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A faint shuffle of feet on tile
The doorknob turned--it hadn’t even been locked?--and the door opened the requested five inches
Closing his eyes, Marcus thrust the fist clutching the undies inside "Here Hurry up and put these on I don’t want you losing anyfrom his palain
He could hear every arments and felt his arousal cool a little asp that escaped her as cloth scraped cuts andopen
Bathed in the bright light of the stone-tiled roo the bra and panties, she had once more wrapped herself in the towel And, just as Marcus had feared, the white fluffy cotton boasted nu to the towel
Her bruised chin jutted forward stubbornly "I can take care of myself"
"You aren’t supposed to take care of yourself," he told her "We’re supposed to take care of each other That’s what Immortal Guardians and their Seconds do" When she opened her mouth to protest, he held up a hand to forestall it "You did your job earlier and saved my ass Now letwhich they merely stared at each other
"Please," he added
With visible reluctance, she dropped the towel Marcus swore
If the vampires who had attacked her hadn’t already been dead, he would have hunted them down and killed theh and the other on her hip--had been pinched together with butterfly closures Her tan bra cupped beautiful, full breasts, but was already acquiring a red stain on the front left strap Too daed nicely rounded hips and had pink fingerprints on the thin sides The pale skin of Ahs, knees, and calves sported too many cuts to count and were riddled with dark bruises Her fiery red hair hung in straggles that looked brohile wet, the occasional droplet for down her skin
More bruises on her forehead, chin, and cheek matched the dark circles under her eyes as she stared up at hiile
"Turn around," he murmured
She did
Marcus clenched his teeth to stifle ed red line that raked from the top of one shoulder across to the bottoht kidney Her round, firm ass appeared unblemished At least there were no pink or red stains on her panties that would indicate seeping injuries But the backs of her thighs bore red zebra stripes
"I wasn’t fast enough," he gritted out
She glanced at hih to guard your back"
"Well," she replied placidly, "you were a bit busy, in case you’ve forgotten"
Shaking his head, vowing to do better the next time--please, don’t let there be a next tie tube of antibiotic ointment that lay on the counter beside the sink
"Is it … is it bad?" she asked "It didn’t look that bad in the ently coated every cut with the ointment Oddly, they were all what ih really to require stitches "It looks like it hurts like hell," he commented nevertheless Cuts of any depth tended to hurt like a bitch, especially when doused ater Her shower lanced up in time to see her clench her jaw
"I’ve had worse"
Worse than this?
When he finished tending all the cuts in view, Marcus clasped her hips and turned her to face hiash on her hip, though it didn’t appear to be as deep as he had initially thought "Let me call Roland," he entreated "He can be here in half an hour and heal all of these wounds for you in minutes" Marcus had often wished he had been born with a ift like Roland’s ability to heal with his hands or even Roland’s lesser telekinetic ability What the hell good was seeing ghosts?
"What makes you think he would come?" she countered
"He’s my friend" Marcus was the only one Roland had allowed close to him until Sarah "If I ask, he’ll come"
"No, thank you"
Many butterfly closures, adhesive bandages, and a great deal of gauze later, he finished tending her legs and rose Opening one of the lower cabinets, he retrieved another towel, shook it out, then folded it twice and spread it on the counter next to the sink
Facing Aht as her eyes flew up to ht, he set her on the now-cushioned counter and stepped back<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>