Chapter 43

Beneath the soft orange glow of the lamp, Liam attended to the scratches Raine had received from Bill’s cat, Matilda. Raine sat on the brown leather sofa, eyeing Matilda as the cat nonchalantly stalked across the dining room table.

Rolling her eyes Raine said, “Gosh you are one horribly grumpy cat.”

Liam dipped his chin and with a lopsided grin said, “He did warn us.”

Her eyes traced his fingers as he rubbed ointment over the back of her hand. “Ja, thanks dad.” She moped.

Snickering, Liam mocked, “You can’t leave well alone, can you?”

Her hand was warm in his, as he took it up to wrap a bandage around it.

“You are shivering,” he noted aloud.

“Yeah it hurts.” She gave an odd smile.

His eyes flickered to meet her gaze, then back down to pin the bandage in place. “It is only a scratch, a deep scratch but it’s just a…”

“No,” she interrupted, her fingers tugging at her bottom lip before she explained, “It is gun- shot wound, and for some odd reason, my back. It’s killing me.”

Liam had almost forgotten about the attack on Raine. “You’ve held yourself exceptionally well through all of this.” He shook his head. “I should have been more attentive.”

He went to unzip her jacket.

“What the shit are you doing?” She asked, slapping his hand away and wincing from the pain at her sudden movement.

“I want to see,” he said, pushing her hand away.

She smiled up at him, “That’s not how this works. I’m supposed to be nursing you, remember?”

With a wicked grin, he slowly moved closer, “How can I forget you attempting to kill me with pepper spray,” he smiled with a dazzle in his big brown eyes, and leaned in to unzip her jacket, then slipped it from her shoulders.

“It’s bleeding again,” he said grimly, looking at the blood-stained T-shirt.

Liam’s fingers were smooth and warm as they grazed her skin. Lifting her arms above her head, he gently removed her shirt and dumped it onto the table beside him. Taking the medic kit, which he’d found in the kitchen under the sink he began attending to her, his fingers investigating the skin around her wound.

“The wound is very swollen,” he said, putting the back of his hand against her forehead. “And you’re hot. You’re getting a fever.” He rummaged around the medic box for more bandages.

“Nah, can’t be I feel cold, its way colder in the mountains…” she was saying.

“It might be infected.”

“Let me see your back,” he moved from the coffee table to sit on the sofa beside her, where she turned where he took note of a cut on her back too. “Well your attacker did quite a number on you. Looks like he got a good cut to your shoulder blade,” he told her, then pulled something out of the medic box.

“You should have spoken up.” Anger tainted his tone.

“What is that?” Her eyes bulged.

“A staple gun.” He said so simply.

He held it up to the light, the metal instrument gleaming under the hazy light.

“No!” she moved back, waving him off. “You come near me with that, and I’ll pepper spray you again.”

“Okay.” He put the staple gun back into the box, and looked for an alternative, less invasive way of sealing the wound. Internally noting, that he’d have to get her a strong antibiotic to fight the infection straight away.

“I’ll need to clean the wound. It might be a little uncomfortable. We can use this until we get you to a hospital.”

“Superglue?” she asked, eyeing the bottle.

“Surgical glue actually.”

When he saw her expression fall flat, he wiped the hair from her eyes. “What’s wrong, Raine?”

She blinked away tears. “I’m scared.” She looked up to meet his attentive stare. “I know, I said I am prepared to go to jail. I know I broke the law,” her eyes searched his and she’d never felt so naked in her life, “but I don’t want to go to jail.” Her amber eyes brimmed with tears.

Gently, his palm wrapped around her petite wrist. “I’ve dealt with criminals almost all of my life, and you’re no criminal. Aaron and I, we will do what we can, but…”

“I know.” She shrugged then withdrew her arm from his grasp, shifting so he could attend to her wound. “Buying off the black market is very serious, and people have died because of my actions.”

Moving in behind her on the sofa, Liam rubbed a strong numbing ointment around the area and started to clean her wound as gently as he could, trying to ignore the heat rushing to parts of his body he couldn’t control. With each stroke, he wanted to jump up and run away, but at the same time, he couldn’t stop touching her soft glowing skin. Gosh, he thought to himself. She really was the picture-perfect woman. Long legs, toned body, great hair, bit crazy and a whole lot of heart.

