Part 9 (1/2)
Oh, and a scar on his neck that scared the absolute tar out of me.
That kind of wound wasn't for the timid. This man had to have been a fighter to escape death with that kind of trauma.
I blinked at the man, and then extended the towels to him again.
He shook his head, leaned forward, grabbed them from my hand, and then went to his bike and started wiping off his bike.
”Sorry,” I said as I walked away.
”It's okay,” he said behind me, but I didn't turn around.
I couldn't tell you why my heart was speeding a mile a minute.
I didn't know that man, but just looking at his 'cut,' as Cleo liked to call it, made my stomach flutter with b.u.t.terflies.
Cleo had come in two days ago and turned my world upside down again.
He'd made it feel like old times.
Times where I hadn't forced him to have s.e.x with me and ruined our relations.h.i.+p.
He'd been nice. He'd bought pizza. Drinks. Even a movie. One that I'd had to return, but he'd brought it nonetheless.
I'd been thinking about him non-stop since he'd left, and it was driving me bat-s.h.i.+t crazy.
Sighing, I went about getting the things I needed. Slowly. Mainly because it hurt to move too fast.
After picking up my prescriptions, soup, and juice, I walked out into the suns.h.i.+ne, stopping dead in the middle of the parking lot.
That was because Cleo was standing beside my car with his arm around a very beautiful blonde woman.
Her auburn hair was in soft waves down her back, and she was wearing some insanely tight jeans that made her a.s.s look perfect.
I couldn't see the rest of her since she was facing away from me, but I could clearly see the annoyed look on the face of the man whose bike I'd sneezed on.
And it was none too happy.
”Get your arm off my woman, Cleo,” the man said through clenched teeth.
I blinked, waiting to see what would happen.
”What if she prefers my body to yours? Would you let her sample this bounty if she wanted to?” Cleo asked as he let the woman go to gesture to his body.
His body was a bounty.
He had on dark washed jeans with a black t-s.h.i.+rt and his leather vest.
Something so simple made him look downright glorious.
The woman giggled and I wanted to smack her.
Stomping forward, I pushed behind Cleo, making him take an alarmed step forward before I unlocked my car with the key and opened the door.
”Don't worry, Cleo. Your bounty spoils after one night. That woman looks like she wants stability, not a f.u.c.k that leaves the woman all worked up with no relief in sight. Oh, and that man looks like he could f.u.c.k better than you, anyway,” I said just before dropping down into my car and taking off.
I didn't miss the woman's laughter, as well as the deep-throated bellow from the other man.
Nor Cleo's scowling face as I pulled out of the lot.
I wasn't surprised when a deep rumble came up on my b.u.mper and stayed there.
However, I couldn't muster up the courage to care because my head was pounding.
By the time I pulled into my driveway, I was thanking sweet baby Jesus that I'd made it that far.
Probably shouldn't have popped those Benadryl's at the doctor's office. What I should've done was waited until I was at home to do it.
I leaned forward and rested my head on the steering wheel, barely able to keep my eyes open.
Maybe I could just sleep in my car all night.
It was blissfully warm.
Or maybe that was my fever.
If only that horrible pounding would stop.
I woke up in my bed, unaware of how I'd gotten there.
I was beyond cold, and looked down to find only a sheet wrapped around my body.
I moved experimentally, blindly searching for the blanket that was usually there, but unable to find it.
Rolling over, I came up to a barrier that was blissfully warm.
”Uh-uh, Rue. You're running a high fever. You have to stay on your side and you can only use the sheet. You're already at 103,” a deep voice rumbled.
I ignored Cleo and stayed where I was, s.h.i.+vering. ”C-cold.”
”I know, baby,” Cleo said. ”But if you get too hot, we're going to have to take a cold shower, and you know how that's going to go.”