Heath settled in his vacated seat and examined her closely. “You know, for two people that have been together only a handful of times, you both seem very close to each other.”
“I know. . .I can’t explain it.” How could she? Since the moment he shook her hand almost three years ago she knew that Cliff was someone important.
“Just be careful, Alexis. I can protect you physically, but I can’t protect you from a broken heart.”
Heath was being the older brother figure she never had, but he didn’t need to worry about her feelings, she never stayed in a place long enough to grow attachments.
A few minutes later, Cliff came barreling down a stairwell and back into the room carrying multiple black duffle bags. She could only guess what contents reside inside. He approached her with a smaller bag and unzipped it before resting it on the table, revealing gray cotton.
“I figured you’d want something clean to wear. It’s a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt. They probably won’t fit. Sorry,” he rambles and Alexis places her hand on his holding the bag, a spark fizzing up her arm at the contact.
“Thank you.” She risked a smile and her heart soared as he bashfully returned it.
Knowing she wanted privacy, the men left the room allowing her to change. But attempting to unhook her bra became too much to handle and Alexis cried out in pain.
Cliff entered the room first, Heath hot on his heels, but her best friend immediately turned around when he saw that she was clad in a blood-stained sports bra and panties.
“Let me help you,” Cliff whispered as he walked toward her. “It may be easiest to cut the bra free so you don’t put pressure on your wound.” At her nod, he lifted a pair of scissors from the counter and made three cuts. One on each strap and the other down the back. The material pooled on the floor and she used her good arm to cover her breasts.
Reaching into the bag for the T-shirt, Cliff held it over her head and tugged it down. “Never imagined that this would be how I’d get you naked the first time.” Her body shuddered at his claim.
“How. . .how did you imagine it happening?” Alexis asked as she slipped her arms through the holes of the shirt, the deep V of the neckline dipping between her breasts.
“Well, you wouldn’t have been on the brink of death. That’s for sure.” Chuckling to himself as he twisted the bottom of the shirt into a knot at her waist, he added, “I’d probably like to kiss you first. But I guess beggars can’t be choosers, huh?”
“Probably not. But you can kiss me now. If you want, that is.”
Alexis had never spoken so boldly before, not when it was in her personal life. She spent her days bossing her teammates around, she liked to spend her off-hours more submissive.
“I can’t,” he told her and Alexis felt herself shrink in size. Of course, this gorgeous man with the mesmerizing tattoos snaking up his arms wouldn’t want her when she looks like this – death warmed over. “If I hurt you at all, it would kill me. I couldn’t risk that.”
At least he gives a good reason.
“I’m assuming you want your underwear gone too?”
At her nod, he slipped the scissors on both sides of her hips, slicing the material apart and landing between her feet. The once white material now a shade of dark red. Alexis didn’t miss Cliff's gasp as he took in the cotton and the residual blood on her legs.
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”
Alexis peered over her shoulder and found Cliff crouched with the sweatpants spread wide for her to step inside, his gaze trained to the floor. Alexis imagined that he was trying to be respectful of her lower body being bare before him. Then again, she probably reeked as well. It had been four days since she showered.
“You don’t have to apologize. I stink.”
His head snapped up toward her in attention. “I don’t like seeing you hurt.”
“Oh,” she whispered, taking a step back into one of the legs of the sweatpants, then braced herself against the bed to lift her injured leg a few inches, allowing Cliff to slip the material under her foot.
“Thank you,” she told him as he rolled the waistband a few times so they sit at her hips.
“You’re welcome. Let’s get you out of here and I’ll make you something to eat.” Immediately her stomach responded with an angry growl at the notion of food. “On second thought, maybe I should have someone grab something from Angie’s and bring it over.”
“No, worries,” Logan piped in, hollering from around the door jamb. “Mama Connelly is bringing food over to your place.”
“How does she know where I have a cabin?”
She watched Logan’s face transform as if Cliff had asked the dumbest question known to man.
“Dude, she knows everything. Don’t act so surprised.”