3
SHE SWALLOWED PAST THE burning ache in her throat, the unknowing cruelty in his words like a dagger through her middle, the accusation in them tearing at her heart. She angled her face away, unable to say why this man’s judgement, in particular, had the ability to get under her skin. After all, she’d made a habit of dressing in skimpy clothes when she went to high profile nightspots, all so her father would be embarrassed by her, all so she could provoke him to reacting.
“Don’t delay,” he said, turning his back and moving to the bag he’d brought with them, unclipping it while he was crouched down. “The light is already fading.”
Her heart was in her throat. She put a finger to her side, trying to work out if she was actually badly injured enough to require his attention, and yelped at the immediate burst of pain. She pressed her finger more tentatively and felt something hard. Glass? Just as he’d said?
Her fingers moved to the gown and, as she lifted it over her head, she was aware of how flimsy and damaged it was. It wasn’t as though it was providing much more protection for her than without. She winced as she held her arms up, the stretchy feeling down her sides painful and uncomfortable.
His dark head angled towards her slightly, but his gaze was reassuringly disinterested. When he straightened, she saw he had a pair of tweezers, a bottle of anaesthetic and some cotton wool.
“Just something you carry around with you?” She said in surprise.
“The helicopter’s med kit is well prepared.” He stood right in front of her. “This is going to hurt.”
She laughed, despite herself, a shaky sound that threatened to dissolve into tears any moment.
“Just – get it over with. Please.”
His touch was deft yet surprisingly gentle as he ran a fingertip over her hip to detect even the most minute shard of glass before bringing the tweezers to bear, his face a study in concentration as he worked. Self-conscious in only a simple white bra and underpants, she found it hard to focus on anything besides what they were doing. She was intimately aware of his every single movement, his breath, his touch, the feeling of his fingers as they glided over her skin, the sensation of his proximity, the warmth of his exhalations against her flesh. A thousand bolts of lightning flew through her blood, her own breathing was heavy and fast, her awareness of him on a purely biological level making it difficult to concentrate.
It was the strangeness of the situation, that was all. The rush of adrenalin, the fear, the uncertainty and now the relief at having arrived in a safe haven. That explained why her pulse was going crazy and her mouth was drier than the desert beyond these walls. His hands moved upwards, to the flesh just beneath her bra. She stilled, holding even her breath, for fear of – what? She couldn’t say, but she rather suspected it might be fear that he might not keep going, when out of nowhere she desperately wanted him to touch her whole body, not just the broken parts.
“A thousand tiny pieces,” he said with a shake of his head, his eyes lifting to hers. There was a rueful expression on his face but heat still seared to her core. She bit down on her lip and looked away, her pulse visible through the fine skin at the base of her throat.
“I had no idea,” she managed to say, a gruff admission. She cleared her throat but it didn’t help.
“Shock will do that to a person,” he said quietly, drawing her gaze to his face.
“You weren’t shocked.”
“Wasn’t I?”
“You didn’t act it.”
His smile was lightly mocking. “What would it have looked like, had I been shocked?”
His fingers moved upwards, sliding beneath the strap at the side of her chest, checking deftly for glass before pulling back out again. She shivered and his eyes narrowed at the betraying gesture. This time, she was sure he saw the bright pink that stole across her cheeks.
“More like I was?”
He was still for a moment, then he lifted a hand to her cheek, running his finger over the side that had borne the brunt of the glass. “I thought you were very brave, actually.”
Pleasure glowed inside her chest. “Really?”
He made a grunting sound of admission, turning his attention to her cheek. It did nothing to diminish her happiness.
“I think this was a large piece,” he said. “It did the damage but there are no splinters I can see.” She stood still while he carried out a thorough inspection regardless, and it was so much harder to ignore her body’s responses to him now that he was upright, his body so close to hers, his breath brushing over her face as he worked.
She kept her teeth pressed into her lower lip, desperate not to react, not to show how he was affecting her, but how could he not see it?
“There.” His tone was throaty. “Now just the disinfectant.”
She made a gargled sound of agreement, staying where she was as he moved towards the bottle, uncapping the lid and pouring some on a white cotton ball. “Ready?”
She nodded, her eyes locked to his for several long seconds.
Elon held her gaze, and something like electricity jolted from him to her. She sucked in a sharp breath, trying to tear away her eyes, and failing miserably.