Snow Bound (4 page)

“The man I suspect
, who, well,
might be out there is one I helped put in prison. He was supposed to come up for parole a few weeks ago, and I know that it was granted, but when he never showed up to confront me, I jus
t figured he’d moved on.” Hoped
was more like it.

Damon
had halted not long after she
star
ted speaking, and now those brown
eyes widened as they met her own. “You, little Miss Priss, helped put a man in prison?”

“What did you call me?”

“Nothing, sorry. I just can’t believe it.” He looked away, almost as if he were ashamed of what he’d said, though she couldn’
t imagine this forceful, larger-than-
life hero anywhere close to ashamed or humble. “Tell me what happened.”

She’d rather not, but what did she have to lose?
After tonight, she and Damon
probably go back to simply nodding whenever they passed each other on the street. But she desperately didn’t want to be alone with
Bobby Joe
Resmondo lurking in the darkness somewhere outside her house. Just the thought tightened her muscles in a paralyzing grip. She’d gotten through he
r last encounter with him
only with the help of her parents and local law enforcement. Facing him again, alone, didn’t rank on her list of life goals.

Swallowing hard against the constriction in her throat, she struggled to relax despite her mounting tension. “I, um, I dated
Bobby Joe
in high school.”

“Oh
yeah, you were captain of the cheerleading squad, I heard.”

She nodded, remembering that all too brief time when life had been normal, before she’d gotten sucked into a darkness she’d never
encountered in her innocence
. One so impenetrable that even her best friends hadn’t believed her until it was too late.

“I was. And
Bobby Joe
was on the football team—“

“Captain?”

Tori glared across the dim room, irritated both by his interruption and his glib tone. “This isn’t a joke.”

His hands lifted as if in surrender. “Sorry.”

If he thought she’d spill her guts now, he had another think coming. “Anyway, to make a long story short, he was later
accused of attempted murder
of a girl he was dating at UT. My testimony established a pattern of abusive behavior, and the judge ended up giving him the maximum sentence for his crimes. He was paroled a few weeks back for good behavior.”

She thought the realization that a criminal might be lurking outside contributed to his sudden stillness, until he spoke. “Abusive, huh?”

Her impulse was to curve into herself, protecti
ng her
vulnerabilities, but she forced herself to stand up straight
instead and meet his gaze head-
on. “More controlling, really. It took me a while, but I learned to handle it.”
He studi
ed her until she squirmed,
solemn
and still
.
A
long, low whistle had her eyes widening in surprise,
but the heat in those dark brown
eyes melted every other emotion away. “I’m impressed, Princess. I really am.”

Ducking her head, she retucked the hair behind her ear, the motion
more
habit than need
since the hair remained right where she’d put it earlier. Needing a distraction, she asked, “Why do you call me that?”

The grin that tugged at his shapely mouth should have been classified
as
illegal, both sensual and secretive at the same time. She glanced away from the temptation, but his voice just picked up where the visual left off. “Ever since I saw you in that princess dress at the bookstore, I’ve thought of you like that.”

She nodded. “I know a l
ot of people probably think it’
s silly, but the girls love it
.” Relaxation tiptoed through her body
as
happy memories from the little tea p
arties she gave at the bookstore came to mind.

“Oh, I think it fits you just right.”

That statement could
either
be a compliment or not, she couldn’t tell from his tone, but she was going to assume the best. “Thanks.”

Her
limping steps back to the co
uch immediately drew him next to her
. “Princess, I’m going to need to take a look at that leg.”

Sh
e eased down, tucking the nightshirt
around her as her rear met the seat. “I’ll be fine. A little bruising is all.”

“Look,” he said,
moving into her line of vision.

Unfortunately
her height put her face right at the level of his crotch. How wrong was it to hunger for a glimpse of what was hidden behind the straining zipper ten inches from her avid gaze?

“We’re in the middle of nowhere with no phone service, no way to contact the police or ambulance, and a guy with a ve
ndetta on the loose with a snow
storm raging outside. We need to take extra precautions to make sure this doesn’t go from
‘
oh shit
’
to
‘
bum fuck
’
in the space of a few minutes. Got me?”

The look she shot up from her inferior height was probably furious, but he didn’t even blink. “Do you even know what you’re looking for?”

“Of course. I was in the military for eight years.”

“As a medic?”

“No, but even the rawest recruit is taught basic first aid and situational awareness.”

She conceded his point with a nod, though part of her wanted to continue
arguing.
She’d been taking care of herself since he
r parents
die
d, and her relationship with Bobby Joe
had taught her not to give up that control as ea
sily ever again. Besides,
letting him check out her bruises would involve the baring of some sensitive skin, and she wasn’t sure just how impartial she could
remain with his eyes on her butt
.

“All right,” he said, a thread of mischief stretching his lips and narrowing his eyes. “Bottoms up.”

* * *

Was it ou
trage that had her stiffening
like that… or embarrassment? Evil as it was of him, Damon f
ound
he enjoyed ruffling Miss Priss’s feathers.

But he’d been serious about checking her out medically. The last thing he needed was some serious situation sneaking up on them when help wasn’t available. Better to carry out every p
reven
tive protocol they could. His own aches
wouldn’t turn into bruises
until tomorrow, and his ribs weren’t broken despite a few well-placed punches and slams to the cold ground. No bleeding
and no concussion
. He’d been damn lucky.

