His to Protect: A Fireside Novel(21)

She was uninhibited in her freedom.

She was absolutely stunning.

She was perfection in the most beautiful package. Attraction, beyond just the physical, shouldn’t occur so quickly, yet I couldn’t resist the pull she had on me.

“Let’s go,” I said when we’d finished our pie and she’d just finished a story about fishing in the pond on her grandpa’s farm. The fact that this girl could fish, bait her own hook and everything, made her more attractive. She didn’t mind getting dirty, and I couldn’t help but think of what other ways she wouldn’t mind getting a bit messy. “There’s more of the city I want to show you before we go.”

“Do we have time?” She nervously glanced around for a clock.

“Plenty. Downtown will take us closer to the station anyway.”

With that decided, I paid the bill while she used the restroom, and then we walked the two blocks to the closest train station.

“Kentucky is cleaner,” she mused, looking out the window of the train as we watched the city zip by. “Hotter and more humid, but I miss the fresh, crisp scent in the air. I don’t feel that here.”

Her hand was on my thigh, my palm pressing against the back of her hand, and while she spoke, I trailed a fingertip across her hand, tracing her handprint. She shivered from the slight touch.

“What else do you miss?”

“Nothing.” She turned to me and flashed me one of her lopsided smiles. And those damn eyes, so full of vitality despite what she’d gone through. “Absolutely nothing.”





Chapter 12


Trina


The wind in Chicago was brutal. Between my hair whipping across my cheeks and the throng of people on the platform when we stepped off the train, I was unsure of my footing, and felt jostled by the hectic pace of a city that felt much too large, much too active.

A firm hand cupped my elbow, and I flinched for just a brief moment before I realized it was only Declan, guiding me closer to him.

“Thank you,” I said and leaned toward his large frame for support. I wasn’t typically a claustrophobic type of person, but in the last few years, for good reason, unexpected touches from random strangers made me uncomfortable.

“Stay close,” he said.

His eyes focused straight ahead as he hustled us closer to the stairs, weaving us in and out of the other travelers with practiced precision. From what I knew, Declan had always lived in Detroit, only leaving for a few years to play football at Central University, where he met Tyson and Aidan. He seemed so comfortable in Chicago, knew so many specific places to go, that I couldn’t help but wonder how often he’d been here.

He was certainly not an occasional visitor.

I opened my mouth to ask him as we began heading down the stairway, when I felt a sharp jab in the side of my stomach. I jumped from the sudden contact and the sting of pain. I lurched forward, wrapping my arm around my waist and pulling my arm out of Declan’s grasp.

The quick movement made me lose by balance and the toe of my shoe caught on a bump on the metal stairs. Before I knew what was happening, I fell forward and reached out to brace myself against the stranger in front of me, when someone else bumped into my side and I tripped again.

A piercing ache slashed through my ankle as it twisted in the space between the stairs, and right before I face-planted on the metal railway, strong hands wrapped around my waist.

“Shit!” Declan cursed as he began lifting me back to my feet.

“Ouch.” I cringed as my foot twisted again and slid out of the gap.

Curling my hands around the metal railing, I pulled myself upright. Declan’s hands on my waist created a cascade of warmth that tumbled through my body, everywhere, except for where there was a fiery pain, beginning in my ankle and traveling up to my knee. “It hurts really bad.”

Tears welled in my eyes from the harsh pain, and I squeezed my eyes closed.

I had learned not to cry. It didn’t help anything.

“Are you okay?” Declan asked.

I hissed a breath between my teeth and pressed my lips together. Around us, people continued their journey to wherever they were going, not bothering to give either of us a second look. Declan was jostled from the back and the side as he stood in a way that protected me from the crowd.

I overheard a few murmurs of displeasure tossed in Declan’s direction for blocking the already narrow staircase. With the way he was looking at me, deep, dark eyes narrowed with concern, I doubted he heard them.

“What hurts?” he asked and his eyes roamed over my body. That look soaked into my pores like the richest lotion, soothing and softening me.

