“You still with me?” she asked as she swung his legs up.
She didn’t expect an answer, but he muttered, “Not dead, if that’s what you mean.”
Pretty much exactly what she’d meant. She hurried back to the front door and locked it, checking the deadbolt twice. Alex gave a dry laugh.
“That won’t stop anything.”
“Shut up,” she said.
In seconds, she had a fire going and some water boiling. She hung her coat on the hook next to Alex’s and shoved her boots under the bench beside his. It made her pause, the sight of the pairs. Like they belonged together. She tried to ignore the longing that sparked from nowhere. She didn’t know this man and he certainly wasn’t the mate to her North Face boots. According to him, he wasn’t even human. With a scowl, she pulled Amy’s impressive first aid kit out of the closet and set it on the table in front of him.
Blood soaked his flannel shirt and carefully, she stripped him of it. He helped with silent and grim determination, never looking away from her face as she revealed a broad, muscled chest, strong arms, and flat abdomen. Necessary or not, she felt awkward with her fingers at his fly, more so when he lifted his hips so she could pull off his pants to give her access to the wound on this thigh. It was impossible not to notice the ripple of muscle, the strip of flesh between his belly button and the elastic of his briefs. A dark arrow of silky hair drew her eyes downward.
He might not be human…he might not even consider himself a man…but he sure as hell looked like one to Lilly.
She glanced at his face. His eyes were shut, his breathing deep.
A large, angry bite stood out on his ribs. Gently, she cleaned the wound with hot water and a soft cloth before putting disinfectant and a bandage over it. Blood had splattered his abdomen, and with perhaps a little more attention to detail than needed, she cleaned that, too, smoothing the supple skin with her fingertips.
She glanced up again and found him watching her. Her hand rested against his belly, where it had no business being. Blushing so hard it hurt, she snatched it away.
“You said you weren’t a man,” she exclaimed and then wanted to cover her head with a blanket and die.
“Never said I wasn’t male,” he answered darkly and closed his eyes again. “Give me a couple of hours and I’ll prove it.”
Lilly stared at him, mouth open, a whole host of conflict in her chest. She cleared her throat. “That won’t be necessary,” she said primly.
He gave a soft, rumbling laugh that made him groan.
After that, Lilly kept her hands busy in more appropriate ways.
She worked methodically, cleaning all his wounds before she bandaged them. She was no doctor, but she’d learned fundamental first aid around the same time she’d learned to shoot—after her adopted parents had been murdered in their home when she was seventeen.
His arm was the worst of the wounds and probably the source of all the blood. Bites and bruises covered it, and she worried that he needed stitches, but that was more than she could do. She used butterfly bandages instead and wrapped it twice with gauze.
She was exhausted by the time she finished. Standing, she stretched the tight muscles in her neck and back before moving to the window. Snow dropped from the sky in a thick blanket that showed no signs of easing. Even if it stopped during the night, they would be stranded for days.
At least their tracks would be covered. Anyone who tried to find them would be left without a trail to follow.
Relieved, she took a shower, washing away the stench of fear and the splatter of blood. Clean and too tired to do anything else, Lilly added wood to the fire, curled up in the chair next to the couch where Alex lay, and closed her eyes. She was asleep in minutes.
Dark and Deadly: Eight Bad Boys of Paranormal Romance by Jennifer Ashley, Alyssa Day, Felicity Heaton, Erin Kellison, Laurie London, Erin Quinn, Bonnie Vanak and Caris Roane
CHAPTER 5
Alex saw Lilly the moment he opened his eyes. She slept on an overstuffed chair beside him, her head on one arm, her feet hanging over the other. She managed to look comfortable, though he couldn’t figure it out. Like a kitten, curled into an impossibly small space.
The fire had burned low but embers still glowed in the ash. The room was chilly, but the blanket she’d put over him, warm. The twin to it covered Lilly. From the beds on the floor, four dogs watched him. A fluffy head popped up from the gap behind Lilly’s bent knees. Harley, she’d called that one.
He reached out and touched Lilly’s hair. It looked like burnished gold and felt like silk. Her chinks were pink, her lashes lace against them. He wanted to bury his face in the crook between her shoulder and neck, and breathe in the scent he’d only managed to catch in passing so far. He hadn’t come to dally with humans, but with this one….forbidden or not, he definitely wanted to dally.