“Well, that’s not going to happen to her.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “Natalie, get some new clothes from upstairs and more blankets and pillows. Throw the blankets in the dryer so they can be warm.”
I let out an exasperated breath. “Thank you, Judy. I would’ve been lost if you weren’t here. Nothing can happen to her.”
“Thank you.” She appeared uncomfortable as she nodded her head and then turned back to Simone. “I don’t like the idea of moving her until a doctor gets here. It might be better to have her lie next to the fire.”
Natalie rushed off with two other women. David and the men went back outside. Simone continued to shiver in her sleep as I held her. Her full lips had turned a brownish-blue as her teeth chattered.
“We’re going to get you warm, little one,” Judy said. “Don’t you worry. You’ll be just fine. Okay, Mr. Ferraro, you have to let her go so we can take this stuff off.”
I did and looked away when Judy and the other maids began to pull off her shirt and pants. I didn’t want to, but I had to be respectful and focus.
“David, any word on a doctor?” I asked.
“Yes, sir.” David walked in with a sheet of paper, realized Simone was being undressed, and quickly turned his head my way, clearing his throat. “One can be here in an hour. He gave me some instructions that I can give to Judy.”
“I’ll take them.”
Judy hurried over and read them. I glanced over my shoulder to find that the maids had gently taken off Simone’s clothes. Shadows and firelight flickered over her bare body, hiding most of her nudity as she shivered. Instead of putting on a new set of clothes, they wrapped her in huge fur blankets and placed a pillow under her head.
I walked over to them. “Okay. I’ve got it. Thank you.”
They nodded and left.
I pulled her into my arms and brushed a few strands of hair away from her face. She looked young—early twenties. As my fingers stroked her cheek, she let out a long sigh and snuggled into the covers more deeply.
Judy hurried in. “We should wake her if we can.”
“Okay.” I shook her a little, but she remained asleep.
Judy placed a hot cloth on her forehead. “What’s her name?”
“Simone.”
“Simone? Time to get up.” Judy rubbed the cloth around her cheeks, dabbing at the little trickle of blood. “Okay. It doesn’t look like she has any major wounds, just little scratches. That’s good. I’ll have to call the doctor back. He’s on his way and wants an update.”
David came in with a thermometer. “He wanted me to get her temperature and thinks we should put her in warm water. Not too hot. I have a bath started. If she wakes up, it should be fine to move her.”
I gently shook her. “Simone. Simone.”
Groaning, Simone blinked her eyes and then closed them.
“Good!” David yelled out of nowhere. Usually, he was a silent, professional butler, always disappearing into the shadows. “I’m sorry.”
I shook my head. “No, you only yelled what I was thinking.”
I gently shook her again. “Simone? Simone?”
She garbled something. I smiled, happy that she could say anything. She wasn’t gone from me yet.
Judy came in. “The water is ready. We’ll help you move her.”
We all worked together. It was crazy. I’d been living in this house for a year with my staff and this was the most I’d ever said to all of them. I made a promise to myself to change that, to really take a moment and learn about them and who they were.
But right now, my only focus is Simone.
We carried her to one of the many guest rooms on the first level where there was a jacuzzi tub inside the bathroom. We unwrapped her out of the blanket and damn if I did my best not to look, getting glimpses of succulent flesh here and there. I tried so hard, but a chocolate nipple flashed before my eyes and then a curvy thigh. My flesh warmed.
I hissed and got her inside of the tub before I fucking started groaning. Surely, the maid noticed how uncomfortable I was, yet still blazing with lust.
Simone continued to blink as we sank her body into the tub, holding her up by her shoulders as her lower half slipped in. When she was in the warm water completely, bubbles covered the surface and hid her body.
“Gio,” she whispered.
Shocked, I thought she might’ve been dreaming about me, but I looked down and she was staring at me with drowsy eyelids.
“Is it really you?” she asked.
“Yes, it’s me.”
She closed her eyes again, her voice hoarse and weak. “I made it?”
“That’s one way to describe it.”
She gave me a weak smile. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
She opened her eyes. “I hit something on the—”