The truth was, Smythe really didn’t know yet. He was giving little Lotus Blossom hope. Gedeon wasn’t sure how he felt about that. The glimpse he’d caught of her had been so brief, but he was certain she was striking. Delicate. Just like the lotus he called her.
Then she was in his space, leaning into him, her breasts up against his chest, her lips pressed against his ear as she smoothed one hand down the back of his head. “Remember, just a foot from your hand. Smash with your fist if needed. Under your pillow is a knife. The hilt is toward you. I’ll be gone less than thirty minutes.”
The way her soft lips brushed against her ear was one of the most intimate things he’d ever experienced. But then, he didn’t experience intimacy. His leopard didn’t allow for it. He fucked all the time, but it was “do the deed and get out fast” before the vicious creature craving blood shredded the human being it detested. What was the beast doing now? It felt as if his leopard was rolling around like a lovesick kitten, making his stomach hurt.
Gedeon’s first reaction was to yank her to him, sit her right on his naked lap, the one covered only by a thin sheet that did little to hide the monster of a hard-on. The second was to shove her as far from him as possible. A vicious shove, one that would send her flying hard into the wall. If he was lucky, she’d break her damn neck. He did neither. He just sat on the bed, his fingers buried in her luxurious hair, wondering why the hell when he’d met a woman like her, she regarded him like a wounded pussycat. She was amused by him.
Then she was gone, taking her small, delicate, deceiving frame and all that amazing hair along with her enticing fragrance, leaving him alone. He wasn’t afraid. He didn’t have much fear in him. He’d had that stamped out as a young cub. He had those scars all over his body to prove it too.
“Beautiful woman,” Smythe commented.
His head was turned, watching Lotus Blossom’s departure. Gedeon could tell by the direction of his voice. For some unexplained reason Gedeon didn’t want to explore, his impulse was to leap on the doctor and rip his heart out. The need to do so was so intense, he shook with it, adrenaline pouring into his body. He clenched his fist, thinking to smash into the wall to retrieve a weapon and do the job right. If the doctor thought he could get away with leering at his woman right in front of him, he had another think coming.
“I hope I reassured her enough,” Smythe murmured. He had turned his head back toward Gedeon. “She was hovering over you. I think she was afraid I was going to hurt you.” He laughed heartily. “I can’t imagine you have too many women fussing over a big man like you.”
Gedeon didn’t like Smythe at all, but he didn’t know how bad his eyes really were and he needed to find out. His first instinct had to be put aside, but his leopard wasn’t having any of it. The cat raged at him, fighting to be let out. Declaring that the man was deceitful and would get them killed.
I am well aware he is, but we need him at the moment. You didn’t act this way when the woman was here deceiving us.
His cat raged more, clawing at him, raking. Forcing him to lock the cat down with tremendous strength of will.
She was saving us.
Now you sound sulky, and that’s beneath your dignity. A woman is just as lethal as a man, especially if she can make you believe she’s all rounded edges and innocence. You fall for that shit and we’re both going to die. Gedeon warned his leopard not to trust their savior. No one did anything for free. He’d learned that lesson very young and he’d never forgotten it. His leopard should have learned it as well.
I learned it. The cat was pragmatic. But so far, she has proven worthy. This one has not told us anything of value. It is in his mind to sell both of you.
I am aware. But I need him to tell me what he can about my eyes. Aloud he instructed the doctor. “Get on with it. If Audrey says she’ll be back in half an hour, she will be. She’s very prompt. And I want to know first if it’s bad news before she gets here. I’ll need time to process and decide what to do.”
“What to do?” Smythe echoed.
“Yeah, Doc, what to do. A man like me doesn’t stick around long blind. You have to know that if you’re at all who I think you are.”