AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Just a few hours,” James assures me. Then he disappears back into the doorway he’d appeared from.
I eye the hanging coats that obscure the door in the direction he’d gestured. I ease one leg off the bed and wonder if I dare to try to reach my pack to see what survived the fall. When I try to shift my other leg, I feel the strain on my knee and I know if I put pressure on it, it’s going to hurt. A lot. Damn it.
It also appears I’m not wearing any pants. It seems logical he would’ve had to take off the jeans to wrap my knee, but I’d feel a lot less uncomfortable not sitting around in just my thong.
Chapter 4
~~ James ~~
In the kitchen, I replay the moments when I peeled the girl’s wet clothing from her body. From the easy weight of lifting her, I’d expected her to be trim and athletic. Instead, the more-than-a-handful breasts and the hips that shouldn’t have been so curved reappear in my vision faster than I can repress them. My imagination has my hand wrapping that braid around it and tugging her— “Stop it, you perv,” I chide myself in my head. “She’s too young for you.”
Looking down I see I’ve ladled soup into a bowl and I’m spreading butter on a couple slices of soft white bread on autopilot.
I’ve never been a man for instant attraction. I have always taken my time getting to know a woman before asking her out. Of course, it’s been several years since I’ve indulged myself in that department. Emilie has been my main focus. Her, and playing “uncle” to her half-sister. Emilie will be going to kindergarten next year, though. Maybe it is time to give a little attention to my own needs. But not with this young girl who is basically a helpless captive.
I’d seen a few large platters in the pantry when I’d gotten the dog food earlier that might work as a bed tray, so I grab one and transfer the mug and plate. I carry it out to my “patient” with an eyeroll at my brain’s refusal to see her as just that. I have to keep reminding myself!
Instead of leaning back on the pillows covered head to toe with blankets, Lorelai has scooted to the edge of the bed and one slender leg is draped over the edge. I don’t know how I missed those well-defined calf muscles when I’d wrapped her ankle. She must spend quite a bit of time walking or working out. The bit of cracked blue nail polish on her toes seems to indicate she isn’t a gym rat, nor does she spend much time on her appearance. I find myself imagining massaging those calves after leg-day. I shake that off with a curse.
“Did you need to get up?” I ask. “I can help you to the bathroom, but you should try to stay off that knee and ankle as much as possible for the next few days.”
“I was going to check my pack for some sweats,” she said. “But I didn’t dare trying to balance on this knee.”
“Oh, I’ll get it for you.” I hand off the tray, which she slides to her other side, next to the wall. I retrieve her pack, which is heavier than I remember it being. I’m surprised at how much it weighs. She’s so little, I can’t fathom how she carried that around. But she barely winces when she grabs it with a soft sigh. “Thank you,” she whispers.
I think she might need privacy, and I turn to the side and act like I’m stoking the fire. Really, I watch her rummage through the pack for a minute. She pulls out a hard-sided carry case and unzips it. She extracts a tablet, inspects it, I assume for damage from her fall, and powers it on. When the screen lights up, I can see her shoulders relax. She shoves it under her pillow.
“No sweats,” she says. “Just leggings. I don’t think those will pull on over my knee.”
It occurs to me then that she knew what was in her pack, she just wanted an excuse to check her tablet for damage. Why would she need to disguise that? She shouldn’t be worried about me not wanting her to contact anyone; I’d charged her phone and left it next to the bed. Did she think I’d try to steal it?
I head over to the small dresser where I’d unpacked my clothes and pull out my tightest pair of sweats and bring them over to her. “I’m sure these will swim on you, but there’s a drawstring and elastic at the ankles.”
She reaches for them and beams at me. She smiles for a whole two seconds before she flinches and her hand goes up to cup the bandage on her cheek. I’m in shock. In those two seconds any resistance I’d had in me crumples. That smile transformed her from a bruised waif of a girl to a brilliant, breathtaking woman. I know I will give anything to make her smile like that again. That knowledge is overwhelming, and I have no words to follow up with.
While she eats, I settle into the recliner and pick up one of the books I’d placed on the small side table. I read the opening paragraph over a few times before my brain finally switches from Lorelai’s smile to the story. I try my best to block out the sounds of the spoon clinking against the stone bowl, the mug of water being set back onto the tray, the rustle of cloth when she shoves the sweats under the blanket to shimmy them on.
Then there’s only the pop and sizzle of the fireplace and the whistle of the wind outside, and the swirl of letters and punctuation that darken the night and transport me into the shadows of a city where a body is being discovered.
I look up a couple of hours later to find Lorelai watching me. “You okay?” I ask her.
“Yeah,” she says and shakes her phone at me. “Reading the screen is hurting my head.”
“I was worried you may have a concussion, but you seem pretty steady.”
“I think so. Just a headache. And I’m dizzy if I move too fast.”
I notice she’s rubbing at a spot over one eyebrow. “Seems normal. I’ll get you some more Tylenol. You want to go to the bathroom?”
“Yes. If you don’t mind helping me in there.”
“Sure thing.”
She maneuvers both legs to the edge of the bed but waits for me to hold her waist before sliding to the floor. I keep a good grip, but she still gasps when she tries to stand on her own. I hold her while she holds her breath and works out a way to stand without it being too painful.
I gradually release her. “What do you think?” I ask once it seems like she’s breathing again.
“It’s weird. I don’t know which side to limp on.” She gives a grimace. “The knee seems okay if I don’t bend it, but this ankle is screaming at me. I don’t think I can walk.”
