Steadying her on her feet, I helped her over to the bag on the floor. She bent down as blood dripped down her leg. She needed to be cleaned up before some sort of infection set in, but as she rummaged around in her purse, I relented.
If she wanted to look for some paperwork instead of getting to a doctor, fine by me.
“Here,” she said as she unfolded the papers. “Take a look.”
“I don’t care about the papers,” I said. “I was only wondering what the hell a girl like you was doing alone in a place like this.”
I took the papers from her anyway and scanned them.
There were pictures of the house, and I could see why this woman was so shocked. The pictures did this house way too much justice. Whoever took these damn photos got the lighting just right and probably showcased the only two rooms in the house that had any decent structure to them. This woman had been gifted a cabin that wasn’t fit for animals to live in, much less a human being.
But as she looked around the cabin, I could see the memories it held for her.
I wondered if she was haunted by her memories like I was haunted by mine.
Strike two. Now, this woman had me feeling sorry for her.
“Your leg needs to be patched,” I said as I handed her the papers back.
“Thanks for the advice,” she said.
“I have a first aid kit at my place.”
“Are you a doctor?” she asked.
“Nope. But you don’t need stitches, and I have everything I need to clean you up.”
“No, thanks. My mother taught me all about stranger danger.”
“I teach my niece that, too,” I said.
She turned her eyes to look at me, and I was struck by their beauty again.
“Your niece?” she asked.
“Yep. Niece and a nanny. You can meet them. Let’s get you to my place and clean you up. Then, you can be on your way.”
“Something tells me you would like that,” she said.
“No one moves to the top of a mountain to socialize.”
She nodded before she looked back down at her leg and sighed.
“I guess I don’t have a choice. Medical insurance isn’t the highest on my priority list.”
I knew I shouldn’t have cared what she meant by that, but my curiosity piqued even further.
“All right,” I said as I scooped her up. “Come on.”
She sat rigidly in my arms at first, as if she was annoyed by the fact that she needed to be carried. But within a few minutes, her body softened against mine and I felt her give in to the fact that she required help. I tried not to allow myself to think about how good she felt in my arms. I didn’t have time for her other than to clean her up and send her on her way back to the shithole cabin she’d apparently inherited.
I set her on the kitchen counter and propped her leg up before I rummaged for the first aid kit. All the while, I could feel her eyes on me and I willed myself not to look into her emerald eyes.
I needed to stay focused on one thing and one thing only; getting this gorgeous woman the hell out of my home.
CHAPTER 3
Amanda
He’s a fucking god.
From the moment he parted the dusty haze and strode toward me in that cabin, I was breathless. He had dark brown hair and deep blue eyes. His chiseled muscles were coated in sweat from doing fuck-knows-what before I fell through the damn stairs. He lifted me from that pile of rubble like it was nothing before he carried me to my grandmother’s couch, and his touch had been gentle as he rolled up the leg of my pants.
That hadn’t been expected, considering the calluses of his hands rubbing against my skin.
I couldn’t stop staring at him. The way his rippling chest flowed into chiseled abs. The way the veins in his arms throbbed with every movement he took. His skin was tanned, kissed by the sun itself and shining even with the dust clinging to his body.
I knew I was staring, but I couldn’t help it.
The way he carried me to his house effortlessly was riveting. He picked me up as if I weighed nothing and held me as if I was a delicate porcelain doll. I felt his exposed muscles twitching underneath my skin as he kept me close to his body, forcing a warmth to rise in my gut. It had been years since I’d been this captivated by a man, and never in my life had I felt so vulnerable and so safe at the same time.
But when he sat me on the kitchen counter and locked his eyes with mine, I was spellbound.
Instead of putting a shirt on like he really needed to, he looked around for a first aid kit. An older woman stood in the corner with a little girl who looked about two or three. She had dark brown hair the same color as—
I didn’t know his name.
“I’m Amanda,” I said. “Amanda Scott.”
But the tall man with the throbbing muscles and the tanned skin didn’t do anything but take my leg in his hands.
“Do you have a name?” I asked.
“Yep.”
“Are you going to share it with me?”
“Nope.”
“Fine. I’ll call you Dan.”
His eyes flickered up toward me, but he made no move to tell me anything about himself.
“Thank you for saving me, Dan. It was very kind of you.”
I watched as he slipped the shoe off my foot before he rolled my sock down.
“What are you doing?”
I tried to take my leg away from him, but instead of getting very far I only winced at the pain that shot up my leg.
“You done?” he asked.
“You going to tell me your name?”
“Will it get you to stay still so I can patch you up properly?”
“Sure,” I said.
“Brian.”
“Do you have a last name?”
“No,” he said.
“Murphy,” the little girl said.
My eyes peeked over his shoulder to the small girl standing across the room as his head whipped around.
“Hush, Lanie,” Brian said. “What have I told you about talking to strangers?”
“Don’t do it until you’re here,” she said.
“Sounds like she’s got ya there,” I said, grinning.
Panning his gaze back to me, he propped my foot against his chest. The wet warmth of his skin sent goosebumps up my skin as I sighed. I clenched my body, trying not to shudder as I curled my toes into his muscles. My body wanted to feel any part of him he would allow me as my tits stood at attention behind the material of my bra. What the hell was wrong with me?
I watched as Brian took out some antiseptic and a pair of tweezers. I knew exactly what he was gunning for first, and I tried to pry my leg away. His eyes flew up to mine as his hand came down onto my foot, steadying his hold on me as my eyes began to water.
“I’ll make it quick,” he said.
One by one, he plucked every splinter out from beneath my skin. Some I couldn’t feel at all, while others hurt like hell, but not once did his hand let up from my foot. His touch was strong. Commanding and domineering. But it wasn’t forceful, like my ex’s. He wasn’t trying to control my movements, he was only trying to steady them.
Tossing the tweezers into the sink, he took out some alcohol wipes. With every swipe he took, my leg jumped. Pain shot up my thigh and I hissed and bit back curses, trying not to startle the little girl in the corner. I saw the nanny trying to hurry her out of the room as a tear rolled down my cheek, but the little girl was pitching a fit every time she was moved.
“Leave her be, Tanya. The crying’s distracting.”
My leg jumped as Brian rolled over a deep gash and his hardened gaze flickered up to mine.
“And so is that,” he said.
“Sorry, it hurts.”
“Then don’t go walking on wood that looks unstable.”
“I had no idea it was unstable,” I said.
“Shining a simple light on it would’ve told you everything you needed to know.”
“Oh? And how’s that?” I asked.
“If it’s splintering from the floor, it’s not to be walked on,” he said.
Fuck. Like the splinters on the front porch I had seen as I walked up.
He tossed the bloodied alcohol wipes into the sink as well then grabbed gauze and an ace bandage. He layered some sort of goopy solution on my shin, causing me to wince as I tried not to jump.
He wrapped up my leg and then offered me some Tylenol and a glass of water.
“You good?” he asked as he took the glass from me.
“I think so, yes.”