Page 13 of Tempting Tessa

Six

Disabling security cameras? He could do that in his sleep. Retrieving a first aid kit? Easy as pie.

Tightening the makeshift tourniquet above Tessa’s arm and watching her jaw tighten? He wanted to rip someone to pieces for causing her so much pain.

Sweat gleamed on her forehead, and her usually piercing gaze was dull under the haze of pain and blood loss. She was fighting shock—he could see it in the way she gritted her chattering teeth. Her whole body trembled. Her chest heaved with shallow breaths. More than that, her lips kept forming arguments that she didn’t have the strength to voice.

“Hold still,” he said, keeping his voice as calm as possible. It was a calm he didn’t feel. She was convinced the shooter had purposely tried to miss both of them, but he didn’t believe that. Then there was the van.

It took everything he had to keep his finger steady as he threaded the needle with a surgeon’s precision. He’d had to patch himself up more than once. The needle glinted under the dim lounge light, the sterile smell of alcohol filling the air between them.

“I am,” Tessa shot back with a waver in her voice. She cleared her throat, seemingly annoyed that she was showing weakness.

“It’s not every day you get shot and go into shock. It’s okay to let me take care of you.”

Even hurt, she didn’t cut him any slack. “I take care of…myself. I have since I was…nine.”

Jessie had once mentioned that she suspected Tessa had been abused, or at least neglected, growing up. When Jessie had pried, though, Tessa had refused to talk about it. Tommy wondered if she’d been in the UK’s version of the system that he and his sister had suffered through. “I get it—you’re as tough as they come.”

He meant it sincerely, but he saw her eyes narrow, assuming he was being flippant. Her voice came out stronger this round. “Not tough. Resilient.”

It was the same thing in his world, but anything he could say was meaningless in this moment. His actions mattered. He wiped away another trail of seeping blood and earned a curse from her. “I don’t like this either,” he told her. The gash was clean but ragged. “An inch to the right and you’d be missing more than your favorite jacket.”

“I’m telling you, our shooter didn’t mean to hit me.”

Whatever. “This is going to sting.”

“Just do it.”

Her flinch as the antiseptic soaked into the gaping injury was minimal, but her knuckles whitened where she gripped the edge of the table. “Ever been shot before?” he asked.

She shook her head, lips tight. Glancing away as he slipped the needle under one edge of the gash, she blinked hard. “I did a quality job on you,” she ground out. “You better return the favor.”

His injury was on the mend, thanks to her. He was grateful, but he was no sewer. “Can’t guarantee anything.”

Silence encircled them, nothing but the ticking of a clock on the wall breaking it as he focused on her delicate, pale skin. She’d downed the water, and he’d given her some oxycontin that he’d found in the head librarian’s stash in her desk. Much stronger than aspirin, they seemed to be already relieving some of Tessa’s pain. He had to make sure to keep her warm and hydrated, so she didn’t lapse back into shock.

“You’re sure about them?” he asked.

She read his mind. “Vasile and Sorina didn’t sell us out.”

“I don’t trust?—”

“But I do. They don’t know you. They have no connection to the embassy riot or Hagar. None to Jessie or the swans or…”

The final stitch cut her off as she sucked in a breath. He trimmed the thread. “Or what?”

She blinked as if she’d been lost in thought and he’d interrupted. “What?”

The shock was still taking its toll. “If not Vasile and Sorina, who then? You said it was a woman.”

“I only got a quick glance, but her size, her posture…I’m fairly certain our shooter is female.”

He wouldn’t rule it out. “Why would she fire at us but not mean to hit us? It doesn’t make sense.”

“I don’t know.” Again, she paused, seemingly lost in thought. “To warn us off? Chase us away?” She shrugged, examining his handiwork. “She must have had a reason.”

He wiped his hands and shoved the kit aside. Searching cabinets, he found a mug and tea bags. He shoved the water-filled mug in the microwave and zapped it. “This whole thing has gone to hell, and I haven’t even started on my quest to retrace Jessie’s footsteps before Vienna. I should leave you here. You’re in danger because of me.”

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