Accidental Knight: A Marriage Mistake Romance(41)

How I’m about to drop my jeans, and be standing here, in front of this total stranger I’m married to, wearing next to nothing.

The shine in his eyes says he’s enjoying this. Of-freaking-course he is.

It can’t be that bad, can it?

Maybe I can even have some fun, leave him with a lovely view he’ll never see again. Of all my ass-sets, I know what men like best, even if I’m still a hopeless virgin.

Deviancy strikes. I’ve worn less at the beach.

“Okay,” I whisper.

Then, meeting his gaze, I unbutton, unzip, and push down my jeans for Drake Larkin.





8





Medic! (Drake)





Goddamn.

I know I’m in waist-deep the second those jeans start sliding down her thighs.

My jeans become too fucking tight.

I’m fighting hard to keep it all together, and now I’ve got one more surreal problem on my growing list.

The anger over those intruder fucks, whoever they were.

The concern over how she’s hurt, whether or not I’ll have to drive her a town over for stitches or not.

The uneasiness about what she might’ve done, locked up in Jonah’s office for hours. I’d half expected the sheriff to come knocking on the door earlier.

Now, Bella trembles beneath my hands as I slowly lower her to the chair.

The defiant gleam that flashed in her big green eyes a minute ago is gone, and the way she winces as her knee bends forces me to focus on something that won’t destroy my dick.

Her wounds. Right.

Not the silkiness of her skin, or the gold sun-kissed glow that tells me she wears shorts. Often.

Not the curve of her lush, haunting ass, or all the twisted things I’d do if she was under me, finding a new use for that spitfire tongue of hers.

Fuck. Focus.

The thing about being in a small Army unit is, it means you’re trained for every possible outcome. Including the medical events.

I keep my curse silent when I see the long slice above her knee.

She’d hit that line pretty damn hard.

I’d gone into crisis mode the instant I heard her shout my name. By the time I hit the porch, she was already halfway across the driveway.

Then I saw the line. I yelled out, but knew, like anyone with tunnel vision, she hadn’t heard me.

She crashed so hard, I’d felt it beneath my feet by the time I closed in. My hands were out, just inches from grabbing her, before she tripped.

“How bad is it?” she whispers.

Her head tilts back, worried eyes looking up at the ceiling.

I smile at that. At her. She’s part tabby cat and part lion, I think, just like Jonah described.

“You were right. It’s not as bad as I feared.” Fishing the cloth out of the water, I rinse it out, then wipe away the blood on her knee. “You won’t need stitches, but you do have a nasty cut and some gravel stuck in your knee.”

She nods, turning her head slowly. “I heard you on the phone. What cameras were you talking about with Shelia?”

Thankful for something to think about besides how my body reacts being this close to her, I say, “Game cameras. I put up several for Jonah a while back, mostly around the barn and corral. He wanted his privacy here at the house.”

“Why?”

Shit. So much for easy distractions.

“Critters,” I tell her. “Old man Ramsey up the road got a couple sheep mauled by a cougar back late last summer.”

That’s not completely true. The cougar attack happened, but Jonah was never spooked by wild animals. Sure, technically the cameras get pictures of the odd wild animal daring enough to come this close to the house, but the real purpose is for things like this.

Trespassers. Prowlers. Operatives.

Jonah swore they’d come. I wasn’t sure, but his instinct was always razor sharp.

Once again, it’s proven right.

Looking closer at the long slice that goes from one side of her leg to the other, I say, “Shelia told me to tell you hello.”

Finally, Bella smiles, giving me a stir of relief. “Of course she did. She’s only been Sheriff Wallace’s dispatcher since forever. Gramps and I used to stop by the station plenty while I was growing up. He loved when I baked, and there was always plenty to go around for the cops and firefighters.”

I nod, returning her thin smile.

The cut isn’t dangerously deep, but it’ll need some special attention because every time she bends her knee, the skin could pull apart. “Makes sense. Shelia knows where Wallace is twenty-four seven.”

“Well, yeah. But...why do you say it like that?”

I look up, switching my focus to the scrape on her other knee. “Like what? They’ve lived together for years.”

“Years? They have?”

“Yeah. Everyone in Dallas knows it.” I toss the cloth on the counter. “Guess they made it official a year or two back. Didn’t surprise anybody, but they went off and got hitched in Vegas or something.”

Something in her eyes makes me realize where I’d absently taken the conversation.

Living together. Proxy marriage.

Fuck. Me and my damn big mouth.

Yeah, it’s a conversation we’ll have to have, but other things need to be dealt with first.