His to Protect: A Fireside Novel(23)

His appearance, along with his kind smile, was immediately calming. “Trina, David.”

“Nice to meet you,” David said, walking forward and holding out his hand. “Declan’s told me all about you.”

I shook his hand, noticing his warm, firm grip, before I twisted to look at Declan over David’s shoulder.

“Not everything,” Declan said, and David’s brow furrowed. “Get her looked at, David, so you can get back to work.”

“You have to go back?” I asked, shock evident in my voice.

“On for fourteen hours. This is just my dinner break, but it’s the quickest I could get here,” David replied, moving to the foot of the bed. When he reached out toward my ankle, I flinched away from his touch, anticipating the pain.

I sucked my bottom lip in between my teeth. “Sorry.”

His eyes flashed to Declan’s before coming back to me. When he met my gaze, his light-blue eyes softened. “I’m going to sit next to you and test your ankle. Okay?”

I nodded, still feeling embarrassed, more so now because of the understanding David seemed to have regarding me. I briefly wondered how long they had spoken while I slept, how much Declan had shared with David about me.

I tensed when David gently cupped my ankle in his hand and slowly turned my foot toward him.

I grimaced from the dull pain that began throbbing.

“Hurt?” he asked, his eyes on mine, not on my ankle.

“Just a bit,” I admitted unnecessarily. “But better than before.”

“Have you taken any pain meds?”

“She was out when I got back from the store. Just gave her the ice pack but she’s been sleeping.” Declan filled in the information without looking at either David or me. His gaze was glued to David’s hands on me.

My lips twitched, fighting a smile at his protectiveness, before David turned my ankle the other way. He set it down and I sucked in a breath when his fingers began prodding my skin. He alternated between watching my expression and where his hands were moving.

When he finally stopped examining with his hands and his eyes, I felt like I could breathe again.

I didn’t even realize I was holding my breath until I felt the pressure ease in my chest.

I hated feeling under the microscope.

“It’s just twisted. Minor sprain, but nothing bad.”

My eyes flickered to Declan’s and I grinned. “Told you so.”

“Better safe than sorry.” His dark eyes showed no hint of amusement, so I wiped the grin off my face and turned back to David.

His eyes showed a great deal of amusement as he watched me. “I think you’ll be fine by the morning. It’s swollen, but not too bad. Take some ibuprofen every four to six hours if you need it, but you should be good to go.”

“Thank you for taking the time to check on me. It sounds like you’re a busy guy.”

He stood from the bed and tugged on the ends of his stethoscope. “I’m never too busy for a friend.” He nodded his head toward Declan without taking his eyes off me. “Plus, this asshole can be unbearable when he doesn’t get his way.”

My lips twitched again and I coughed to smother my laugh. “I wasn’t aware he could be an asshole.”

Behind him, Declan made a choking sound.

David burst out in laughter. “Then it appears you don’t know him well at all.”

My eyes slid to Declan’s and I licked my lips. I couldn’t contain the breathiness in my tone when I said, “I think I know him well enough.”

“Right.” David cleared his throat, his humor obvious. “Then I’m going to take that as my cue to go.”

He stepped toward me, hand extended. “It was nice to meet you, Trina.” When I placed my hand in his, he held it firmly and then leaned toward me, squatting at the same time, until his lips were by my ear. My eyes stay pinned on Declan’s as he scowled, watching his friend dip close to me. “And I’m kidding about the asshole comment. He’s the best guy I’ve ever met. If you need someone, he’s the guy who will take care of you. You got me?”

I nodded, breathless and speechless at the same time.

David wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t already know. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t feel Declan’s annoyance with his friend rising every single moment David spent close to me.

When his lips brushed against my cheek as he pulled away, Declan growled.

David squeezed my hand before he let it go. “See?” He raised a brow and turned to face his friend. “What’d I tell you? Asshole.”

I didn’t bother to cover or hide my laugh this time.

