Page 37 of Suddenly Tempted
The living quarters weren’t up to APEX Club standards, or even up to Royal Alpine standards. Devlin’s arm felt like it was about to fall off, though maybe that would give him a sweet release from the pain. In fact, Devlin felt terrible through and through, but at the same time he didn’t really mind any of it because Darcy was unpeeling his coats from around his shoulders and this close he could see the dusting of freckles on her nose.
He averted his eyes and bit his lip, trying to think of anything other than the way she had the tip of her tongue poking out between her lips as she concentrated. And how he’d like to reach out and lick it. He needed to remind himself that she was here because he’d paid her to be.
“Arm up,” said Darcy, and he obeyed her. She tugged at his wet, frozen outer shirt until it slid free, then she walked to the other side and worked the sleeve over his splint. The ache nearly knocked him out, but he gritted his teeth until it came off. Darcy did the same with his other shirt, tossing it to the floor with a splat.
It was the second time she’d undressed him, and he could get used to it. It was weird, because ordinarily he hated any kind of help. He actually detested people doing things for him. He wasn’t really sure why, other than the fact that he hated being in debt to anyone, in any way. He didn’t like people to think he wasn’t capable of looking after himself, either. There was nothing worse than people looking down on him.
But that was Devlin the island speaking. That was Devlin the mountain.
It was different with Darcy. It was different becauseshewas different. She didn’t look down on him, but she didn’t look up to him either. She looked at him as if they were on exactly the same level, as if they were equals, and he was enjoying the feeling. Nobody had spoken to him the way she had back there on the mountain. She’d been so angry at him and the way she’d called out his awful behaviours was a breath of fresh air. People were scared of him, keeping him at arm’s length — or maybe it was the other way around — and Darcy had flattened those arms to his side and put him in his place probably for the first time since he’d made his first million.
He hadn’t realised it until now, but the fact that people had only seen him as Devlin Storm the billionaire was one of the reasons that he’d closed himself off from the world. If people didn’t see a real man, a genuine person with real feelings and emotions, then why should hebea real man? Better to be tough, to be emotionless, unfeeling, fake. That way they couldn’t see how much he was hurting.
And hehadbeen hurting. He’d been hurting without even knowing it. Darcy had shown him that.
“Here,” said Darcy. She carefully patted him dry with a big, fluffy white towel she’d found and then wrapped him in a giant bath robe, which seemed a ridiculous luxury in a place like this. Leaving his broken arm out, she began to unwrap the bandages around the splint. He winced, but she was gentle, pulling the linen strips free, then the stick.
“Oh god,” she gasped, and he looked down and gasped too. “That’s not good, is it? It looks like an egg plant.”
“Aubergine,” he deadpanned a reply.
But either way, she was right. His arm had turned an ugly shade of purple, the bruise so dark it didn’t look real. The skin felt numb from the elbow down, and he knew that if he didn’t get it seen to soon, then it might never heal.
“Is it going to fall off?” she asked, stroking his purple-ombre fingers so gently that he felt a ball of pent-up tension gather deep in his stomach.
“I’ve got another one.” He was joking because he was scared at the idea of losing his arm. He’d seen mountaineers lose limbs for much less.
“Right.” She looked at him, eyes searching his face as though reading his mind in that uncanny way she’d developed over the last twenty-four hours. “Well, let’s sort that one out then, so you’ll at least have one working set of fingers.”
Her eyes grew wide when she realised what she’d said and she dropped her chin and focused on his other arm, pulling the glove from his good hand. Well, whatusedto be his good hand. His fingertips were blue and covered with scratches from where he’d clung on to the side of the crevasse. He flexed them gently, wincing.
“It’s not so bad,” he said. “I think I’ll be okay. They’re both still attached.”
“For the time being,” she said. “But if we don’t get you warm and dry then I can’t guarantee it will stay that way. And you need both arms. Stand up.”
“Please, Darcy,” he protested, but she pulled insistently, and he grumbled back to his feet. “This is ridiculous. I’ve been dressing and undressing myself perfectly well since I was three.”
She took off his expensive lace-ups, then pulled down his suit trousers, helping him to step out of them. That was as far as she was willing to go, though, and Devlin was grateful when she stood up and changed her eye level. A familiar stirring throbbed dully in his belly, and he had to shift his stance to release it. Losing control now was not a good idea.
“There’s a shower,” she said, little pink spots growing in the middle of her cheeks as she helped him properly into the fluffy robe, eyes averted from the burgeoning excitement he had no control over. “Why don’t you go and get under the hot water? Thaw yourself out a little?”
He nodded, feeling a blossom of warmth in his chest.
“What about you?” he said. “You look as cold as I do, Darcy.”
“My clothes are dry and I’m not shivering enough to start an avalanche.” She turned and wouldn’t take another word on the matter.
The bathroom was spotless and surprisingly big. What was more surprising still was the fact that as well as the giant walk-in shower, there was a bath. Devlin sidestepped it, stripped out of his boxers, and headed straight for the shower to defrost. The controls were self-explanatory and soon he was standing under a wash of warm water that made his skin prickle as it came back to life. He’d known better than to set the temperature too high, but he felt a flame inside his chest that was warm enough to melt the Alps.
He washed as quickly as his sore arm would let him, and then stood under the electric heater as it puffed warm air at the top of his head and over his naked body.
There was a window in the bathroom. It looked out over the slopes they’d climbed to get here — the whole world lying before him, looking almost like a giant wedding cake. The skies were dark again, the snow falling hard, but it didn’t scare him now. The storm couldn’t hurt him here.
In fact, he couldn’t remember a time he’d felt so safe, and so at home.
“Everything okay in there?” he heard Darcy call. He wrapped his arms around himself, realising that he hadn’t even shut the bathroom door.
“I’m okay!” he said, searching the room for the giant robe. “Don’t come in!”
