Defending Zara (Mountain Mercenaries #6)(13)

“She shouldn’t be on top of you like that. It has to hurt,” she lightly scolded, nodding to a sleeping Natalia.

“I’m fine,” Meat said, the aches and pains he’d fixated on earlier now seeming superficial after what the woman in the other room must have gone through.

“Let me take her to her mom,” Zara said, as she stepped into the room and reached for the sleeping child.

“As long as you come back when she’s settled,” Meat said, keeping a hand on Natalia’s back until Zara agreed.

She stared at him for a long moment before nodding. She grabbed the empty container he’d used earlier that day and placed it by his side. “You can take care of business while I’m gone. Is there anything else you need? I can go out and find you some aspirin if you need it. Or something stronger. How’s your ankle? Does it need to be rewrapped?”

Meat shook his head in exasperation. There was no way he was going to say anything that would make Zara head out at this time of night to get him a fucking aspirin. “I’m good,” he said, letting go of Natalia as Zara picked her up.

They looked at each other for a long moment, something passing between them. A kind of comradery that hadn’t been there before he’d willingly looked after Natalia while Zara and Daniela helped the little girl’s mother give birth. Before, he’d been just another patient, but now it seemed more like they were a team. Working together toward a common goal of helping another.

He liked that. A lot.

Zara turned and headed for the doorway with the little girl, and Meat took care of his bodily needs while she was gone. He very slowly stretched out on the floor. It hurt, but also felt pretty damn good after sitting up against the wall for so long. He gingerly rotated his ankle, wincing at the pain that shot up his leg, but decided that, while it hurt, it didn’t feel quite as painful as it had the day before. Within a couple of days, Meat thought he’d be able to put weight on it, and the second he could, he’d be gone. Back to his friends and getting the hell out of the country.

Zara returned a few minutes later and grabbed the container he’d used and once again disappeared through the doorway. She was back within a minute, the container empty.

“Good night,” she said softly.

But before she could leave once more, Meat reached out and snagged her hand in his. She tugged at it in surprise, which sent a shaft of pain through his ribs. Meat ignored it.

“Stay here tonight,” he said.

When she hesitated, he simply added, “Please?”

He watched as she took a deep breath, then nodded. She slowly got to her knees and lay down next to him on the hard floor.

“That doesn’t look comfortable,” he ventured after a moment.

She shrugged. “I’m used to it.”

Her words made him scowl. Without thought, Meat reached out and put his arm around her shoulders and tugged her into him. She came willingly, but he figured that was more because she didn’t want to hurt him than out of any eagerness to be near him.

He urged her to put her head on his good shoulder. She was stiff and awkward next to him, and Meat wanted nothing more than for her to relax. “You’re safe, Zara,” he told her. “I’m hurting too much to do anything more than lie here next to you. I’m not going to pounce on you in the middle of the night. You have to be exhausted; it’s tiring saving a life.”

He heard a small, amused snort leave her mouth, but he felt her give in a smidgen.

“That’s it. Just relax.” He wanted to ask her more about her life in the United States. Ask how she’d come to be in Peru, enduring the life she was currently living. Then he thought about how reliant he’d become on his computers. If he wanted to know something, he simply looked it up. Without electronics, he had to rely on getting information the old-fashioned way . . . by asking. He wasn’t the best communicator, but there was something about watching Zara slowly open to him, trust him, that made every little scrap of information he found out all the more satisfying.

“If I hurt you, let me know,” she mumbled.

“You’re good,” he reassured her.

He felt it the moment she fell asleep. She’d been holding herself tense against him, but the second she went under, her entire body relaxed. And nothing had felt better than that trust.

Meat had never been one to cuddle with the women he slept with. Then again, it had been years since he’d even been with a woman. He’d been so preoccupied with the Mountain Mercenaries and busy with the behind-the-scenes computer research, he hadn’t had time to go out and woo someone. He’d never been a one-night-stand kind of guy—that just seemed gross to him. But lying with Zara in his arms reminded him of what he’d been missing.

Was this how his friends felt with their women? This sense of calm? Of rightness?

Shit. He needed to get his head out of his ass. He knew next to nothing about Zara Layne. Only her first and last name and that she was born in Colorado and apparently helped out the local doctor. That was it.

But the more he tried to remind himself he didn’t know her, the more he realized how wrong he was. He might not know the common things, but he knew she was a good person. Down to her dainty little toes. She did her best to protect others, like him and Natalia, and she didn’t ask for anything in return for that help. She was loyal to her friends and disgusted by the rampant corruption all around her. She would give up food for someone else, even if she was starving. She was quiet, but that didn’t mean she didn’t pay attention.