Page 106 of Seducing Hope (The Hope Legacy)

He shakes his head. “I’m sorry, Natia, I need them to help heal you.”

He rolls me onto my back, trying to avoid touching swollen areas. I fight against him, not wanting to be exposed. A cool breeze drifts over my skin as someone lays a sheet over me, and I stop resisting. Archan throws his suit jacket on the floor, dumps his watch on top of it, and rolls up his shirt sleeves. I concentrate on his every move, trying to ignore the pain. He sits next to me and holds my gaze. “Nobody else will ever know.” The bed dips on the opposite side, and someone takes hold of my hand. I glance over—it’s Jed. I panic as my body begins to go numb.

“I can’t feel anything,” I whisper.

Jed squeezes my hand. “It’s me. I’m numbing the pain.”

Archan holds my face, his hands gentle. “Natia, focus on me. I need to heal your injuries. You’re bleeding. I need to touch you, but not inside. Do you understand?” I nod, my cheeks heating. I close my eyes and stay quiet, keeping my breathing under control. A healing warmth suffuses my lower body. When I open my eyes, Archan is studying my face, not with pity, but with respect and compassion.

“She needs blood, now,” Nathan declares. He sounds far away. Strewn across the floor are multiple towels saturated with blood.

“What blood type are you?” Archan asks.

“O negative.”

“Fuck,” Nathan grinds out. It’s rare, so I don’t blame him.

Archan doesn’t take his eyes from me. “Get it from the blood bank.”

Nathan disappears. Archan pulls down the sheet to lay his hand across my swollen body. He checks each injury, making sure I’m fully healed before he moves on. He growls when he reaches the bruises on my aching left breast.

“Where is he?” I ask, anger lacing my voice.

“Dead.”

My eyes widen. “What? You killed him?”

He takes a deep breath. “It wasn’t me.” I pale at the implication.

“It was me?”

“Yes.”

I force my mind to go blank to hold back my maelstrom of emotions. All it serves to do is concentrate them into a tiny ball. Archan grasps my face. “Control it, Natia. We are in a fucking skyscraper.”

“Concentrate, Natia. Don’t let it control you. Try letting it wash through you rather than holding onto it,” Jed urges, trying to calm me. I let the ball of power unfurl, but keep it contained inside me—it works.

Nathan appears and quickly begins the blood transfusion, and Jed lets go of my hand; the numbness recedes.

“Does anything hurt?” Archan asks, scanning my body.

Just my dignity, pride, and strength.“My ankles.”

Shame washes over me again, as I remember being tied down, helpless. His hands stroke my sore ankles, and the sting disappears. He tucks a strand of damp hair behind my ear.

“Sleep… You’re safe,” he says, getting up from the bed. I catch hold of his hand, and he pauses. “What do you need?”

I swallow the lump in my throat. “Clothes,” I answer, swallowing harder, “a shower… and to not be alone.”

***

The last shreds of my clothes hit the bathroom floor, and Archan guides me to sit on a bench inside the shower as he adjusts the heat and angle of the spray. For some inexplicable reason, I don’t feel embarrassed sitting naked in his shower. I look around, trying to distract myself. He has an abnormally large shower, and I find it timely to investigate why people have such big showers.

“Why do you have a shower big enough for more than two people? I get the two, even three, at a push. But more—sounds complicated.”

He smirks down at me. I need that look—the one without the knowledge of my attack. “I’ll bear in mind your interest in three people, but you might be disappointed. I’m not convinced I could share you.”

“Great, another male in my life who dodges answering simple questions,” I mumble. He chuckles. I shiver as jets of water hit my skin—hot, but not hot enough. He disappears into the bedroom then returns wearing nothing but long shorts. He watches me carefully, and I smile. Satisfied I’m not going to freak out, he moves to stand behind me.

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