Gino could see her feet were beginning to heal, but they had a long way to go. He didn’t want her to put any weight on them. He tested the reflexes and movement, all of which made her wince. Rest, anti-inflammatories and then physical therapy were her best chance of recovery. “You have to stay off your feet, princess. That’s important.”
“I don’t exactly feel like putting them on the ground, Gino. When I move them, they hurt very, very bad.”
“That’s a sign you shouldn’t move them too much,” he pointed out. “I’m not taking chances with the capsules breaking open. I’ll be taking them out as soon as I finish my reports. I’ll get Wyatt to assist me.”
She nodded, but he noticed she avoided his eyes. There was something she wasn’t telling him, something she wanted to tell him, but she had to do it in her own time. He had a suspicion it had to do with why Whitney had lied to Major General and said they could keep Zara if they rescued her. Then there was the matter of the soldier pointing a gun at a specific spot in her brain.
Gino pulled off his boots and climbed onto the bed with her. “I’m going to put you on my lap, Zara.” He waited, but she didn’t protest, so he picked her up and settled her on him. He wanted her to get used to his arms, the feeling of his body against hers and how it reacted when she was near him.
She put her arms around his neck and looked up at him. Her eyes were that strange slate color, and looking into them, he felt as if he had fallen under a spell. He wasn’t a man given to flights of fantasy so it was a little strange for him. He wrapped his hand around her throat so her heart was beating into his palm and he tipped up her face to him.
There was that trust again. Shy hunger. Desire. He liked that a fuck of a lot. He leaned his head to hers and took her mouth. She might not have a lot of experience kissing, but the combination of the two of them was so potent, it was as if she lit a match to dynamite. Flames spread through him like a wildfire out of control. He shifted her closer and took complete command of her mouth. She followed his every move. The slide of her tongue sent heat rushing through his veins to pool low and mean in his cock.
He used his thumb to tip her head back farther, giving him greater access. Fire poured through him, erupted in his belly and flowed through his veins. It didn’t take long to know he had to pull back when that was the last thing he wanted to do. It took discipline to lift his mouth from hers. He rested his forehead against hers and stared into those eyes of hers.
“I want to keep kissing you, baby, but it’s best if we stop now before there’s no stopping. Your body isn’t ready for anything but rest right now. I’m putting you in bed, and I’m going to take a long shower.”
“Does that really work?” There was genuine curiosity in her voice.
“No. I had to take a couple of showers at the embassy, and when it comes to you, no, they don’t work, but it might help before I go face everyone.”
“You aren’t coming back here?”
There was the smallest note of alarm in her voice. Some panic in her eyes. He smiled at her. “I’ll be here with you, tonight. Just have to finish those reports, grab food and I’ll be in for the night. I promise.”
She studied his face for a long time before she nodded and relaxed in his arms.
9
Y
our poor feet,” Nonny whispered, crouching down to examine them.
Grace Fontenot was in her eighties. Very slender now, so that she looked small and appeared fragile with her thick, silver white hair, braided and looped in a bun at the back of her head. Her skin was thin and pale, the blue of her eyes faded. The color might have faded a bit, but her eyes were sharp and took in everything, including the multitude of gauze strips beneath the thin blouse Zara wore.
Zara didn’t want to be rude and pull her feet under her skirt, but everyone was staring and she was embarrassed. She looked around for Gino. The room held women, no men. Bellisia had hugged her too tightly before she got control of herself, and the wounds were throbbing all over again in spite of the painkillers Gino had given her earlier. Now, Bellisia curled up in the chair beside Zara with tears in her eyes. She kept petting Zara because, like everyone else, she didn’t know what to do.
Zara couldn’t stop looking at her best friend. Drinking her in. She hadn’t thought she’d ever see her again, but there were too many people around and she couldn’t talk to her alone. The things she needed to say—to know—were locked up tight and she could only sign to Bellisia, using the code they’d perfected after they became aware there were cameras on them at all times, to tell her that she needed to talk.
Thankfully, Bellisia signed back she’d find a way to be alone with her. Ezekiel had given her two more pain pills after Bellisia had hugged her, and she was beginning to feel the effects. Right now, she was beginning to feel very off-balance. As always, when that happened, she looked for Gino.
Wyatt’s grandmother took charge. “Back up and give her room,” Nonny ordered.
The three women, Pepper, Bellisia and Cayenne, automatically obeyed. It was clear they respected the older woman and her word was law in her home.
Zara took her first real breath since Gino had left her with the women, dragging the scents of the Fontenot home into her lungs. It was … comforting in a weird way. Spices, delicious smells drifting from the kitchen. Freshly baked bread. Chicken. The chicken smelled like heaven. This was the way a house was supposed to smell. Inviting. Homey. Not like a barracks and rations. Someday, she was going to have a home like this one and fill it with similar scents so anyone coming in would feel instantly welcome.
“It smells wonderful in here,” she blurted.
Nonny looked pleased. “I always like to have somethin’ on the stove to welcome the boys after they’ve been out workin’ so much. My boys were always hungry when they were growin’ up. The ones I have now don’t seem to be filled night or day.”
Pepper and Bellisia laughed. Cayenne nodded her head, her lips curving, but she didn’t make a sound. Zara understood. It was difficult to laugh when for so many years, she hadn’t had anything to laugh about. Zara had tried to be “normal” with her friends, with Bellisa and Shylah, but she hadn’t been happy at the compound or out in the real world. There didn’t seem a place for her. She could tell Cayenne felt a little of that.
Zara wondered what, when Cayenne had total freedom now, kept the woman in a place where she was uncomfortable. Maybe for women like them, there was no place to call home. She studied Cayenne while Nonny examined her feet. A part of her saw Bellisia and Pepper looking at her feet with a kind of horror. Both got tears in their eyes. Cayenne’s face gave nothing away.
Zara’s heart began a slow acceleration. The room tilted a little, and her stomach lurched. Somewhere there was the sound of dripping water and she remembered the water in the bathroom where Zhu had tortured her. The steady drip she hadn’t acknowledged until right at that moment. She hadn’t noticed it then, probably because she had other things to worry about, but now she knew she would always connect dripping water with the lash of the whip and the whistle of the cane.
Her body jerked. She felt the strike on her body. A low whimper emerged, and she hastily pressed her fingers to her mouth. Uneasily she glanced at the windows. It was midafternoon. Gino had let her sleep in and then brought her breakfast in bed. He’d had her nap again before getting her dressed to meet the other members of the household.