He sat back, eyeing her sternly. “Do not give me your cute smile and expect I’m going to let you talk me into letting you up.”
Her perfect bow of a mouth curved, drawing his immediate attention. That got him right in the gut. Women were attracted to him. He never went looking; they found him. He always made it clear it would be for a night. He had no interest in adding a womanto his life. Never. Until now. There was something about her he had a bad feeling he might not be able to live without. Anything different in his life put him on edge. Leila was as different as it got. And his reaction to her was a mystery to him.
“What?” Her voice was low, creating an intimacy between them. “Tell me. I’d rather you be honest with me.”
Her palm found his wrist. He felt her fingers slide over his pulse. That small, telling gesture was enough to set his heart stuttering. It made no sense that he was so attracted. If he’d been eyeing her for one night, he wouldn’t have given it a second thought. She was beautiful and funny and obviously intelligent. Courageous. He could go on listing her qualities, and that was the problem right there. That reaction was completely foreign to his nature.
Diego had a bad feeling that everything he’d ever wanted was right there, lying on the small bed he’d made for her. Looking up at him with those eyes of hers. She was everything he wanted without knowing he wanted it.
“You’re unexpected.” He decided honesty with her was the only recourse he had. He had no idea why he made that decision when he wasn’t honest with his brother, the one person he loved and held in the highest regard. “I’ve lived in the wilds a long time, and my enhancements include many predatory animals. That’s made me have more animal instincts than is probably good.”
Her brows came together. Of its own volition, his finger rubbed along that little frown line, smoothing it out.
“What are you thinking? Is something wrong?” Her voice was tinged with worry.
“Not with you. You’re healing nicely. I’m just in unfamiliar territory. I like to think things through before I make a move.”
“Do you think I’m a threat to you? You saved my life. I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for me.”
He had the unexpected urge to brush his lips against hers justto see what she tasted like. To inhale her breath, take her inside him where he could study her from every angle and see what it was that he found so intriguing. That alone made her dangerous to him, whether she thought so or not.
He asked himself if it was possible she’d been paired with him. He knew that was an ongoing experiment Whitney enjoyed. He would use scent to enhance an attraction between two people, especially if he thought he would be able to get a child from his soldiers he deemed worthy.
“You were never given to Whitney?”
She shook her head. “If I had been, I would have killed him. He didn’t raise me and remove all my filters the way he did my sister. She’s a mess, and he deliberately did that to her. If I’m ever introduced, I would consider it a worthy exchange: my life to take him with me.”
His ability to breathe stopped. His lungs felt raw and burning. His heart did that weird stuttering thing in his chest that actually hurt. He found himself shaking his head. “No, you’re not going to get killed just because you get a shot at him. You’re a bloodthirsty, hotheaded little thing. It looks like I might have to stick around you and keep you from doing anything crazy on the spur of the moment.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You didnotjust call me a ‘little thing.’ There’s nothing little about me.”
He felt the grin before it flashed through him. “You’re right, Leila. My mistake.”
“Has anyone ever just wanted to carve a small reminder not to be arrogant into you? Not kill you, just give you a few cuts making up some symbol so you learn to behave?”
“Actually, yes.”
“And I don’t mean enemies. Someone you live around and know very well.”
“Rubin has threatened to shoot me on many occasions. He’s thrown knives at me. Once he shaved the skin off my arm.”
She gasped, her large green eyes looking like two jewels pressed into her face. Her fingers dug into his inner wrist. “He really did that?” She sounded indignant after just having threatened him with similar behavior, making him want to laugh.
He shrugged, drinking her in. Her reactions to things fascinated him. “Yep. Apparently, I can be quite annoying.” He knew he didn’t sound in the least remorseful because he wasn’t.
He gently took his wrist back so he could move around behind her, setting up a backrest between her and what would be a very uncomfortable wall. “I’m going to lift you. Let me do the work. You just stay relaxed. You’re going to feel it because you haven’t moved for a while, but everything looks good, and I reinforced the weaker spots I found.”
He slipped his hands under her arms and as gently as possible eased her into a sitting position. Her breath hissed out, but she didn’t make any other sound. Sweat broke out on her forehead, but she tilted her head back and gave him a smile that could have melted the devil.
“Thank you. You’re a pretty amazing man.” There was open admiration in her voice.
He settled her against the backrest and rolled his jacket to shove under one arm to help keep her upright. He sat beside her on the other side, sliding his hand down her arm to catch her hand. Threading her fingers through his, he wove them together.
“Woman, you’re going to make me think you still have drugs in your system if you start that nonsense again.”
She laughed just as he knew she would. He put a bottle of water in her free hand. “Hydrate. It’s important to keep hydrated.”
She made a face. “Then I’ll have to go to the bathroom. I’m notcomplaining about the accommodations, because you made it as nice and as easy for me as possible, but it’s seriously ugh.”
