Text (Take It Off #4)(39)
Author: Cambria Hebert

Yes, it told me I was way too horny (hey, I write romance).

But… It also told me that what I was feeling for him was bigger than what happened to me. He completely eclipsed the fact that I was kidnapped and trapped. Yeah, I was still disturbed by what happened to me; however, it was impossible to dwell because of all the possibilities standing within my reach.

“You’re lurking.” he said without turning around.

“I do not lurk.” I sniffed and moved farther into the room.

He chuckled and turned slightly so he could glance at me. His eyes roamed over my body, and I bit my lip in response to the delicious desire that surged over me. “The bath make you feel better?”

After we both consumed considerable amounts of coffee and pie, Nathan insisted I take a warm bath to help ease the soreness in my body. It wasn’t hard to agree. A bath definitely was easier than a shower. I was able to let my hand with the stitches hang over the side.

“Between the coffee, the hot water, and the pain meds, I would say I’m good as new.”

His eyes narrowed slightly.

“Okay, almost as good as new.”

“Come here,” he said softly, his voice like a rumble through the room.

I walked across the room, my furry boots shuffling over the tile floor. “Those boots are damned cute,” he murmured, reaching out and drawing me in so we were standing face to face in front of the window.

“They’re very warm.”

He grasped my face and tilted it up and toward the light and studied me like I was some priceless piece of art. “Your eye looks a lot better.”

“I can see out of it now and that’s always a plus.”

He frowned. I hadn’t wanted to make him frown. To make it up to him, I leaned up all the way on my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his. He bent down slightly and wrapped both arms around my waist, pulling me closer.

I felt a little protest in my ribs, but I wasn’t about to complain. His lips were the ultimate pain reliever.

He teased my lips, flirted with them. His kisses were short and raspy. Then they would change into long and seductive. Just as I would get used to one kiss and begin spiraling into deep desire, he would change his angle, his intensity, or the pressure of his mouth, and it would be an entirely new experience all over again.

He left all my senses reeling.

And that was only with his kiss.

I couldn’t help but ask myself what he would be like in bed. Naked.

He pulled back and gentled his hold, dropping a quick kiss to my temple. “You smell like cinnamon.”

“You still smell like a Christmas tree.”

“Cinnamon and Christmas go together.”

“Yeah,” I murmured. “Yeah, they do.” I dragged my hand along the back of his neck, caressing the smooth skin and then slipping my fingers beneath the neckline of his T-shirt.

He made a sound of appreciation, and I smiled.

“What do you have going on today?” he asked.

I wished I could say nothing. I wished I could sit in his arms every second of this day. “I promised my parents I would come over for a while. They’re still pretty freaked out. And I have to get a new cell phone. It feels weird not having one. Plus, I really need it for work. I use it all the time.”

“Are you a social media junkie?” He teased.

“It’s my job.” I defended my serious bad habit. “It’s called marketing.”

“Be careful today,” he whispered against my lips and kissed me softly. My heart turned over. How such a big, rough guy could be so tender I would never understand.

“I don’t think my social media obsession is dangerous.” I joked.

“I’m not talking about your unhealthy online habits, sweetheart.”

I couldn’t even complain that he called my habits unhealthy because he went and added sweetheart at the end of his sentence. *sigh*

After my initial melty reaction, his true meaning broke through, and my stomach tightened. I knew what he was talking about. I just didn’t want to think about it.

‘Course, pushing it away wouldn’t make the problem disappear; it would only make it worse. If I wanted all the potential that I felt Nathan presented, then I needed to deal with the here and now so I could realize those possibilities. “Yeah, I know,” I said and pulled away to stare out the window at the trail. A woman was running along with a dog on a leash.

I watched them go, my eyes staying with the dog, a chocolate lab. I wondered what kind of dog I should get…

“Did you watch the news at all last night?”

“No,” I answered as the dog and woman ran out of sight. I looked up at Nathan. “Why?”

“It’s the reason I drove over here.” He paused. “Well, one of the reasons.”

“Tell me.” I was going to face this head on and kick it in the balls.

“The media reported your name. Your full name. And they reported his name too. They connected him to Mary.”

I felt the blood drain from my head. “Why would they do that?” I asked, dazed.

“Because the media is a bunch of bloodsucking drama hags.”

I laughed. “I’m so going to use that in one of my books.”

He grinned.

“So now he knows my name. And can find my address.”

“Yeah, pretty much. Not only that, but we blew the whistle on his identity. He’s a walking target.”

“Maybe that will send him away. He will run to some place people won’t know him.”

Nathan considered my words. “It’s definitely a possibility.”

“But you don’t think that’s what he’ll do.”

He scrubbed a hand down his face. “Shit, Honor. I don’t know. Part of me hopes to hell he runs to Mexico.”

“And the other part?”

His eyes met mine. “The other part of me thinks we pissed him off. Badly. I’m afraid you’ve become a challenge to him, one he won’t want to walk away from.”

I shivered. His words were scary.

“I don’t want to go back in that hole,” I whispered. Everything inside me felt numb, like my body was locking down some sort of self-protection mechanism in preparation for something terrible.

He swore in a way that only a Marine could. “You’re not going back in that hole,” Nathan vowed and pulled me into his chest. I wrapped my arms around his middle and held tight, like he was the last rooted tree in a raging tornado.

“Wait here,” he said and pulled away. I watched him go to the front door, unlock it, and walk out in the biting autumn wind.