by Wade, Maddie
“Speaking from experience?” She sat slowly and took the makeshift ice pack he handed her.
Blake looked up and nodded as he pushed a footstool towards her and lifted her ankles so she was slumped and could lay back easier. “Yes. I’ve had busted ribs a time or two.” He saw the twitch in her lips and knew she wanted to ask. “Rugby,” he said with a lip twitch of his own at her stubbornness.
“Awe, I see.”
“Where are the painkillers?”
“On the cabinet beside my bed.” Her words came slowly, as if she wasn’t sure she wanted him in her bedroom.
“Don’t worry, Pax. I promise not to go through your underwear.” Blake grinned at her before he loped away and took the stairs two at a time.
He found her room and Pax’s scent hit him like a two-tonne truck when he walked in. He let the fragrance of her wind its way around him as he stood stock still and surveyed her very feminine room. He had the overwhelming desire to lie on her bed to hold her while she slept. Feel her curves and listen to her breathing go deep as she rested.
Shaking it off, he spotted the paracetamol and ibuprofen by the bed and snagged them before leaving the room and the fanciful notions it had put in his head.
He walked into the lounge to see she was watching the door for him, the tiniest bit of relief showing on her face when she saw him. He knew why she felt vulnerable and she would hate that, but it also gave him a ridiculous sense of achievement. She trusted him when she was exposed. He liked that and let the feeling settle in him.
“Here you go.” He handed her the tablets before rushing to get her some water to take them with. He watched her swallow and then took the frozen sweetcorn away and pushed a cushion towards her.
“Every hour I need you to give ten big deep breaths to make sure your lungs open fully. Use the cushion in case it makes you cough,” he said as he sat on the edge of the couch.
“Why are you helping me all of a sudden?”
He didn’t know how to answer her question. Would he do this for anyone else? Maybe, but then perhaps not. Pax had woken a protective feeling the minute he saw her bruised and battered.
“Because someone hurt you and that shit won’t stand.” He cupped her chin with his hand and closed the distance. He saw her breathing hitch slightly and knew she wouldn’t stop him if he kissed her, but she wouldn’t forgive him for taking advantage of her vulnerability either. So he kissed her forehead and then stood. “I’m going to go check your cupboards and then go shopping. We need to eat and then we’ll talk.” The firm tone he used brooked no argument. He was also going to call Jack and give him a heads up, but Pax didn’t need to know that.
He was a little perturbed when she didn’t argue, but after looking at her relaxed face and closed eyes, he realised she had fallen asleep. He leaned over and stroked her face, anger burning through him that someone had done this to her, and he swore they would pay for touching her.
Chapter Six
Pax woke to the sound of her front door closing and sat forward too fast making her cry out in pain. Blake was beside her in a second as he dropped the bags he was carrying at his feet.
“Hey, steady on. You shouldn’t move so fast.” Pax shot him a furious look. “There she is.” His grin was wide. She’d obviously amused him with her displeasure.
Pax glanced at the bags and realised he had been shopping. “What’s that?”
“Now, Pax, I know the subject of groceries is a bit foreign to you if your kitchen cupboards are anything to go by…”
“Hardy ha ha,” she snapped fighting the warm feeling that he had been shopping for her.
His face went serious for a moment. “We both need to eat, and I figured you wouldn’t want word getting around about this.” He circled his finger in front of her face indicating her bruises. Her hand came up as she remembered her face. “This way we can eat and talk and decide the next step.” He collected the bags and moved towards her kitchen as she followed slowly behind him.
“It is very nice of you and all, but this isn’t your concern.”
The pain of being turned down still festered. Pax leaned against the counter knowing that getting her ass on a bar stool would require more wiggling and couldn’t face it.
Blake, who was in the process of unpacking eggs, bacon, bread, salad stuff, cereal, milk, and God knew what else, stilled. He turned to her slowly and she almost stepped back at the predatory look in his eyes. He moved until they were almost touching hip to chest. “It is my concern.”
Pax fought the shiver his closeness instilled and looked up at him. “No, Blake, it isn’t.” Her voice was whisper soft and she wondered where the strong woman she normally was had gone.
Blake ran a finger down her throat, the movement so soft it was like a ghost touched her. “I made it my concern when you opened the door looking like you had done ten rounds with Anthony Joshua. Nobody puts their hands on you in violence. Not ever. So although I had come over to say I had changed my mind and was going to help you if you still wanted it. I’m now telling you I am going to help, and you don’t get to say no.”
