Savage Instinct (10 page)

“I think I could follow the scent of bacon anywhere.  My
stomach’s practically growing feet to carry me in there.  I’ll have some of
that coffee too.”  Aiden stood and started to take a step, but he lost his
balance and fell back onto the couch.

“Aiden!” Nydia cried, rushing to him. “What happened?  Are
you okay?”  Nydia placed a hand on his arm then felt his forehead.  “You feel a
little warm.  I hope you haven’t gotten an infection.  Damn.  I should have
picked up a thermometer.  I think we should take you to see a doctor.  You
shouldn’t be this bad this long after an accident.  I’m worried something more
serious has happened and we just don’t know what.”

Aiden shrugged her off.  “You might be right.  I don’t know
what happened.  When I stood up the pain came and hot wave rushed over me.  I
sat back so I wouldn’t fall.  I’m sorry to ask Nydia, but could you help me get
to the bathroom?” Aiden gave her well-practiced puppy dog eyes.  He’d been
around enough women that he knew what looks could make a woman melt.

“Yes, I can help you.  Take it slow and easy though, I’m
not sure that I could pick you up if you fall over.”

Nydia grasped his left arm at the elbow and held on as Aiden
stood. Once he was standing, he put a hand on her shoulder and used her to
steady himself as he made his way to the bathroom.

Aiden liked feeling her small frame pressed against his
body.  The silky skin of her arm felt smooth against his calloused fingers. 
Above her, he could see the valley of her breasts and smell citrus and flowers
in her hair.  He breathed in her scent and a shudder went through him.

“Almost there!” she said.  “You keep shivering.  I hope you
aren’t going into shock.”

“I’m okay,” he gritted out, breathing hard through his
teeth.  Dammit!  He should have gone with his pack instead of staying behind,
and then he wouldn’t be in this situation.

His muscles tensed with desire, quaking with the need to
consume her.  It took every ounce of energy to keep up his charade and ignore
the ache in his groin.

They reached the bathroom and Aiden stepped inside,
propping on the sink counter.

Her brown eyes filled with empathy.  “Just call me when
you’re finished, and I’ll help you back to the couch.  I need to go check on
the bacon before it burns to a crisp.”

Nydia headed for the kitchen, leaving Aiden to his business.

In the bathroom, Aiden loosened the tape holding the
bandage over the wound on his chest.  He looked in the mirror at the ragged
scar on his chest.  It had healed nicely--a little too nicely.

He was sure she’d check it again, given his wonderful
acting job.

Aiden never knew he had it in him to give such a great
performance.  She was too trusting to even question him or his motives.

He was such a bastard.

Frowning, Aiden opened the medicine cabinet and removed a
pack of small razor blades that went to some kind of foot gadget beside them.  He
carefully removed a blade from the waxy paper package.

Sitting on the edge of the tub, he used the razor blade to
reopen the wound on his chest.  He carefully caught all blood with a tissue so
he could flush it down the toilet.  If Nydia could see how well he’d healed she
would never believe he still needed to be here.

He kept waiting for the tickle in his brain that signaled
the nearness of his clan.  When they were close enough, he would be able to
talk to them with mindspeak and head out to track down Riker and his gang. 
Until then, he was stuck playing the invalid and hiding out.

Once the wound was opened enough that Nydia would find it
still disturbing, he replaced the used bandage.  He wasn’t entirely faking his
injury.  He supposed the area would always give him trouble, given the fact
that it was delivered by silver and he continuously opened it and exposed it to
the air.  His healing abilities hadn’t been able to erase the scar.

She always changed his bandage and checked on his healing
progress once he finished in the bathroom.  He wanted to make certain that she
had something to see when she did.

Aiden surveyed his reflection in the mirror.  He really
needed a shave and a bath.  After the last bath, Nydia had been being very
careful to avoid him when he was naked.  This morning he was feeling a little
mischievous and thought he would shake her up a little.

“Nydia?” Aiden called.

“I’m coming Aiden” she called back.

“Do you mind if I take a shower before breakfast this
morning?  I feel awful and this wound appears to be weeping through the
bandage.” Aiden was speaking to the closed door, because Nydia was careful not
to open it with him inside, and possibly nude.

He grinned, imagining the look on her face.  Her voice was
muffled, but he could still detect the tension in her.

“Sure, you have time.  I can put everything on hold until
you’re ready.  Do…you need my help?”

“Naw.  I’ll just take a quick shower.”  Aiden turned the
heat on full blast in the stall and listened as Nydia walked away from the
door.

He secretly thought Nydia was just a little nuts about her
level of neatness inside the house, but it was her house and he would go by her
rules, for now.  He placed his dirty clothing in the hamper instead of just
tossing it on the floor, then stepped into the shower stall under the scalding
hot water.

“Mmmm,” he said, reveling in the hot cascade streaming over
his body.  The bandage flopped under the water and he smacked a hand over it to
hold it in place.

Looking down, he smirked, thinking maybe a cold shower
would have been better.  He was still sporting a semi from pressing against
Nydia and imagining the things they’d do together.

