Gino slipped back into the bedroom and firmly closed the door. They didn't need any more visitors. "You awake?" Her breathing told him she was.
"Thank you, Gino. I put you in a bad position and I'm sorry."
"No problem, princess. I'm never going to mind handling things for you. That's what I do. What I want to do."
She half turned over, the movement awkward, and he remembered she was in that long skirt and blouse that were most likely uncomfortable. "I'll get you into something you can sleep in, Zara." Because he was sleeping in the bed with her, and full nudity might just be a problem for them both.
"Why don't you mind having to take care of me, Gino? It usually makes everyone angry, or at the very least, annoyed."
She sounded a little lost, and his heart turned over. "I like taking care of you. I'll always like taking care of you." Her blue eyes kept looking at him, wide and sad. He shrugged and told her the truth. "It feels like a privilege to me."
"You're a little crazy, you know that?"
He nodded solemnly. "Sadly, I'm well aware."
"I didn't mean it in a bad way, only that you're so sweet to me, Gino. No one has ever been so good to me."
"Baby, that isn't true. Bellisia and your friend were always good to you, and they didn't mind taking care of you either. Bellisia just told me that she would be happy to take over your care. I know you're hurt because she didn't go to you first, but when your man goes off on a suicide mission, or any mission because there's a chance every time that he might not come back, you'll be running to him."
"You're defending her, but it didn't sound like she was being very nice to you."
He shrugged. "I don't mind, not when she's looking out for you. I'm telling you up front, so there's no misunderstanding, Zara, I'm not a nice man. Bellisia sees that in me. She also sees I'm interested in more than taking care of you as a patient. She doesn't like it. I don't blame her, but it isn't going to stop me from pursuing a relationship with you."
He took the IV from her arm and rubbed his thumb over the spot, watching her for a reaction to his declaration.
"I'm the one on painkillers, and you're the one not making any sense. I don't even look halfway decent right now."
"It isn't about your looks, Zara, although I've seen enough pictures to know you're beautiful. I just don't want there to be any misunderstanding between us. I want you with me. I'm determined to make that happen in spite of knowing there will be a few obstacles, and Bellisia is probably going to be one of them. Having said that, I'm not going to pretend to be someone I'm not. You're going to get the real man so you'll know whether or not you can live with me."
"Are you trying to scare me off?"
He looked into her upturned face and his heart did some crazy somersault in his chest. Her face was black and blue. There was even a little yellow, making her eyes and cheek very colorful.
"No, I just don't want you to think you want to be with me because I rescued you."
"That's a legitimate worry," she acknowledged.
"Or that you believe I can handle Zhu's threat to you and once it's over, you won't need me anymore."
"Like the gunslingers in the Old West. Come clean up the town, you did, thank you, so now leave," she agreed.
He liked that she got it immediately. Even with the drugs in her system, her mind worked just fine. More than fine.
"What about the other way around, Gino?"
He raised an eyebrow and pushed back some of the thick reddish hair spilling around her face. He could spend a lifetime with his hands in her hair.
"I'm not always going to be beat-up."
"No, you're not. And I'm always going to want to take care of you. I'm always going to be that man standing in front of you. Sometimes you might not like it, Zara. That's something you're going to have to decide if you can live with."
"Why me? I don't see how it's possible for a man as courageous as you to want to be with someone like me."
"I've never met a woman braver. You need a home and a family of your own, and if I'm not mistaken, you want to stay in that home and take care of your family. I need that in my woman. I want her to put me first. To put our children first. And, princess, when I come home from a mission, I want you coming to me just the way Bellisia did to Zeke. She didn't do a damn thing wrong. I know you were hurt, but you have to understand, she was right in going to her man and making him know he's everything to her."
Zara pressed her lips together, a little frown on her face. "I know you're right, Gino. Intellectually, I know you're right, but I had no idea she was with him. For me, she disappeared, and I worried she was dead. I was terrified when I was with Zhu, and frankly, I still am. I couldn't wait to see her, and it felt like I didn't matter in the least to her."
"That isn't true. If you could have seen Bellisia's face when I told her what happened to you, you'd know you matter to her. Tomorrow, when you're feeling better, you can meet all the women here. You're going to love Nonny. She's Wyatt's grandmother and has lived here in the swamp all of her life. She's an amazing woman."
"The house smells the way I think a home should," Zara said. "Welcoming."
"I agree. Nonny knows her way around a shotgun, but she's the most welcoming woman I've ever met." At least she hadn't shot him down and told him there was no way she would have any kind of an actual relationship with him. He'd been as honest with her and as up front about his intentions as he possibly could be and she wasn't yelling her head off for Bellisia to come and save her. He supposed he should consider that a win, even if she hadn't thrown herself into his arms and declared undying love.
"Just so you're aware, Bellisia and Zeke would gladly take over your care if you prefer them to me. I told you, but you didn't really address it. I need to know if you want them to handle the rest of your recovery."
