“She won’t save you from this, Shawn. She can’t. Push any further and you’ll die here. Now,” Gray said. “What’ll it be, boy?”
The honey-brown wolf’s growl stopped. It swayed back and forth on its front legs as though deciding on a course of action. A hard snort again, and then it turned and jogged off. Gray looked at Maizie, still sprawled on the ground.
“What are you doing in my forest?”
“Bleeding,” she said. “Where’d you learn to speak wolf?”
Chapter Eight
“Holy Taj Mahal, Batman. You could fit the whole downstairs cottage in here.” Maizie gazed over Gray’s shoulder at the bedroom as he carried her into the master bath. “Including the sunroom.”
The room was enormous, bigger than any bedroom needed to be. The king-sized bed, light wood color with thick, spiral-carved posts and matching swirl designs across the tall headboard, would’ve dwarfed her bedroom at the cottage, but in this room it was just a piece of furniture. It matched the armoire, dresser and chest of drawers, and the nightstands too.
The sitting room with its upholstered beige leather chair and matching ottoman, the classy fireplace, the small wooden minibar and compulsory floor globe was straight out of the decorating guide for rich-guy bachelors. The only thing that kept her from thinking she’d stepped onto a photoset for
Gray sat Maizie on the counter. Her leg and shoulder throbbed dully, but a strange heat and excitement surging through her veins seemed to overpower the worst of the pain.
“Yes, Maizie. My bedroom suite is large.”
“Very large.”
“You’ve established that. Now answer my question. What were you doing out there? You’ve been told since you were a child to stay on the paths. To stay away from this part of the forest.”
“How do you know that?”
“You know how.” He squatted, reaching to the cabinet doors underneath. He tapped the inside of her knee, coaxing her to spread her legs. When she did he opened the door behind them. “Your grandmother and I have been friends for a very long time.”
Maizie swallowed. Seeing that thick mane of silver and black hair bobbing between her thighs brought a rush of dirty-girl ideas to her head.
“You’re too young to have been Granny’s friend when I was a kid. You can’t be more than ten, maybe twelve, years older than me.”
He glanced up. “I’m older than I look.”
His gaze dropped to the V of her legs. His expression melted from distraction to focused interest in an instant. He licked his lips then glanced to her face as though remembering she was watching. His cheeks warmed a shade then he went back to his search under the counter.
“There are things about my family, about me, you need to know. Especially after tonight. You see, we’re not exactly
“Not normal. Yeah, I got that the last time I was here.” She scooched back, closed her legs, remembering the interplay between family members on the patio. “A real…close-knit family.”
How could she forget? Power struggles with his nephew, battles with his sister-in-law, a niece who seemed pissed at the world and a mother-in-law apparently oblivious to it all. Gray was stuck in the middle, trying to make everyone happy, which to her mind was only making matters worse. She kept that opinion to herself.
“Close-knit. That’s one way to describe us.”
A deep breath felt warm in her chest. Her clothes squeezed her body, the air grew heavy, seemed to press in on her. “Why’s it so hot in here?”
Gray set the medical supplies on either side of her and pressed the back of his hand to her forehead. His brow creased with the familiar scowl but he didn’t comment.
Maizie closed her eyes. His hand was cool against her skin and brought the yummy scent of sweet male cologne and fresh forest closer to her nose. She tried not to enjoy it, but things were turning a little loopy in her head and the heat was making her body feel tingly, oversensitive.
The fact that she’d been considering every possible way to be alone with the ruggedly sexy man since she’d nearly jumped him by the quarry lake might have had something to do with it. A lot to do with it, actually. Not that it mattered. She was chicken when it came to letting a man know what she wanted. But tonight, somehow, she wasn’t so chicken anymore.
He hooked his finger on the collar of her T-shirt and tugged enough to peer underneath.
“Looking for something?”
He let it go. “This shirt’s ruined. And I need to get to the wound.”
“Oh. Okay. So what do you want-”
A hard yank and he ripped along the seam from the collar to her shoulder before she finished the sentence. It jerked her whole body and made her heart leap into her throat.
The most provocative thing about her shoulder was her bra strap, but he stared at her exposed flesh like a man starved, male hunger flaring in his eyes. His hands held the torn edges of her shirt as though he struggled with conflicting thoughts, his chest rising and falling with deliberate breaths.
Excitement flooded through her system, tightening muscles, quivering through her belly and drenching the channel of her sex. “Far enough or are you planning on ripping it off me completely?”
Not that she’d have a problem with that.
Her hands fisted her sweats on her thighs. She held her breath. Tried not to imagine it. She met his gaze. Was he thinking the same thing? He hadn’t answered, his face sober, brows furrowed in concentration.
After a deep breath he tore off a piece of gauze, dousing it with disinfectant. When he turned back to her, he was the picture of self-control. He dabbed the sopping pad against the torn flesh where she’d been bitten.
He could’ve stabbed her with a hot poker and made it hurt less. She hissed. “Son of a Cheech and Chong.” So much for the adrenaline masking her pain.
He shrugged. “Yeah. This may sting a little.”
“Y’think?”
“Sorry.” He stepped toward her to see the backside of her shoulder. His leg pressed against her knees so she opened them to allow him closer. The position pushed the bulge at his pants zipper against her knee and let her know his unaffected demeanor was only surface deep.
She swallowed hard, fighting the powerful urge to reach down and coax his semi-hard cock to rock hard and ready. She licked her lips, then bit the inside of her cheek. The need to touch him was nearly irresistible. What the hell was wrong with her?
Gray was sexy as hell, smelled like man-on-a-stick, with a voice that could melt butter and a body that could probably fuck her blind. But she’d never been this ripe and ready in her life. Besides, she barely knew him and what she did know about his life was twisted to say the least.
“It looks bad now, but it’ll heal quick.” He straightened, balling the bloodied gauze between his fingers. “I’m sorry about this. Really. But if you’d listened to your grandmother for once…”
“Hey. Let’s not get into each other’s family dynamics. Okay?”
He tossed the ball across the room toward the toilet and hit the wastebasket beside it without touching the rim. He stepped back and hooked his hands in the tears of her sweats at her calf. A quick yank and the material
