Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 24538 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 123(@200wpm)___ 98(@250wpm)___ 82(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24538 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 123(@200wpm)___ 98(@250wpm)___ 82(@300wpm)
“Feeling safe sounds like heaven right about now.”
“Then I’ll make sure it happens.” He used some hand sanitizer before lifting an antiseptic wipe to my cheek and warning, “This’ll sting a little.”
I braced myself but still let out a little hiss when he gently swiped my cut. His deep grumble and apologetic glance made my lips curve into a small grin that widened when he blew against my skin to ease the burn the antiseptic left behind.
“Better?”
“Uh-huh,” I whispered.
“Good.” He examined the cut and sighed, some of the tension easing from his shoulders. “Now that I’ve got it cleaned, the wound isn’t as deep as I feared. Facial injuries tend to bleed more, so it looked worse than it really was.”
It had looked awful to me when I’d checked in the mirror, so maybe I’d only need a few stitches instead of a bunch of them. “That’s a relief.”
“I’m going to apply some ointment and Steri-Strips.” His lips turned down. “Sorry, baby, but I’m going to need to tug on your cut a little to get them in place.”
“I figured.” Setting the ice pack on the seat next to me, I patted his hand. “It’ll be okay.”
“You’re fucking amazing.” My eyes widened at the compliment, and he shook his head with a sigh. “You’re the one in pain, but you’re trying to make me feel better. How you act when shit goes FUBAR says a fuck of a lot about the type of person you are.”
“Yeah, well…it’s easy to be kind now that the danger has passed. Especially to you considering how you’re helping me.” I shrugged, feeling uncomfortable with his praise. “It’s not as though I did anything to protect myself from those guys. I was at their mercy until they left, and then I ran away without a clue about where I was going.”
“Give yourself some credit, Sage. You handled yourself well enough to be able to walk away. Considering the kind of shit these guys are into, it could’ve been a fuck of a lot worse,” he growled, a muscle jumping in his jaw.
“I guess that’s one way to look at it.” Although my dad wouldn’t agree. He would definitely insist I take another self-defense class since the last one hadn’t done me any good today.
“It got you here, with me.”
“Yeah.” I beamed a smile at him. “It did.”
I cataloged every detail of Arrow’s face while he pinched my cut between his index finger and thumb as he applied the Steri-Strips. He was gentle, but I was still happy that the pain reliever he’d given me started to kick in because I had begun to feel the pain more while he was working on me.
Before he put everything away, Arrow covered my cut with some gauze. Then he tossed the kit into the back seat and circled the SUV to climb into the driver’s seat. As he buckled his seat belt, his cell phone beeped with a notification.
“I hope I’m not keeping you from anything important.” Or from a significant other, I thought as I glanced at his ring finger. I was relieved to see it was bare even though it didn’t necessarily mean anything because he could still have a girlfriend. Or he could choose not to wear a ring at work because the band got in the way.
“Nope, I’m all yours.”
The hit to my face must’ve addled my brain because I found all kinds of innuendo in his simple statement. He glanced down at the screen as I tried to pull myself together. Judging by the satisfied curve of his lips, he seemed pleased with whatever the message said. “I’m going to take you somewhere you can be taken care of.”
“Thanks.” I forced the smile I flashed at him, wishing he wouldn’t just drop me off at urgent care. That instead, he was the person who was going to take care of me.
Closing my eyes so he didn’t see the yearning in them, I leaned my head against the window as he pulled back onto the road. We weren’t far from urgent care, but I only lasted a couple of minutes before I drifted off to sleep.
4
ARROW
I was relieved when Sage fell asleep because now I could take her to the safe house without any questions or explanations. I’d still have to deal with all that when we got there, but at least I could use the drive to figure out what to say. When it came down to it, I was basically kidnapping her. I just hoped she didn’t see it that way.
In order to avoid waking her, I put a Bluetooth device in my ear so I could call another one of my guys. I was the Chief Enlisted Officer for all of the teams assigned to Naval Base Coronado as their homeport, but outside of the job, I was closest with Kade and his teammates.