She slid back down in the bed. Even with her eyes black and blue, that slate blue staring up at him had his heart accelerating when facing men with guns didn't.
"I don't want them, Gino. I want you." She made it a very firm statement.
"I'm taking your clothes off and inspecting every laceration before I put the tee on you. I'll have to reapply the antibiotic ointment. All this traveling easily could have reopened the worst of them." He wanted it clear he was shifting into caretaker mode.
"You've seen me without clothes often enough that I'm pretty certain you know every tiny laceration and bruise on my body by now."
He caught the slight edge of embarrassment in her voice. "Sit up and let me get your clothes off. They can't be comfortable. And trust me, baby, I'm always happy to remove your clothes. Right now, I'm taking care of you, but later, I'm not going to be so impersonal. It's getting more difficult."
She lifted her arms for him to remove the blouse. He looked because he'd be a fool not to. He wasn't a saint, and she had beautiful breasts. The stripes across them were definitely healing. He indicated for her to lie back so he could strip the skirt away as well. Her body was gorgeous. Those long legs, the curve of her hips, that tucked-in waist, the little curls almost as red as her hair in the sunshine. His body reacted, which was bullshit when he was a doctor and trying to be professional. He shouldn't be noticing all those details, but he couldn't help it. He already thought of her as his.
"You're definitely healing. I don't like that a couple of these lacerations are being stubborn. By now, they should be completely closed, but you've got a few that aren't, the ones that were infected. I should have stitched them. They were deeper than I first thought." He ran his finger along the line just below the red slashes under her breasts. "You'd been through so much already, but I should have just done it."
"I think you're being hard on yourself. They'll heal."
"Might scar, Zara."
She shrugged. "Maybe. It isn't like I expected to get out of there alive. A couple of scars won't hurt."
He carefully applied antibiotic ointment to each long slash over the front of her body. He cursed Zhu under his b
reath with each application, not understanding how a man could do this to a woman. She tensed under his hands a few times.
"Am I hurting you?"
"It's all right. Just stings in a couple of places. I told you I couldn't take pain."
She kept her eyes on his face and he felt that impact. He found himself smiling. "What?" Because she was thinking something important. Color crept up her body. He actually felt the wave of heat. That made him more curious than ever. "Talk to me, baby. I want to know what's going on in your mind."
Her fingers crept toward the sheet as if she might draw it up. Clearly she was feeling vulnerable. "Turn over. I want to take a look at the bruising on your back." If she was lying face away from him, it might be easier for her to tell him.
She obeyed him, easing her body over onto her stomach, lying gingerly, making certain to take care as she put her weight on the sheets. That was another reason he was certain she was right for him. She wanted to please him. She did what he asked, even if she was afraid, or in this case, if it hurt. She trusted his judgment. He knew part of that was because she'd had to trust him fast in extreme circumstances, but it was additionally because he came through for her every time. It was also instinctual.
"Now tell me." His fingers skimmed the fierce bruising caused by the caning. Those bruises were in various shades of blue, black and yellow. Most of the damage was done internally, the inside muscles bruised.
"I wanted you to kiss me."
She whispered her confession, and he went still. Her head was turned toward him, one cheek against the sheet, one eye hidden. The other looked up at him through the long fan of lashes. She looked shy. Embarrassed. But she'd had the courage to tell him the truth.
He smiled at her. That smile began somewhere deep inside him because that was where she was getting to him. He started out thinking she was right for him, not that he'd fall for her, but that bravery of hers, when she thought herself a coward, was too much for a man like him to resist. Her brand of courage wasn't the kind everyone could see, but it was there, quiet and just as unswerving as his was. The fact that she would trust him with the truth when it was embarrassing to her, shattered him.
"Trust is a gift, Zara, and I won't forget that you give it to me every day we're together. I won't ever abuse it." That was one thing he could say with absolute certainty. He wanted a woman to accept him and the things he did, but that might mean she couldn't know what he was doing or where he was going when he went on a mission. He would be up front about that. Zara would be the kind of woman who would understand. "Thank you for giving me your trust and for telling me what you were thinking. Kissing you is hard to stop once I start, but you want kisses from me anytime, princess, you get them. I'll expect the same from you."
Her lips turned up in a faint smile that had the strange effect on him of robbing every bit of air from his lungs. He turned his attention to examining the bruising on her body, but that wasn't any easier. She had a body that just spoke to his.
"You have a gorgeous ass, did you know that?" He rubbed gently over her buttocks, where those long dark lines were.
"No, not really. No one's ever really looked at my ... um ... bum."
"Ass, baby. Perfect, beautiful ass."
"I'm glad you like it."
