skin. It was low sixties at best, cooler-feeling in the breeze. Not only had her words unsettled him to the point he’d failed to put on a shirt and shoes, but he’d forgotten about the whole trust deal.
Shit. Maybe he wasn’t up to handling her right now.
But, yeah, he was. He could do this. He was the head healer for a reason, and, despite what Nic thought, it went beyond his friendship with Treah.
Drawing a calming breath, he turned around to find Claire had followed him nearly to the door. The sex-seeking siren from the kitchen was gone. Unconcealed fear filled her eyes as she surveyed the area around him, like she thought at any second someone was going to jump out of the trees and fire a pistol her way.
Her gaze fell on him, and her fear clouded over as a saucy smile formed on her lips. “Forget to kiss me good-bye?”
He couldn’t have planned a better opening. Yet he hesitated to take it, unable to stop from wondering how quickly she would turn away if she knew what he really was.
Promising himself that all she would know him as was the man who eradicated her fears, Chris retraced his last steps and pulled her into his arms. “Matter of fact, I did.”
Her lips opened a slice with her surprise. He pushed his tongue inside to cut off any reply and taste the teasingly wet warmth of her mouth.
Claire’s client file claimed she was a hellcat in bed. The way she boldly took his ass into her hands and rubbed her mound against his cock as she kissed him back with vigor, he believed it. She circled her breasts and pelvis against him with each silky swipe of her tongue. Her pubis connected with his erection and heady sensation slipped through him, tightening his balls as it warmed his blood.
The hot, soft press of her body was such a sweet contrast to the chilling wind he’d encountered seconds ago, he could just melt into her. Just let her keep going until they were both naked and writhing together on the carpet.
Nah, hell, he couldn’t.
Before she made him forget his intentions a second time, he lifted her up his body. Her legs twined around his waist, and he did a slow backstep out the door. Not far, just enough so the morning sun could leak down on them. Just enough so she might hear the tidewater lapping at the sand past the fast-blowing wind.
Just enough that the second he broke from her lips, she was going to have a holy conniption.
Taking control of the kiss, Claire brought her hands to his back. Short nails, painted the same powder pink as her toenails, nipped and scraped at his skin. Rocking her pelvis against his abdominal muscles, she moaned into his mouth, and then went back for another rocking that jolted electric sensation straight to his groin.
And that was all the farther he dared to let her go without giving her the full-on primal scratching she’d gone months without.
Chris slid his hands to her ass, allowing a quick cup and squeeze of her rounded backside through her jeans. He took hold of her ankles then, and untwined her legs from his waist. She glided down his body, nails feathering along his back and her sex grinding torturously slowly along his. Releasing her lips at the last second, he made certain she was steady on her feet and then stepped backward.
Her eyes had fallen closed at some point. She opened them now to grin at him. “Mmm…That was—That…” The passion died from her expression. Gaze narrowed, she looked to her left and drew a sharp breath.
Claire’s gaze snapped back on his. Terror burned in her eyes and her face was washed of the high color of seconds ago. “You. You.” Her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, crap. I’m going to be sick.”
3
Hoping—make that praying—this wasn’t really happening, that he hadn’t used her attraction to him to get her outside his house, Claire looked around a second time. A cluster of huge, camouflaging trees rose up on either side of the house, which looked more like a cabin with its log siding, screened-in room off to one side of the structure, and smallish size. A hammock was tied to the trunk of two more trees, solitary and feet from where the sun shone on a white-sand beach with churning tidewater lapping at its fringes. The sun’s rays bled down on her, warming her despite the blustery wind.
That wouldn’t be possible through a window or wall.
A gasping sob broke past her lips with the realization that no amount of hoping or praying was going to help. They really were outside. Her stomach really was roiling bile straight to her throat and her heart was beating like it might come through her chest at any moment. And he really was a first-class asshole.
“Y-you asshole!” Claire fought to replace the breath voicing the words cost her, but her throat felt like it was collapsing in on itself. The wind seemed impossibly heavy as it whipped her hair across her cheeks. The sun against her back was hotter by the second.
Wildly, she glanced at the door. It was four feet away at most. Too damned far. “I—I…”
“Shhh…” Sympathy in his eyes, he pulled her into his arms and pressed her cheek to the groove between his shoulder and neck. “No one’s going to hurt you, sweetheart. Everything’s going to be all better real soon. I promise.”
She knew this soothing voice. Recognized it as the same one that had spoken to her in her bedroom last night. He was the one who’d kidnapped her. The one whose balls Hot Stud hadn’t managed to sever given she’d felt the stiffness of his cock moving against her less than a minute ago. And she’d wanted it. Wanted him bad. Believed he’d wanted her as well, when he turned back and pulled her into his arms, kissed her until she was grinding against him in an attempt to ease the heavy ache in her core. But all he’d wanted was to speed her fast-forward into a nightmare.
Ew! If she could move, he would be in such pain.
Claire couldn’t move. Her limbs felt solid, her bare feet frozen in place on the pebbled walkway beneath them. His embrace was meant to comfort, she knew. But all it did was smother her, stole what little air she was managing to take in, and pitched her stomach to the heaving point. “Let go. I-I’m going…to puke.”
His arms released and, for a second or two, she felt calmer. Then it all just grew worse again. Because she still couldn’t move from this damned crippling spot just outside his door. Wouldn’t move without his help.
As if he knew her thoughts, he nodded at the door. “Help yourself, Claire.” Steely determination filled his eyes. “Get inside. You can do this.”
Yeah, she could. Because it was so freaking easy. Maybe for him.
Fury pushed through her, tangling with the panic. She fought to shake her head. Fought and won. And immediately regretted the move as her mind filled with a pounding haze.
God, she was so helpless. So stupidly helpless. Maybe if Erin saw her like this, she would understand when Claire said she couldn’t attend functions outside of her apartment. Maybe she would quit trying to fix her. “Can’t. Move.”
“Yes. You can.”
“N-no. I—” Her stomach clenched as the bile rose up once more. Heat came along with it, fanning upward and outward from where the sun scorched her back to consume her chest and head and vanquish her thoughts. Tears burned at her eyes as she heaved out a dry, gagging cough.
“Do
