A thriving, living being.
His gruff voice cut into the tension. “Don’t like that you refused treatment. You sure you don’t want me to give Kale a call?”
I chanced looking over at him where he stood behind me on the far side of the deck.
My savage savior.
Streaks of blood were dried on his face, and a small gash oozed from the corner of his eye. His clothes were tattered, soiled with sweat and blood, his hair a mess, body still bristling with remnants of pent-up rage.
My lungs inflated at the mesmerizing sight of him. Every part of me expanded. Reaching toward him.
“You’re worried about me?” I managed. “You’re the one who came to my rescue. The one who put himself on the line. Again. I can’t...what if...”
His head angled and his shoulders rolled back, and the man took a powerful step forward.
The energy spiked.
“You think I’m not worried about you?” It almost sounded like an accusation. He took another step forward, the man a raging tower of protection. “You think I wouldn’t do it all over again? You think I would have let him hurt you?”
He was suddenly in front of me. My breath gone when he stood over me.
An imposing, conquering shadow.
Eclipsing the fear that had taken me hostage. If it weren’t for Rex, today would have ended in an entirely different way.
He lifted his fingers and brushed back a chunk of hair stuck to my cheek. His words rumbled like a threat. “I wanted to kill him, Rynna. He was going to hurt you, and I wanted to kill him. I would have. Second I saw you were in trouble, my heart was screaming out to protect you. To protect whatbelongedto me. To shelter what wasmine.”
Mine.
The word trembled around us.
“Thank you,” I whispered. A tear slipped free, and my body began to shake with the aftermath. With the reality of it all.
A gasp ripped from my chest when I was suddenly swept off my feet and into the strength and security of Rex’s arms. He had one arm under my back and the other beneath my knees, my body held possessively against the strength of his chest.
“Won’t let anyone hurt you,” he murmured against my forehead. Carrying me, he angled through the door. “I’m gonna take care of you.”
“Rex.” It was a whimper.
“Shh. I know, baby. I know.”
I clung to his neck as he carried me upstairs. At the landing, he took a left and headed into my bedroom, pushing right past my unmade bed and through the cutout arch that led to the bathroom.
As if this man already knew the way.
He set me on unsteady feet and turned me to face the counter. My eyes met his in the mirror. A low growl climbed his throat, and he leaned around me to turn on the faucet.
The air constricted.
Charged.
I swore, our slowed, measured movements attracted every molecule within five miles. He wrapped his arms around me from behind, taking my hands in his and placing them beneath the fall of warm water. He gently rubbed our hands together, the basin filling with pink-tinged water as he scrubbed the blood free from our dirtied hands.
“Two weeks, Rynna. Two weeks I’ve been dying, hating the way I left things between us. Hating that I hurt you.”
His words brushed my cheek, and his presence filled my senses.
Overwhelming.
