Chapter 34 I Love You
Maddox carefully lifted Grace from the floor and carried her back to the bed. He set her down as gently as possible, but she still winced as the movement jostled her injured leg.
"I'm going to get those supplies now," Maddox said, already backing toward the door. "I'll be quick."
He disappeared before Grace could respond, and she was left alone in the small room with nothing but her thoughts and the heat consuming her body.
Grace tried to focus on anything else—the peeling wallpaper. There is a water stain on the ceiling. The sound of rain had started pattering against the window.
But all she could think about was Maddox. The way he'd smelled. The way his body had felt against hers when he'd carried her. The way his hands had trembled when he'd touched her shoulders.
The heat was getting worse. Grace could feel it building, intensifying, making her skin feel like it was on fire despite the wet clothes clinging to her body.
She forced herself to strip out of her soaked half top and uniform skirt, the movements awkward and painful with her injured leg. She left her underwear on and pulled the thin blanket over herself, shivering despite the heat radiating from her core.
Maddox returned ten minutes later carrying a small bag. He knocked once before entering, his eyes immediately going to the pile of wet clothes on the floor before finding Grace huddled under the blanket.
"I got ice, some bandages, and painkillers," he said, setting the bag on the small table. "The guy downstairs said there's a clinic that opens at eight if you change your mind about the hospital."
"I won't," Grace said.
Maddox nodded. He pulled out a bottle of pills and filled a glass with water from the bathroom. "Here. Take these. They'll help with the pain."
Grace swallowed the pills gratefully, hoping they'd do something to dull the agony in her leg. And maybe, just maybe, do something about the other ache that was driving her slowly insane.
"I should set your leg," Maddox said, not quite meeting her eyes. "Or at least try to stabilize it until we can get proper help."
Grace nodded, bracing herself.
What followed was the most painful fifteen minutes of Grace's life. Maddox worked as carefully as he could, but setting a dislocated joint and trying to align broken bones without proper medical equipment was brutal. Grace bit down on a folded towel to keep from screaming, tears streaming down her face.
When it was finally done, her leg was wrapped and splinted with makeshift materials, elevated on pillows with ice packed around it.
"That's the best I can do," Maddox said, wiping sweat from his forehead. He looked exhausted. "You should try to sleep."
He moved toward the door again.
"You said you'd stay," Grace reminded him, her voice small.
Maddox's hand froze on the doorknob. "I meant in the room. I'll sleep in the chair."
But the chair was a rickety wooden thing that looked like it would collapse under his weight. And the room was so small that the chair was barely three feet from the bed anyway.
"The bed's big enough," Grace said, though that was a lie. The bed was barely big enough for one person, let alone two. "Please. I don't want to be alone."
Maddox stood there for a long moment, his back to her, shoulders tense. Finally, he sighed.
"Okay."
He kicked off his wet shoes and socks but left his damp jeans and compression shirt on. Grace noticed it the first time he took off his shirt, which still lay by the fire, she saw how his muscles rippled when he moved.
It was what helped to slightly distract her when he was setting her leg. She watched him carefully climb onto the bed, positioning himself with his back to her to maximize the distance between them.
It didn't work. The bed was too small. Even with both of them pressed as close to opposite edges as possible, Grace could feel the heat of his body radiating toward her, could smell his scent filling the small space.
Maddox lay rigid, his back to hers, trying to keep as much distance as the narrow bed would allow. Grace could hear his breathing. Somehow, she could also feel his heart racing, could tell from the tension in his body that he was as acutely aware of her presence as she was of his.
She tried to sleep. Really tried. Closed her eyes and focused on her breathing, on the pain in her leg, on anything other than the heat consuming her body and the male lying inches away.
But it was impossible.
The heat pulsed through her in waves, each one stronger than the last. It made her skin feel too tight, made every nerve ending scream for touch, for closeness, for relief. And Maddox was right there, so close she could feel the warmth radiating from his body, could smell that intoxicating scent that made her head spin.
Grace's hand moved almost of its own accord, reaching across the small space between them to touch his back.
Maddox went completely rigid the moment her fingers made contact.
"Grace," he said, his voice strained and rough. "Don't."
But Grace couldn't stop. The need was overwhelming, drowning out every other thought. She shifted closer, ignoring the sharp pain in her leg, until her chest was pressed against his back. Her arms wrapped around him from behind, holding him, breathing him in.
His scent was even stronger this close. It filled her lungs, her head, making rational thought impossible. All she knew was that she needed to be closer, needed to touch him—she needed him.
Grace's lips found the back of his neck, pressing soft kisses to the skin there. She felt Maddox's entire body tense, felt his breathing become shallow and rapid.
"Grace," Maddox said again, and his voice was pained, almost desperate. "What are you doing?"
"I don't know," Grace whispered against his skin, her lips trailing along the curve where his neck met his shoulder. "I can't help it. I just need you."
"Whatever you’re feeling…" Maddox said, and she could hear the effort it was taking him to keep his voice steady. "It isn’t real."
"It feels real," Grace said, her hand sliding around to his chest, feeling his heart racing beneath her palm. "You feel real."
Maddox let out a sound that was half laugh, half groan. "Why are you doing this? Are you trying to torture me? Is this punishment for what I did?"
"No," Grace said, and through the fog of heat and need, she felt something else rising. Something more profound than physical desire. "I love you, Mad. I love you so much."