Page 284 of Branded
I led her down the hall.
Into the barroom, which was now empty, the lights dim.
Guided her forward, led her into the kitchen, and propped her up on a stool. Thankfully, the kit was bright red and mounted to one of the walls (thus, easy to spot) so once I was sure she was steady, I opened it, started to pull out some bandages.
But when I went to put on the first one, she placed her fingers on my wrist, the touch scorching up my arm, burning a path right down to my cock.
“Wait,” she said.
My tending or my cock?
One was a little easier to control than the other.
“They’ll need to take pictures,” she said softly, answering the question. “There’s no point in covering them.” She forced a smile, but it wasn’t real in the least, not when her eyes were full of dark, of shadows, of pain. “Plus, I like my arm hair,” she said, still smiling, still faking, making the light tone she’d adopted ring all too false. “I’d like to avoid waxing by Band-Aid.”
“Don’t,” I whispered, setting the bandage down and carefully linking our fingers together.
Her brows in that adorable V again. “Don’t what?”
I brushed my thumb over the inside of her wrist. “You don’t have to pretend with me, gorgeous.”
Twelve
Jules
How the fuck he could tell I was pretending to be okay, I didn’t know.
I also didn’t like it.
Many a year had gone into building my mask and no one was allowed to see through it, thank you very much.
He brushed that slightly rough thumb over my wrist again, making me have to clench my jaw so that I didn’t shiver.
Okay, so I failed at the whole not shivering thing.
Which, of course, he noticed, releasing my wrist, leaning back and started to strip off the sweatshirt he was wearing.
Goody, my inner demon thought. Another sweatshirt to steal.
Then my inner demon cackled because one, it wanted more stripping, and two, it really liked that with his movements, Cas’s shirt lifted, giving me a glimpse of skin, of his flat abs.
I sucked in a breath, but then I was assaulted by the heat of him, the power of him as he carefully tugged the sweatshirt over my head, gently moving my arms into the sleeves, slipping my hands through the cuffs. Just like before, my head spun when I was surrounded by his scent. Floating up into my nose, covering up the remnants of the odor of heavy bar food, of the busy kitchen that rarely ever stopped being frantic from open to close and reminding me of spice and man and the forested mountains that were in Cas’s eyes.
My pussy clenched.
And seriously, what the fuck was that?
I didn’t do need and desire and men. Remember?
When I got the occasional itch—rare, because I existed in a state of exhaustion that only occasionally required me buzzing friend to help scratch it—I definitely didn’t seek out men. For one, I spent too much time away from Ethan as it was. For another, I wasn’t willing to let another man into my body.
Not after it had all gone so wrong after I’d ended up pregnant?—
And…nope.
Not what I needed to be thinking about right then.
But what excuse could I give to throw him off my track? I inhaled deeply, holding it for long enough that my lungs began to burn, that my head began to swim. I was tired, that was it. Tired and emotional and just…upset that his ex had gone full-on eagle talons on me.
