Page 81 of Burn

He lifted the shirt easily, gliding it up until he could tuck it over my shoulders. I braced my hands on the counter. My palms still had light scrapes on them and coolness felt good against the raw skin.

“Bra next.”

“Yippee,” I murmured, but he was already lifting the back away from my skin and then up until it was also tucked over the shirt. One of my breasts popped free, but the other was cold. The flush of chilly air had my nipples tightening.

It had nothing to do with the extremely tall, sexy man who had his hands on me. That was my story and I was sticking with it.

“Not seeing a lot of bleeding through on the gauze,” Voodoo said, his tone still warm if settling into something a little more professional. “You good with me changing the bandage?”

“If I said no, would you stop?” I lifted my gaze to meet his in the mirror again.

“Yes.” The lack of hesitation and the single syllable answer with no qualifiers eased some of my objections.

My stomach made a faint gurgling noise as it curled over itself. I was actually hungry, but I really wanted coffee.

“Then I’m fine with you checking it. I’d rather know it was healing.” I licked my lips. “But can we do it quickly?”

“We can. Let me grab the kit.” He retreated from the bathroom, but returned swiftly with the box that reminded me of one that stored someone’s fishing tackle. It had a lot of trays and options inside. I studied the contents as he raised the trays and then pulled out what he needed.

Fresh gauze. A clear patch to put over the gauze. Skin glue. What looked like antiseptic or antibiotic ointment. Maybe both. Once he had it all laid out, he used the antiseptic—ah it was alcohol—to loosen the adhesive and peel the patch there off.

It didn’t even sting.

The gauze came next. There was dried blood on it, but not a lot. He snapped on gloves before he explored the area around the wound. It was definitely sore and uncomfortable. I hissed twice when he applied some pressure.

“Not a lot of heat. The skin looks flushed, but it’s not angry. The swelling has gone down and so far, it looks like the skin glue is holding. Your escapade out the window doesn’t seem to have done any damage. Just gonna dab this up, and seal it back closed. We’ll let it heal from here.”

That was all good news. His movements were steady, quick, and efficient. The tenderness around the wound itself had me wincing, but he didn’t touch it more than necessary. Once hehad the tape in place, he pulled my bra back down slowly. His attention flicked back to me in the mirror.

“Can you get your breast or would you like me to take care of that too?” The deadpanned delivery robbed it of any sarcasm, but not the heat flashing in his eyes.

“You’d do it, too, wouldn’t you?” Playing with fire?

“Yes,” he said. “But only with your permission.”

“I have a feeling if you touch my breast, we won’t be leaving this bathroom any time soon.” How did I feel about that? Regretful? Maybe a little. At the same time…

“You need to eat and Idohave some self-control.” He almost sounded chiding, but when I raised my hand and nudged my breast back under the fabric of the bra, he tracked the movement with an expression that had my pussy clenching around the emptiness. It was a reminder of how much he’d filled me and how much I’d like to do that again.

Fuck. I really would like a repeat of the experience. Maybe with a little more active participation my part.

“Maybe next time,” I said, trying to make it sound far more noncommittal than I was.

“I’ll hold you to that,” he said, his faint smile still present. “Hell, I’ll hold you anyway you want.”

Damn, if those words didn’t trigger a wild flutter in my belly. The man was far too damn tempting by half. He settled my shirt back into place and stayed there for a beat longer before he moved to close the kit and clean up the trash.

“Hungry?” The casual question was nowhere near as relaxed or informal as he tried to sound.

“Starving,” I admitted. “I’d also kill for coffee.”

“Well, if something needs to die for it,” he said in a droll tone. “I’ll take care of it.”

Arms folded, I followed him out of the bathroom and to the door. “Sucking up?”

He snorted. “Trust me, Firecracker, when I’m sucking on you for anything, you’ll know all about it.” The deliberate wink just added to the wildfire swirling in my system.

“Flirt.”

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