He trailed his palm over the stripes on her upper thighs. Zhu had hit her precisely, laying the cane on almost every square inch of her back, buttocks and legs, doubling up every other stroke. The same was true of the whip. Zhu definitely knew anatomy. Under any other circumstance, Gino might admire his handiwork. Zhu's skills were the kind a man like Ciro Spagnola needed, which was why Gino had them.
"Tell me what you like, Zara. Your favorite things to do." He tugged on her arm to indicate she could roll over again. He had to put a T-shirt on her before he examined her feet.
"I like being outdoors," she admitted, slowly sitting up as he went to his drawer to retrieve a clean shirt. "We had a big barracks, but there were always guards. Every minute of our time was directed by Whitney's schedule until late evening. When I was allowed to go to school, even though he had men watching me, I would go outside at night and just look at the stars. I wanted to see mountains and rivers, forests, waterfalls. Everything. I haven't experienced those things yet. As an adult, he still had guards on me and the rules were even stricter than when I was in school."
He pulled the shirt over her head, noting she had more arm movement than before. The enhancements Whitney had given her aided her body in healing fast. "How long did he give you before those capsules break open? Was there always a set limit he told you about ahead of time?"
She nodded. He went to the end of the bed, sat and picked up her ankles to examine her feet. Zhu had definitely done the most damage there, either deliberately hurting the tendons or uncaring that he did so. Gino was certain the damage he'd inflicted was deliberate.
"Depending on the job he'd given me and where it was, he would change the time. In this case he gave me four weeks. We discussed the possibility of a lockdown because Bellisia had gotten caught in one. I had given talks to three businesses before Shanghai, in three different cities in China. We should have about a week and a half before those capsules break open."
"Have you ever had one break open early?"
She shook her head. "It did, supposedly, happen to one of the other girls. She was doing something for him and didn't make it back. They brought her body home, and she'd died of the virus. He said the capsule broke open early, but Bellisia didn't think so."
"What did Bellisia think happened?"
"They wouldn't let us see her. We tried to sneak into the morgue, but Whitney had posted guards. Bellisia said if it was the virus, we would have been able to see her. Whitney had her cremated so we never knew for certain."
Gino could see her feet were beginning to heal, but they had a long way to go. He didn't want her to put any weight on them. He tested the reflexes and movement, all of which made her wince. Rest, anti-inflammatories and then physical therapy were her best chance of recovery. "You have to stay off your feet, princess. That's important."
"I don't exactly feel like putting them on the ground, Gino. When I move them, they hurt very, very bad."
"That's a sign you shouldn't move them too much," he pointed out. "I'm not taking chances with the capsules breaking open. I'll be taking them out as soon as I finish my reports. I'll get Wyatt to assist me."
She nodded, but he noticed she avoided his eyes. There was something she wasn't telling him, something she wanted to tell him, but she had to do it in her own time. He had a suspicion it had to do with why Whitney had lied to Major General and said they could keep Zara if they rescued her. Then there was the matter of the soldier pointing a gun at a specific spot in her brain.
Gino pulled off his boots and climbed onto the bed with her. "I'm going to put you on my lap, Zara." He waited, but she didn't protest, so he picked her up and settled her on him. He wanted her to get used to his arms, the feeling of his body against hers and how it reacted when she was near him.
She put her arms around his neck and looked up at him. Her eyes were that strange slate color, and looking into them, he felt as if he had fallen under a spell. He wasn't a man given to flights of fantasy so it was a little strange for him. He wrapped his hand around her throat so her heart was beating into his palm and he tipped up her face to him.
There was that trust again. Shy hunger. Desire. He liked that a fuck of a lot. He leaned his head to hers and took her mouth. She might not have a lot of experience kissing, but the combination of the two of them was so potent, it was as if she lit a match to dynamite. Flames spread through him like a wildfire out of control. He shifted her closer and took complete command of her mouth. She followed his every move. The slide of her tongue sent heat rushing through his veins to pool low and mean in his cock.
He used his thumb to tip her head back farther, giving him greater access. Fire poured through him, erupted in his belly and flowed through his
veins. It didn't take long to know he had to pull back when that was the last thing he wanted to do. It took discipline to lift his mouth from hers. He rested his forehead against hers and stared into those eyes of hers.
"I want to keep kissing you, baby, but it's best if we stop now before there's no stopping. Your body isn't ready for anything but rest right now. I'm putting you in bed, and I'm going to take a long shower."
"Does that really work?" There was genuine curiosity in her voice.
"No. I had to take a couple of showers at the embassy, and when it comes to you, no, they don't work, but it might help before I go face everyone."
"You aren't coming back here?"
There was the smallest note of alarm in her voice. Some panic in her eyes. He smiled at her. "I'll be here with you, tonight. Just have to finish those reports, grab food and I'll be in for the night. I promise."
She studied his face for a long time before she nodded and relaxed in his arms.
9
Y
our poor feet," Nonny whispered, crouching down to examine them.