Now he just hoped he could keep hi
mself calm
while checking her out. Hell, two minutes of her sitting before him on the couch, her mouth even with his crotch, had been more than enough for his body to sit up and take notice. Not to mention the brain that started running through the possibilities in six seconds flat.
Knowing she had spent time in an abusive relationship, on top of his earlier arguments with himself, should have had him running fast and furious.

But i
nstead of being turned off by her, Da
mon found himself increasingly
attracted the more he got to know Tori. She wasn’t uptight and gullible,
the way
he’d imagined her
. Instead, she was damn capable and on top o
f things. And her half-naked
with a loaded gun in her hands—his body spasmed at the picture in his mind.
Da-yum
.

He could be in trouble here.

Focusing on the task at hand, telling himself this was simply a field situation,
he motioned for Tori to lie down
on the couch. “Just slide over and I’ll take a look.”

A straight line of white teeth sank into the fullness of her bottom lip, making him wonder for a moment whether she would refuse, but she leaned sideways onto her elbows and allowed h
im to guide her sculpted legs
onto the couch. Her skin was smooth and warm beneath his fingertips, her muscles lean and well-formed. Images of how she’d feel beneath him, those legs curled around his thighs, had him breathing deep, his eyes drifting shut for just a moment.

As she settled
, he squeezed along her calves, testing the firmness and searching for any lumps. Her legs twitched under his touch, bringing his gaze to her face, but no pain showed there. As his
hands slid higher, she stilled;
then her breath released in slow, even pants. Too even. She had to be deliberately controlling it. As her eyes remained trained straight ahead, he clued in.

She was as aroused by him as he was by her.

The realization slowed his movements, lent a whole new element to his
touch. He gave himself free rein to catalog
every dip, every curve. His thoughts turned from exploration to satisfaction—his and hers.

His fingertips flirted with the hem of her sleep shirt, which had slid down almost to her knee. This time her breath stopped completely. Letting his eyes drift closed, he palmed the front of her upper thigh
, cupping her as he followed the curve to the back
. The smooth muscle tantalized him. The ache of arousal e
xcited him. The sight of her
need pushed him past his former barriers.

But the gathering desire ground to a halt as his fingertips brushed a spot that had her flinching. “What is it, Princess?” he whispered.

He opened his eyes to the sight of his fingers b
uried under her shirt, her gaze
wide and bright, glancing back at him over her shoulder. His body roared to attention, though he couldn’t pinpoint the exact source. H
is brain told him to back away
, but his body left his brain in the dust. Something primitive was taking hold, whether from the primal instinct to protect or the more basic instinct to mate, either way, his body was pulling for her on a cellular level. With her warm flesh against his, he wasn’t sure he could resist.

Didn’t even know if he wanted to.

Dragging his gaze away from her par
ted lips, he shifted the hand l
ying against her to slowly lift the hem of her nightgown. He encountered the spreading patch of red first, then the already purple bruising at ground zero. No wonder she was limping. The skin was puffy and discolored, the speed with which the damage appeared telling him how bad it was. Her fa
ir coloring would bruise easily
and heavily.

“Do you have any ice in the freezer?” he asked.

“What?”

He would have
expected sharp surprise or high-
pitched outrage, but the sultry, languid quality of her tone brought his gaze back to her face, drinking in the unconscious invitation in her lowered lids and parted lips.

One thing that gaze lacked was knowledge—she seemed unaware of the signals she was sending, which intrigued him even more. He’d been around plenty of women, both before and after the military, who knew the right looks, the right body language to signal their interest to a man. Her
e, Tori didn’t appear to be
calculating the size of his cock or the length of his ride; she was simply a woman who wanted him… and she coul
dn’t know what a hell of a turn-
on that was.

Wh
ich meant he had to get out of
here before he did something really stupid… like kiss her, for God’s sakes. The last thing he needed was to get involved with a woman who held children’s tea parties for a living. One night in her bed and she’d be picking out china. His history made family out of the question. So even if he wanted nothing more than to slip beneath that cotton
T-shirt
, his mind needed to focus on the long haul.

Rising stiffly
, he turned to the kitchen, letting his booted feet take him back through the doorway and across the dimly lit room. He gathered the tea towel hanging from a drawer pull near the sink and opened the freezer in search of ice. The swelling was uncomfortable more than anything, but the ice would help keep it under control. As his gaze swept over the freezer’s interior, he spotted an ice pack resting on one of the shelves in the door. So much easier. Armed with what he needed, he made his way over to the back door and checked both the lock and the deadbolt.

Mystery D
ude
would be stupid to attempt to break into Tori’s place after realizing there was a man here, but you never
could tell about these good ole
boys. Some of them didn’t have the brains God gave a pig. He added to the security with a chair wedged under the knob, then glanced out the glass pane. The curtain of snow seemed just as heavy, so he could only make out about half the backyard, though what he could see remained em
pty. Hopefully
ole
Bobby Joe
had for
gone another attack by finding a place to spend the night and ward off frostbite. But Damon wasn’t holding his breath.