Sam didn’t want the handsome bastard to get any ideas regardingHannah. Because Hannah deserved more than a quick roll in the hay. Hannah deserved…
Everything.
10
Hannah was only distantly aware of her surroundings as she was carried to the third floor of the old menthol cigarette factory.
But it wasn’t because she was distracted by how nice the stranger who carried her smelled or by the certainty she’d become a bona fide damsel in distress—barf. It was because her brain had morphed into cold molasses.
No matter how hard she tried to move her consciousness forward, her thoughts stayed stuck in place. And she was nearly overcome by the urge to sleep.
Truly, she couldn’t remember a time she’d been so exhausted. She wasn’t sure if it was the letdown of adrenaline or if the cold was about to send her comatose. But it took everything she had just to keep her eyes cracked open.
She sort of, kind of,mayberegistered a large television room at the top of the second set of stairs. And she thought for sure she saw a long hallway interrupted by more than a handful of doors. But shedefinitelycouldn’t have said whichdoor the man who carried her entered.
In fact, she might’ve fallen asleep at the entrance to the hall, only coming awake when the stranger stepped inside what turned out to be a bedroom. She blinked blearily through the helmet’s visor and saw a picture hanging above a bed. But, again, she couldn’t say what it was of. And the bedspread could’ve been red, green, or tangerine for all she knew.
“I’m goin’ to set ya on your feet now, little one,” the man said after he’d ducked into an adjoining bathroom.
Any other day, his Southern drawl would have delighted her. As it was, she only noted his accent as an aside.
When her borrowed boots hit the floor, pain shot up from the soles of her frozen feet. It was enough to have her crying out in shock.
“Easy there.” The man helped her to the toilet and caught her by the elbows so she could slowly sit atop the closed lid instead of crashing down when her knees buckled.
“I’m goin’ to take this off, okay?” He knelt in front of her and pointed to the helmet. It took all her strength to simply lift her chin so he could unhook the clasp.
Once the headwear was gone, she blinked into the man’s sympathetic face.
Wow.
To call him handsome was an understatement. His chiseled jaw, pouty mouth, and hazel eyes belonged on the silver screen.
She might’ve felt a flicker of interest were she not a human ice cube. As it was, he could’ve been Quasimodo and she would’ve had the same reaction to him unzipping her borrowed coat and carefully pulling it off her.
“Blocks of ice,” he muttered when he caught her hands between both of his and softly chafed the frozen skin.
“Poor thing.”
Hannah glanced over to find the dark-haired woman from downstairs perched on the edge of the tub. She was filling it with hot water so that moist, comforting steam rose into the air.
Hannah remembered the sloe-eyed beauty from the last time she’d been at BKI. But her sluggish brain couldn’t conjure up a name.
“But you’ll be okay.” Currently-Nameless smiled encouragingly. “Just as soon as we get you warmed up, you’ll be right as rain.”
Hannah nodded numbly and then hissed when the handsome man pulled the boot off her left foot.
“Sorry.” He winced, turning her foot over in his large hands. “You’ve got a nasty cut here.”
“H-Hannah.” Sam appeared in the doorway looking ghostly pale and shaking so hard she could hear his teeth chattering.
“Sam!” she cried out, and then shocked herself by immediately bursting into tears.
“Whoa,” the handsome man kneeling in front of her drawled. “The dam’s sprung a leak.”
“I’ll t-take it from h-here.” Sam nudged the man aside so he could squat at her feet.
“I’ll go down and get some hot chocolate going,” the pretty black-haired woman said as she rose from the tub and headed for the door. Before she stepped into the bedroom, she turned and lifted an eyebrow at Mr. Tall, Tan, and Handsome. “You coming?”
