Page 45 of With This Kiss
JAMIE
There was a small first aid kit in one of the coat closets in the hotel room.
Reign was being oddly quiet as I set about cleaning the wounds and putting some ointment on him. He had thankfully put on some boxer briefs, at least, so I didn’t have to worry about the towel slipping and end up seeing more than I bargained for, but it wasn’t much better. While the towel had looked like it was on the verge of slipping at any moment, at least it covered him well. His boxer briefs just showed the outline of…everything.
I was working hard not to let my eyes stray to where they weren’t supposed to. Thankfully, his back was to me.
I didn’t know what he was thinking, and for the first time, I wished I could read minds, just to get some insight into what was going through his head.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked when I got to the last wound. It was the one by his shoulder blade—the worst one.
“About my mom,” he answered, surprising me. I didn’t think I would evernotbe surprised by Reign. He wassurprisinglyfull of depth.
“Why your mom?”
“She used to do this for me when I was little.”
Usedto do this? Were there a lot of instances with him where he needed this kind of tending to when he was little?
“Not anymore?”
He shook his head. “Not anymore.”
There was something about the way he said it that made me think there was more with his mom than he let on.
He tilted his head back slightly to meet my eyes. “It feels good.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I said nothing. He smiled at me, this smile different from any of the previous ones he had given me. This one was much softer.
And it didn’t help my racing heart one bit.
“All done,” I said, closing the cap on the ointment bottle and placing it back inside the first aid kit.
Reign stood up to his full height, facing me. I resisted the urge to squirm from the look in his eyes. Then he surprised me when he bent down and lifted me up in his arms.
“What are you doing now? Put me down.”
“I’m taking you to bed.”
“I already told you. I’m not?—”
“I know. You’re not fucking me. Not tonight, at least.”
Try not ever. I was not going to fuck Reign Mahankov.
“Then why are you carrying me?”
“I already told you. I’m taking you to bed. We’re both adults. There’s no reason we can’t innocently sleep in the same bed.”
“There is nothing innocent about you.”
He chuckled. “You don’t know that. What if I told you I’m a virgin?”
I slapped his chest for the outrageous lie.
He wiggled his eyebrows. “Try not to take advantage of me, baby. You do something I’m not ready for, and you’ll have to take responsibility for me.”
“Take responsibility for you?” I shrieked.
