One night he surprised me and took me to Sapphire. I must say that my opinion on clubs took a radical shift being there with him. We sat at a table farther from the dance floor so we could talk. When we weren't talking, he'd pull me onto the dance floor where he'd just hold me. Part of me thought it was all a dream because I couldn't believe I was spending time with Trace Montgomery and more that he seemed to want to spend time with me.
The morning after our night at Sapphire there was a delivery for me. I opened the box to find two dozen cake-pops and a note that simply read, "Thinking of you. -Trace"
I lost a little part of my heart to him that day.
A week later, I was home reading when there was a knock at the door. I pulled it open and gasped to see Trace, who had clearly been in a fight, a particularly nasty one from the look of him. I spoke the first thought that popped into my head.
"We need to get you to a hospital."
"No."
Pigheaded, stubborn man. "Why?"
"I hate them."
It wasn't so much his words but the fierceness of them that took me by surprise. I held the door open wider as I stepped aside. "Come in. I'll get my first aid kit and meet you in the kitchen."
I was shaking as I walked down the hall to the bathroom. I grabbed my kit and the peroxide before joining Trace in the kitchen where I found him bare from the waist up. Despite the fact that I loved his body, I couldn't avert my eyes from the purple welts along his ribs. I knew he fought in ring matches but this damage was more savage.
"What happened?"
"I had a disagreement with a few guys."
"A few?"
"Four."
"Four against one?"
"It was good odds."
"Wait, what?"
His grin was wicked when he said, "I was the only one to walk away."
"Why did you fight them?"
He shrugged but didn't answer.
"Where did you fight them?"
"In an alley behind a bar."
I had so many more questions but held my tongue.
"Do you mind if I take a look?"
I saw as the heat flashed in his eyes. He was apparently just as eager to have my hands on him as I was to have them on him but it sucked under the circumstances because I was feeling for broken parts.
As soon as I touched him, he tensed and closed his eyes, and I knew that it wasn't from pain but pleasure. His skin was so smooth but hard and the muscles were so perfectly defined that I had to consciously remind myself not to linger too long in any one spot. He was beautiful, this man. It took effort to remove my hands from him and when I did his eyes opened and stared into mine. He wanted me, too.
My voice was a bit hoarse when I offered, "Well, you've got two cracked ribs and a broken nose. I can wrap the ribs and tape the nose but maybe you'd like to get a shower first."
I blushed then at the thought of helping him shower, of running my hands over his beautifully chiseled body. The thought was so very tempting. He seemed to know where my thoughts were when a smile cracked over his face.
"Don't worry, I can manage the shower, Ember."
"I'll put out a towel for you. I have a robe; it's one of my dad's old robes, so you can wear that until I get your clothes washed."
He stood as I started from the kitchen but his softly spoken words stopped me. "Thank you."
I turned back to him to reply but my words stuck in my throat when I looked into those steely-blue eyes. There was pain there but there was something else, too, something darker, and the sight of it had tears burning the back of my eyes. I managed to hold his gaze as I replied,"You're welcome, Trace."
I couldn't sleep that night and not just because I was on the sofa but because Trace was sleeping in my bed. The thought of him in there, well, it was a very nice thought. I had envisioned him in my bed more times than I could count but in every one of those I was in the bed with him. I insisted that he stay the night because if he was internally bleeding I wanted to be able to get him to the hospital. I couldn't get that look in his eyes out of my head. I knew he had secrets but that look made me wonder what heinous thing from his past still had the power to haunt him?
I turned over, pulled my blanket over my shoulder and tried for sleep. It took a good hour before the sandman had his way.
The following morning I woke to the smell of coffee and bacon. I peeled my eyes open and deeply inhaled that lovely combination of scents, and then I sat straight up and just stared. Trace was standing in the living room bare-chested, thankfully -- or maybe not -- he had already put on his jeans. It was a nice way to wake however I couldn't appreciate the view because the man was folding my laundry, my underwear to be more exact. I jumped from the sofa and grabbed the pair he was currently folding. I couldn't deny when I wore these I was going to be thinking about his most excellent hands but at that moment I was too mortified to enjoy that visual. I heard the chuckle which had me looking up into laughing blue eyes.