He hated to admit this human girl was physically almost irresistible.
 When she’d stopped barricading her door after the second night, he’d struggled
not to take it as an invitation to join her in her bed.  Richard still played
in her mind, distracting her from getting involved with anyone else.  That was
a good thing, saving him from himself.  Much as he might want to bed her, he
couldn’t see beginning anything with her based on a lie.  If she ever caught on
to what he was doing and how long he’d been doing it, he’d be lucky if she
didn’t cut off his balls with the razor he kept cutting open his wound with.

That thought was enough to shrivel his erection back into
place.

Still, the desire was there, gnawing at him like a living
thing.  He needed to stop picture her naked and straddling him on the couch, or
in various other positions.

Perhaps it was the fact that he should keep his hands off
her that appealed to him so much?  The forbidden?

Finishing his shower, he wrapped a towel around his waist. 
Water dribbled down his chest and belly, his arms.  He removed a razor and gel
from the medicine cabinet and shaved while the bristles were still soft from
his shower.

Checking himself out in the mirror and rubbing his jaw, he
didn’t think his big chin and square jaw looked as bad clean shaven.  Hell,
maybe he wasn’t as ugly as he thought he was.  Nydia couldn’t seem to stop
staring at him whenever she was in the room with him.

Her caressing gaze stroked his ego to the point he might
not make it through the door much longer.

“Keep it up, dipshit, and she will have your balls,” he
muttered to himself.

Aiden removed the soggy bandage, pulled at the edges of his
wound to make sure it stayed open, then tousled his dark hair.

He made his way from the bathroom into the kitchen,
remembering to feign unsteadiness on his feet.  He was getting pretty damned
tired of the game and ready to get the hell out of there, even if he did harbor
attraction to his makeshift nurse.

Nydia watched his approach and felt her heart skip a little
beat, then gallop like a horse racing for the finish line.  Her breathing
quickened, and she forced herself to remain still instead of going to him.  She
couldn’t touch him like this, naked and wet and too sexy for her own damned good.

She wanted to ask why he hadn’t grabbed any clothes after
he got out of the shower and spare her the sight of all that masculine nudity. 
She couldn’t quite compel herself to talk—just stare.

His skin still glistened from the shower.  That dark happy
trail that continued to fascinate her lay down a track straight under the
towel.  Lines indented his lean hips, forming an arrow with the happy trail
that practically blinked like a neon sign: COME ON DOWN.

One dark tendril of hair curled forward on his forehead.  Nydia
itched to brush that curling strand of hair back, but instead curled her
fingers into her palm.  After eating him with her eyes for maybe an eternity,
she finally managed to rip her eyes away from his torso and face and finally
spotted his cut.

Seeing a bright streak of red sent alarm through her.  “Have
you been messing with that?”

He shook his head.  “I think all this activity opened it
back up,” he said, sitting heavily in a chair at the table.

Nydia set a cup of coffee in front of him, gingerly
touching his chest and checking for signs of infection.  Other than the slice,
she didn’t see redness surrounding the area, no puffiness.  It looked as fresh
as it had four days ago.  This puzzled her.  “This must be why you’re still so
weak.  I’m worried about you.”

He grabbed her wrist, locking eyes with her.  “You worry so
much,” he said softly.

Nydia swallowed, losing herself in the luminous green
depths, holding her breath for a moment without quite realizing it.  She
cleared her throat.  “I…I’ve got to put something on this before you bleed to
death in front of me.”

“No danger in that happening with you to nurse me back to
health,” he said with a smile, nodding as he released her.

She gave a nervous laugh.  Her skin felt branded from the
just the touch of his hand.  She rubbed her wrist as if burned.

Relief flooded her when he freed her without doing anything
more.  As much as he flirted with her, she had the feeling he wanted more, that
his carefree attitude hid deeper desires.  She needed some distance between
them before she embarrassed herself any more than she already had.

She went to the bathroom to retrieve her supplies, touching
her palms to her hot cheeks as if that would cool them down.  Catching her
reflection in the bathroom, she was struck by the glittery look in her eyes. 
She recognized the look as one she wore whenever breaking in a new man in the
bedroom.

“Get it together.  You don’t know him like that,” she said
then splashed cold water on her face and dried it off.  She didn’t want him
thinking that she lusted after him.  He seemed like the kind of man that would
let the knowledge go straight to his head.

It only took Nydia a few moments to retrieve the supplies
she needed as well as the pajama pants she’d laundered and a new t-shirt.  She
set the clothes down.  She’d just leave the room when he dressed instead of
making him traipse back to the bathroom.

Right now, she needed to put some triple antibiotic on that
cut and get it covered.  “Maybe it’s because it was so deep.  I guess you
needed stitches.  I wish I’d thought to get some of that superglue stuff to
seal it up.  I’m sure it’d be better than just putting a patch over it.”

Nydia leaned forward to get a closer look at the wound. 
Smelling the scent of freshly washed skin made her feel dizzy and lightheaded. 
From beneath her lids, she could see him part his lips as she tended to him. 
He’d shaved, and if she thought beard stubble looked good, just the hint of
dark hair beneath his skin made his jaw look hard and delectable.  The firm
line begged to be nibbled along, right up to his ear and down his corded neck.

Nydia hurried her task, needing to distance herself from
him.  She could see his hands clenched in his lap, as if he felt the tension
between them just as strong as she did.