“I’ll walk you out,” Declan said, walking toward the two of us and putting himself between David and me. I was still laughing quietly when David peeked around Declan’s shoulder and winked at me. “David,” Declan growled.

His hands balled into fists, making David laugh even harder than me.

“Jesus Christ, dickstick. Take a fuckin’ joke. I gotta get to the hospital anyway, but before I go, do you need anything? A chill pill?”

“Funny.” Declan snorted and I laughed louder. It felt good. A full, stomach-rumbling laugh that hurt my sides and made my cheeks hurt. “And careful with the swearing. Trina makes me pay her a dollar every time I cuss.”

David joined me in laughing, and as we laughed, I didn’t miss the way Declan turned to look at me over his shoulder. His expression immediately changed and his eyes softened as he took in my laughter and my smile. “Be back in a minute, Trina.”

“Okay,” I replied, smothering my laughter but not my smile. “Bye, David,” I called out when I heard the door open.

“See you soon, Trina! Stay off that ankle tonight and don’t take this guy’s shit.”

I heard another growl from Declan before I watched him push his friend out the door of the hotel room. Declan followed, and then the door slammed closed.





Chapter 13


Trina


“Thank you,” I murmured, half into the glass of water pressed against my lips. “I’m feeling better, though.”

Declan stood over me and watched me swallow the pills he’d just handed me along with the water. “David said every four to six hours.”

“It’s just an ankle,” I reminded him, fighting to keep the edges of my lips from quirking up. If I’d learned anything this afternoon, it was that Declan didn’t like seeing me hurt in any way.

One side of his nose twitched and he nodded when I handed the empty glass back to him. “How are you feeling, for real? Be honest.”

“I feel well rested, but tired. And my ankle is sore, but not in a painful way, just tender.”

He searched my face as if examining me for any hint of untruth before he nodded again and walked away. I watched as he headed to the small bathroom and rinsed out the glass before he shut the door. While he used the restroom, I rolled to the other side of the bed to the nightstand, the only other furniture in the hotel room besides a small chair pushed up to a tiny desk in the corner, and grabbed the remote. I’d just turned on the television when Declan exited the bathroom. As soon as I saw him, my breath stopped inside me.

He had taken off his shirt and I couldn’t stop staring at his chest.

He was cut.

Ripped.

Holy crumb cakes, the man was a serious work of art.

My eyes followed him as he sauntered around the bed, almost as if he’d slowed down when he noticed my eyes were stuck to his body like glue. Then he sat down on the bed next to me.

Next to me!

My eyes bugged out when he kicked his feet up on the bed, crossing them at the ankles, his back at the headboard.

Then he reached over to me, slid his arm around my waist, and pulled me to him as if I were light as the pillow he rested against.

“Um. Declan?”

His arm tightened around my waist until I had no choice but to rest my head on his shoulder and my hand on his stomach.

Without speaking, he plucked the remote out of my hand and started flipping through channels.

“You’ve had a long day, and you’re tired,” he said, before I felt his lips press against the top of my head. “Had a lot of ideas in my head today, of how we could move forward with exploring whatever’s going on between us, but that’s going to have to wait.”

Um. My blood began pulsing and heating. A throb began, and not in my injured ankle, but in a much more pleasurable area. I couldn’t stop my fingers from flexing against the taut skin of his abdomen, which was covered by the sexiest dusting of hair.

I wanted this. I wanted whatever he originally wanted to explore.

I wanted to explore him…and his body.

I wanted him to explore mine.

Not having had a lot of partners, only a few before Kevin, I’d never needed to take that first step and let a guy know what I wanted. In my limited experience, young guys were pretty blunt about what they wanted and expected.

Still, I gathered whatever confidence I had and tilted my head back, twisting so I was looking at Declan’s jaw. His jaw was tight, his eyes straight ahead on the television.

“Declan?” I whispered, adjusting as best as I could so I was sitting up further. His fingers on my hip held me in place. “What if I want to explore…um…you tonight?”

His eyes turned to mine and his jaw tightened further. “You’re hurt.”