But I didn't have time for that.
I had to get my woman home and show her that I had no intentions of going anywhere anytime soon.NineteenElsie"Really, I can undress myself," I said, wiggling out of his hands.
Okay.
I didn't know if it was something Roman said to him or what, but the second he stepped back into my hospital room, whatever tension and distance I had sensed in him was gone. Evaporated. I almost started to question if it had ever been there at all, if it was just a figment of my over-fried brain.
He'd sat down on the bed beside me, slipping an arm around my lower back, then one under my legs, pulling them gently until they went over his thighs and the good side of my face rested against his chest. His lips pressed down on the top of my head and his arms wrapped me up.
"They probably want this room emptied," I said a couple of minutes later of us doing nothing but sitting there cuddling in silence.
"They can wait, baby," he said softly and I felt a shiver run through my insides.
"My ribs hurt," I said next when I couldn't take the silence.
To that, I felt him nod as he slowly released me. "Okay. Let's get you home then," he said and then proceeded to do just that.
Which put us in my bedroom. I had kicked out of my shoes and used the toes of each foot to shimmy off the socks of the other. When I reached for my shirt, though, Paine's hands pushed them away and reached for it himself.
"I know," he said, then pulled the material gently up, waiting for me to lift my hands so he could get it off me.
I really could undress myself. While my arms and palms were wrapped, they had left my fingers mostly uncovered so I could do basic things to take care of myself.
The air of my room made my skin prickle and when Paine's fingers whispered down the center of my belly toward my pants, well, let's just say... my libido didn't get the message that it had been the shittiest day to end all shitty days and I was hurting all over and couldn't have sex. All that horny bitch realized was how good it felt to have Paine's capable hands on me. His eyes went up to mine as he started to pull the material down, eyes light, almost as if he knew where my mind was going.
"Breathe babygirl," he said as my pants pooled around my ankles.
I sucked in a hollow breath and Paine's hand moved to rest gently over the huge purple and blue bruise covering part of my belly and side. "It's okay," I said, reading the darkness that shuttered his eyes.
"Elsie, it's not."
"Well it's not okay okay, but I'm alright. And it's not your fault," I added, needing to get it out there, despite standing in the middle of my bedroom in nothing but my bra and panties and feeling way too tired for a relationship conversation.
"Elsie..."
"It's my sister's fault. D doesn't work for you. D didn't even know I belonged to you. To him, I was just some random chick. He didn't know El was my sister either. It was just... a bad situation. Maybe if I hadn't hit him..."
"Tomorrow morning, I'm running out and getting you pepper spray, a tazer, a cat-shaped stabbing weapon for that janitor's key chain of yours and a mini expandable baton. Then as soon as you're all better, I am teaching you some basic self-defense. When you get good at that, I am dragging your ass up to Hailstorm and they are going to give you the royal treatment."
"Hailstorm?" I asked, brows drawing together. I was pretty sure Hailstorm was the name of that weird storage-container community up on a hill with their guarded gates and dogs and stuff. I was also pretty sure they were just a bunch of survivalist freaks who thought the apocalypse was imminent or something like that.
"Yeah, Hailstorm. Hard to explain. They're like a lawless military. Most of the people there are ex-military. Those who aren't, have just as good of training. They can teach you the shit you'd learn in basic, but they can also get you up to snuff on things like Krav Maga and street fighting."
"I really don't think..."
"Enzo let your sister go, baby. I know you love her and no matter what happened tonight, she's still family to you. But we can't say she's not a threat. We also can't say for absolutely certain Third Street isn't a threat. I'll be taking better care of you from this point on out, but I'll breathe easier knowing you can handle yourself when I'm not around. Besides, it's a good workout. We can spar together."
Now, as a woman who has dated men who generally showed their feelings with flowers, jewelry, or even nice vacations, I had to say, nothing... no diamond earrings, no three dozen white roses, no trips to Fiji... nothing ever gave me the warm, gushy feeling in my stomach as what Paine just offered me. Maybe because jewelry and flowers and beaches didn't mean anything. It meant something that Paine wanted to keep me safe, to teach me to protect myself, to offer to train with me toward that goal.