He carried her right to her best and laid her down, then took off her shoes. He sat on the edge of the bed and tugged up her shirt, starting to apply the ointment.
The soothing ointment, combined with his gentle touch, had her blood rushing to all sorts of places on her body. Kira bit her lip, trying to repress a shudder as his hand moved along her ribs. A wild image popped into her mind of him massaging the ointment into her breasts. She couldn’t let him, of course. She had to maintain firm boundaries. Boundaries she was already letting him cross by folding the hem of her shirt even high, exposing the undersides of her breasts.
She glanced at his pants, wondering. But there was no bulge. Hmm. That made sense—to him, this was purely a medical experience.
Still, some part of her was disappointed.
Joshua’s fingers pressed on a particularly sensitive spot, and Kira gasped. She grabbed his wrist, stopping him. He froze, his golden eyes lifting to hers.
“Do you want me to stop?” he asked.
Kira took a deep breath, winced as her ribs ached, then nodded. It was the best thing to put an end to this. She took the ointment herself and spread it thickly over the rest of her bruises. Joshua glanced away, his hands knotted on his knee.
“I didn’t mean to reveal your secret to the council,” he said after a moment. “I’m sorry for that. I wasn’t thinking clearly. It just seemed as though nobody was listening to me. I was afraid the demons were going to launch a full-scale attack on you, and it felt like you were ignoring me.”
“I’m still upset about that,” Kira warned him. She finished putting the rest of the potion in place, then wiped her hands off on the towel he handed her. It had a sweet, nutty scent to it that was quite lovely. The ointment sent heat radiating into her skin, seeming to go as deep as her bones. As the pain started to ease, tiredness swept through her. She repressed a yawn. “Thank you for your apology, though. I value it.”
Joshua helped her ease back into a more comfortable position and pulled a blanket over her. “I know you’re worried about people’s reactions when they find out. Just direct me to anyone who causes you problems. I’ll make sure that they’re dealt with.”
Kira rolled her eyes, though she smiled at the sentiment. “I do have someone who has been causing me problems.”
“Who?” Joshua leaned forward.
“He’s a pretty powerful member of the pack. Name of Joshua Woods. So maybe you can go take care of him for me,” Kira answered.
Joshua’s lips twitched, but he kept a serious expression. “Ah, yes. I do know him. Handsome fellow. Can be a real asshole.”
Kira nodded her agreement.
“Tell you what. If he gives you more trouble, I’ll steal his wife from him. She’s beautiful and deserves better anyway.”
Her heart fluttered. “Because she’s beautiful?”
“Because she’s kind and sweet and deserves better. I know Joshua rubs people the wrong way. Hell, I don’t even like him sometimes.”
Kira’s eyes drooped. She struggled to keep her wits about her as she yawned. Then she turned over, tugging Joshua’s hand. She was too tired to keep fighting, even though she wanted him close to her. She pulled him to lie beside her, her eyes shut.
“Sounds like that’s something you need to work on,” she mumbled. “He’s not so bad. He just… needs to learn.”
“Learn what?” Joshua’s voice came from far, far away.
Kira didn’t answer. She was already asleep.
Chapter 12 - Joshua
Joshua stirred awake, feeling warm and heavy, his eyes still shut against the morning. Kira’s scent wafted through his lungs, and he breathed it in greedily, content. She lay in his arms, tucked in against his chest. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep holding her in her bed. It was a full mattress, but there wasn’t much room for him to lie down, and he’d only meant to stay for a little while. She had slept soundly after the application of the ointment, but she’d started shivering during the night.
At first, he had put extra blankets over her. It didn’t help, so he had crawled into the bed with her, sharing his body heat. When Kira had slid back closer to him, he wasn’t sure if she was awake or not.
But it had felt so good, so peaceful, he couldn’t pull himself away. Apparently, he had ended up falling asleep. Now, his wolf was curled up in his chest, content. It had been a long time since his wolf had been pacing and restless the moment he woke to the end of the day. He didn’t want to lose this peace. His eyes remained shut, and his limbs were so relaxed, it would be easy to drift off again.
Fuck, he had to tell her. There was so much he was holding back, and these secrets just seemed to be getting bigger and bigger between them. If he told her now, would she just see it as an excuse for his behavior?
She started to stir in her sleep, and Joshua’s heart thudded. Somewhere in his half-asleep brain, he knew he needed to release her. Let her go and slip away further so that he wasn’t holding her when she woke. She wouldn’t like it. Would she? He pressed his nose into her hair, pulling in the last breath of her scent, his arms tightening despite himself. There was atime when he thought this could be his every morning. Before he fucked everything up.
His eyes remained shut, and the heaviness of sleep threatened to pull him back under.
Just as he was about to let her go and move back, one of her hands moved, gripping his. She was still breathing those deep, even breaths of sleep. Even in sleep, she pressed back against him, pushing her hips back into him.