Her ribs moved up and down when she breathed in and out while his fingers glided over her shoulder, down her spine and back up over her ribs. His heart beat faster; sweat trickled down the back of his neck.

“Liam,” She breathed.

“Yes.”

“The wound is, um on the other side.”

He cleared his throat.

“All done,” he said, bandaging her up.

He went to move from the couch when she swung around and grabbed his thigh.

“Is it weird that…” she moved closer to him, nails digging into his jeans. His eyes took in her long slim fingers, he looked up to find her inches away. He swallowed, his hand sliding up her arm, and just before their lips touched she said. “I really enjoyed you touching me.”

“I am sorry,” she tried to move away when he said nothing. Was it the adrenalin, the thought of going to prison, or was she totally insane for making a move on him?

“Don’t.” he pulled her leg closer to him.

“Can I kiss you?” her gaze fell to his full lips.

He stared into her alluring eyes and before he could answer, they were kissing. Soft at first, lips grazing lips, tongues gliding, then his lips caught her lower lip between his and the kiss got deeper. Gently he pulled her closer, his fingers softly gliding over her neck wound, down her color bone, touching the lace of her bra, soon their hands were pulling and grasping each other. As if the only way to avoid falling off the world’s axis was by holding onto each other and sharing the same space. Their lips never parted; their breath filled each other’s lungs until she was sitting on top of him. Both consumed, and so lost in the moment that neither of them had the control to stop. She was soft and warm, smooth and curved under his touch. His arms pulled her into him, his hands slid up her back, feeling each rib, until he reached the cusp of the wound. He heard the soft thump of each shoe as it dropped from her feet before, landing on wooden floors. Her legs wrapped around his waist and the heat shared cocooned them in. Her hands raked though his hair and she pulled his head into the soft of her neck, not caring where she hurt, because his kisses drew out each ounce of pain she felt inside and out. He moaned into her bosom, his teeth at the edge of her black lacy bra when the cat gave a shrill. They both stopped and turned to stare, not letting go of each other, as if the heat of their lust had smelted them into each other. They saw the doctor standing in the doorway.

“Matilda, you nearly killed me, you miserable old cat.” Bill sidestepped Matilda as she ran across the room from beneath his feet. “I never liked you anyway.” Then he looked up.

“Oh.” His eyes met theirs. “Oh, oh, umm, sorry…” he said spinning around with his hands above his head holding a sketch in the air.

Liam and Raine shared a smile, not one bit ashamed they’d been caught in a moment of passion in a stranger’s house. He kissed her lips, ran his thumb over her cheek while she unwrapped her legs from him. Liam took her by her hips and gently lifted her off his lap, pulling his shirt back down over his abdomen and his boner.

Raine with Liam’s help got her jacket on, zipped it back up over her bra, not wanting to get back into the bloody shirt.

“What do you have there, Bill?” Liam asked as he stood from the sofa.

“Your killer. I suspect.” Bill answered, still facing the other way.

Liam walked over and then took the sketch off the doctor. From behind Bill, Willow emerged from the staircase, and moved past them.

“Oh.” Bill said. I thought you were asleep.” He stared after Willow.

“No offense Bill but it’s very creepy down there.” She said without looking at him.

Willow walked over to her sister where she was sliding her shoes back on and plonked herself down on the chair across from the sofa, looking more drained than usual. “Greatness Raine, I’m not used to seeing you in flats.”

Raine smiled shyly. “My favorite pair of stilettos is stuck in some guy’s face.”

Willow flashed her eyes.

They shared an awkward silence, as Raine’s eyes took in her bandaged head, then her gaze went to the doctor -Bill, standing with Liam on the other side of the room.

“Are you,” she stopped herself before Willow could tell her to stop asking her if she was okay.

“Willow.”

“Ja.”

“Did it work?”

Willow’s head fell back to rest on the chair. “For now, I think we got what we needed.”

“Good.” Raine whispered, followed by more uncomfortable silence.

“I get it now” Willow said as she closed her eyes. “If you never did what you did….” And with that, she fell asleep.