The room feels oddly empty after the clutter of conversation. But it’s hard to think about any of that now. All I can think of is the man stretched out on the bed before me. Too damn pale for my liking. His chest is still swathed in surgical dressings, visible beneath his open shirt. But that isn’t stopping him from staring at me with a hunger that makes my blood run hot.
“Come here,” he says softly, his fingers tightening around mine as he pulls me down onto the bed beside him.
“Dario…I…” I begin.
“You slept in that chair?” he says. I nod.
“I just…I just wanted to be sure that…” That what? That he wouldn’t die on me? Leave me again?
It was all my fault. My fault we came home early. My fault he didn’t have time to arrange proper security. And my fault for losing my professional cool when he needed me most. What was I doing? But seeing him like that… All that blood…
I’d gone a little mad then. When that figure had appeared in the door and moved toward us, I’d hurled myself at him, attacking him with every ounce of strength in me. Thank God it had been Raoul. The guys have teased me about it ever since. A she-wolf defending her mate, they’d called me. I don’t care either way. It was the least I could do after failing Dario so miserably. Although it was stupid. If it had actually been one of our attackers, they’d have shot me down where I stood. I hope none of them ever tells Dario how foolish I’d been.
Now I’m trying to perch carefully beside him, but his grip is insistent. Pulling me over his body. Hisinjuredbody. I’d seen what that bullet had done when it had exited through his chest. And when the doctor had told us there was still a shard left dangerously close to his spine, part of me felt ready to die if he did.
I strain against him, hovering over him as he pulls me in for another searing kiss.
“You read to me,” he whispers against my mouth when I come up for air.
“You heard me?” I ask. He’d been so out of it that I was certain I was just reciting the words to keep myself from going over the edge.
“Every damn word,” he says softly, stroking a finger down my cheek. “Nobody’s ever read to me before.”
“What? Not even a bedtime story from your Mama?” I tease gently. I see his jaw clench tightly. He shakes his head, his jaw clenching.
“Only you, Nikki Love.” His free hand is moving down my body, cupping the swell of my breast, and I feel myself responding. I exhale a shuddering breath.
“You need to rest,” I try to keep my voice firm.
“I need to make love to my woman,” he says even more firmly, and my heart stutters.
Make love to my woman…
But no, it’s impossible. I’m not taking the chance of hurting him more. Although a thought begins to grow. I slide the covers down, revealing the hard lines of his body.
God, he’s so damn gorgeous…it’s impossible to believe he’d been so badly injured. When he came back home, we’d dressed him in loose-fitting pajamas since it was easier to care for him that way. When I run my hand beneath the waistband of his pants, my fingers encounter hard, throbbing flesh.
“Jesus,” he hisses out. When I curl my fingers around his shaft, he grits his teeth, then chuckles. “Fucking pajamas…not the sexiest things in the world.”
“It’s okay,” I reassure him, sliding my fingers delicately along him. “I’m a nurse, remember?” He shakes his head, but I don’t stop. “Everything about you is sexy to me. Do you hear me?” I’ve been the one tending to every one of his needs these past days. Pulling every one of my nursing skills into play.Dammit…If only those skills had been around when he’d been bleeding out on the floor…after saving my life.
I slide down his body and tug his pants down his hips. His cock bobs up as soon as it’s freed from the soft fabric.
“Mmm,” I murmur, looking up at him. He’s tucked an arm behind his head, propping himself up to look down at me.
“You should be riding that thing,” he says huskily.
“Not yet,” I say firmly. “Besides, Sister Lovie needs to make sure it’s in working order.”
“Yeah?” He raises a dark eyebrow. His eyes glitter, and he reaches a hand down to thread into my hair. “And what does Sister Lovie think the patient needs right now?”
I grin. “I’m prescribing more TLC,” I say, then flick my tongue over the head of his cock. I take it into my mouth, swirl my tongue, and he moans low.
“Jesus,” he husks out. “I think I prefer your examinations to that other fucking doctor.”
I make a huffing sound through my nostrils as I chuckle in the back of my throat. The hum vibrates through him, and he bobs his hips up. I feel him flinch. I shoot my head up, removing my mouth and fixing him with a hard stare.
“No moving,” I instruct. “Sister Lovie’s in charge today. Got it?”
