Page 46 of Born for Lace

“Keep your eyes closed.” I can’t bear her eyes on me, not this close, as I walk her from the lake and back toward the docks.

Her torso and little tits are exposed—I ripped her corset open. Too close to me. A surge of un-fucking welcome possessiveness rushes through my veins. I lift my head, scanning the area through a scowl. Making sure no one is strolling the roads of The Bite at this hour, warning them not to approach me. She is not like the other girls I interact with.

The girls at The Bite are ruined, broken, and lost. I can work with that. Can touch that. I can be their dark warrior, the monster who keeps their rogue town safe, reaps vengeance for them during the day, and fucks them at night. No expectations, intimacy or gentle hands. They like it. The bloody vendettas and all I stand for.

She doesn’t.

I step onto the cat and duck into the hull. Pass Tomar’s room. The baby is in there. She’ll wake him. I head for my cabin, shoulder the door open, and lay her on the single bed. Water seeps from her damp red hair into the pillow—my pillow.

I stare at her. Still.

What the fuck am I doing?

Her nipples harden, and I squeeze my fists at my side. Freckles dot her chest and over her breasts, with a few on the hard tight beads. I need to fix and cover her and push her the fuck away. Fast.

Reaching for a towel, I lay it over her and lightly dry her through the fabric. And by the time I have the acetone in a sealed bag of water for cool compression, she is unconscious again, breathing deeply. There might be peace behind her eyelids. Might be lies and innocence.

Don’t want to disturb that.

I knock twice on the wall. “Tomar.” I lay the cool packs on her wounds, nose, ribs, and her left hip. Done. Thank fuck. I cover her again. “Tomar.”

When he enters, rubbing his eyes back from slumber, I slide down to the floor beside her, press my back to the bed, and stare at the wall.

He freezes. “What happened?”

Keeping my position beside her, like a damn guard dog on the floor, I manage to convince my body to lean aside, allowing Tomar access to her.

He dashes out and returns with his med kit, and I glare at the wall, molars clenching in my jaw, while he checks her over.

“So?” I bark, firmer than I meant to.

He is hovering over her. “Her nose is fractured. Lip split, but not enough to warrant stitches. Swollen. Everything is internal.”

I thought so.

“I could realign her nose by hand, but it’ll hurt like Hell, and I don’t have any Opi for her.”

I nod. “She will have Opi.”

“ButIdon’t.”

“Then don’t touch her.”Don’t hurt her.Her nose was perfect. “A little imperfection would do her wonders,” I grunt. I’m an arsehole.

Tomar steps back from the bed and stares down at me. “I’ll see how she feels about it when she wakes up.” His eyes lock on my face, suspicion and concern obvious in their blue depths. “What happened to her, Lagos?”

“We have to leave.” I growl, fighting back my anger, and look up at him. “They found her.”

“Who?”

“A Shadow.”

His shoulders sag. “That’s why you ran out of here like a bat out of Hell,” he states to himself, not me. Probably wondering whyIsaved her, why I was the one. Why she is inmyroom.

He likes her.

Can’t blame him.

“Is she naked under the towel?” he asks, voice tight.

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