It shouldn’t be right, how good he made me feel. Yet there was no escaping it, either. Every look, every brush of his fingers against mine, every touch of his skin on mine created a craving inside me, made me want more.

“My ankle,” I said, shaking my head and trying to focus. I set the toes of my injured foot on the stair to apply pressure, but it made me yelp in pain.

“We need to get you looked at.”

He glanced down at my foot and quickly back up when I snapped, “No. No doctors. No hospitals. There’ll be records.”

“Fuck,” he muttered, and ran a hand from his forehead to the back of his neck, squeezing. I watched as muscles bunched at the sides of his throat before he ran his tongue along the front of his teeth.

“Not a problem. I’ve got an idea. It’ll just mean we miss the train to Milwaukee.”

Before I could argue that it wasn’t a good idea, that I’d be fineI could just ice it on the trainhe pushed people out of his way and scooped me into his arms. One of his hands went under my knees, the other behind my back.

“I look ridiculous,” I said, not surprised at all that he carried me with ease. He was well over six feet tall, and even with my smaller frame in his arms, his muscles showed barely any strain from the effort. “I’ll be fine. Really.”

I knew what a severe injury felt like. I’d had enough of them.

“You’re not,” he insisted as I cringed when I was jostled in his arms. “But you will be.”

His hands burned my skin, his fingertips pressing against my lower back where my shirt had ridden up. Yet I didn’t enjoy it. The pain was increasing, throbbing from my toes up to my knee.

“We’ll get a cab and get to a hotel. I’ve got a friend we can call.” He set me down and pulled me to his side, keeping one arm fully wrapped around my back to support me. With his other hand, he gestured in the air for a cab.

“You have a friend in Chicago?”

“Yup.” He nodded as a cab pulled over. He reached for the rear door and helped me in, as I hopped on one foot, looking ridiculous. Once we were seated, he explained. “David. He was one of my roommates all through Central. He’s just finishing up his residency at Chicago General.”

“Wow,” I murmured, cringing from the pain. It explained how he was so familiar with Chicago. He must have visited David often, based on how well he knew the city.

I listened halfheartedly as Declan rattled off the name of a hotel, a Radisson down on Michigan Avenue, and then he sat back and reached for my hand, giving it a squeeze to get my attention. “You doing okay?”

My mind swirled for a moment. The pain burned, but it was the mention of a hotel room that made my head spin.

“We’re supposed to go to Milwaukee tonight,” I reminded him.

“We’ll go to tomorrow, Trina.”

“But the car…”

“Will still be at the dealership in the morning.” He reached out with his hand and brushed strands of my hair behind my ear. I expected him to let go, but then his thumb grazed the side of my neck and stroked my collarbone.

The grazing touch sent a cascade of emotions through me, along with creating a gentle throbbing between my thighs.

As if he understood what he was doing to me, his lips tilted into a grin and his eyes went to my lips. “We’ll get you checked out tonight if David can get away from the hospital for an hour or so.” His brows knit with concern. “He works all the time, basically. I didn’t think of that.”

“I’ll be fine,” I assured him, reaching up to his hand, still brushing along my skin at the top of my shoulders. His touch was distracting. “It’s not a big deal.”

“We’ll still have David come look at you.”

Decision made, without any input from me. I fought not to scowl. I wasn’t pleased that he wasn’t taking me seriously, that I was being dismissed, but then his hand squeezed mine and he leaned forward, brushing his lips over my cheek. “I’m just trying to take care of you. I don’t like the idea of seeing you hurt, and I don’t want to take off, in case it’s something major. For my peace of mind, let’s wait until David can look at it. We can spend the night here, take the train early tomorrow morning, and we’re still home tomorrow night, just on a later ferry.”

Something knit itself back together inside my chest while I stared into his large, dark orbs.

It felt as if he were healing me, from the inside out. I knew not all men were like Kevin.

Not all men beat their wives for the smallest infraction. I also knew some were worse than Kevin. He preferred to use his hands. I knew some men did more damage to women than Kevin ever did to me.