolling the tubular bandage when miles of naked leg stretch before me. I force a deep breath, and Rayne smells like citrus, flooding my lungs. My stomach tightens as I caress her calf.

Sliding the bandage over her bare foot and ankle is easy. I’ve gauged enough that as the fabric grazes up her calf, it only begins to tighten at her knee.

I glance up at her, and words fail me. She’s watching me intently with her head cocked to the side. In just her underwear,she looks so beautiful. I want to touch her, to taste every inch of her and remind myself what the soft warmth of a woman feels like.

But I can’t.

Men like me don’t deserve someone so gentle.

“This will hurt,” I say gruffly. My fingertips skim past her knee to the shower-warmed skin of her thigh.

Rayne makes a soft noise, and I glance back up to see her jaw protruding as she grits her teeth. The tight bandage begins to catch against her thigh, and her foot slides to my crotch as I shift for a better angle.

Then her hands fly to my shoulders and she curls toward me just as I force the tight bandage further up her thigh and over her wound.

“Ahh!”

Her cry pulls my heart to my gut, and for a moment, we stay like that. She clutches at my shoulders and her breath rushes hot past my ear while she pants. The sole of her foot flexes slightly over my crotch. I swallow hard, waiting for Rayne to collect herself.

“Ow,” she murmurs finally.

“The pain will pass,” I assure her tightly.

“Mmhmm.” After a few deep breaths, Rayne leans backward. “Thanks.”

I pull my hands back, slide her foot back to the floor, and stand. “No problem. Make sure you put on all the layers.” I indicate toward the clothes and then flee the room as fast as I can.

I don’t stop moving until I’m back in the kitchen and can will away the tightening at my core. Just a few touches and I’m like a fucking teenager again. This isn’t the time or place for that.

Frankie and Nick are outside, laughing and joking about something I can’t hear, and just beyond them, the sun stretches into the sky.

This is… insane. Rayne is like some spirit here to test me. The Ghost of Christmas Temptation or something. And I want to give in. I want to run back in there and kiss her breathless until she never makes another noise of pain ever again.

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