Pax’s mouth fell open at the intensity of his words, and she couldn’t think of anything to say in response. His eyes fell to her mouth and she flicked her tongue to her suddenly dry lips. Blake’s eyes darkened and she felt the electricity in the room fizzle with sexual tension.
“You can’t just boss me around, Calvin Blake,” she said using his full name.
“You like it when I boss you around, Grace Paxton,” he replied also using her real name.
She found she liked the way her name sounded on his lips and despite the hot denial she was about to utter, there was something decidedly sexy about a man when he took charge and Blake was all man.
“Do not.” She didn’t care if she sounded like a five-year-old.
Blake ran his eyes over her body slowly before his eyes came back to her face. “Tell that to your body, honey,” he replied and turned to start pulling pans from the drawers.
Face aflame, Pax looked down and saw her nipples were poking through the thin fabric of her top begging for attention. “Pig.”
She turned and moved towards the stairs to try and find something more substantial to put between her and Blake. She heard his low, deep chuckle as she made her way upstairs and bit back the scream of frustration. Part sexual and part just annoying man-induced.
“Brunch will be in twenty minutes.”
Pax slammed the door and swore she heard him laugh although that was improbable. Moving to the bathroom she surveyed her face and decided that there really was nothing to be done about it and opted for a quick wash before she braided her long hair down the side and let it hang across her left breast. She grabbed a white floaty skirt that came to just above her knees and a short navy camisole with a hidden shelf bra already in it. It wouldn’t offer much of a barrier between her and Blake, but it was cool, and it was clothing not nightwear. It made her feel better at least.
Pax bit her lip as pain assailed her when she lifted her arm to pull the top on. Although she wasn’t a seasoned warrior like the other girls, she wasn’t a wimp either. That made her think of Roz and the bullshit she had fed her this morning about a tummy bug.
She felt a frisson of guilt but shoved it away. Roz didn’t handle sickness well and since becoming a mom to two girls she’d had more sickness than she’d bargained for and she tried to minimise it as best she could. It only bought her a few days though and then she would have to come up with another excuse.
The smell that was coming from her kitchen made her belly grumble and she remembered she hadn’t eaten since lunchtime yesterday, and then only a chicken salad with no carbs in it at all.
Making her way carefully down the stairs she found Blake setting her table with knives and forks and filling two glasses with orange juice. She smiled despite herself—he looked good in her kitchen. Pax stamped that thought out before it could take root and made her way towards him as he looked around and sa
w her.
“Perfect timing. The eggs are done,” he said as he moved past her, putting his hand to her belly and running it along the gap where her waistband and top met in a completely natural move that made her feel warm inside.
Sitting at the table she felt her mouth water as he placed a plate with soft fluffy scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, fried tomatoes, toast, and hash browns in front of her. “Wow you can cook!”
“Yeah, as I said, I have sisters and those sisters learned to cook from my mum and so did I. My mum was adamant that no son of hers was going to rely on his woman to cook for him, so yeah, I can cook. Eat up. Give me the verdict.” He dug into his own plate.
Pax placed a fork with the eggs in her mouth and groaned in pleasure. They were the best eggs she’d ever had and considering her family had chefs when she was growing up, that said a lot.
“Good?”
She opened her eyes that had closed in culinary ecstasy. He was watching her, his own heavy with desire. “Very good. Please pass my thanks to your mother,” she said without thinking.
“You my woman, Pax?”
Pax had the unsettling feeling she’d trapped herself and given her growing feelings towards Blake away. “No, of course not.” She laughed and waved her hand. “I’m thanking her on behalf of womankind in general for teaching you to cook for your… um… future woman.”
“You’re my woman.” After that muttered pronouncement, Blake carried on eating his food while she stayed silent not knowing what to say for a second. She knew if she argued he would think she was protesting too much, but if she didn’t, she was accepting it. She went with a dismissal instead.
“Pig.”
He threw back his head and laughed at what was fast becoming her standard response to him.
The rest of the meal was eaten in a relatively comfortable silence until she whimpered when the bacon caught her throat which was sore from being strangled.
Blake’s face went stony as she pushed the plate away and drank the fresh juice instead. “Go rest. I’ll clean up and then we can talk.”
Pax had the unsettling feeling that he would talk, and she would be expected to listen. “Fine.”
Standing, she made her way to the living room that was cool and faced away from the heat of the midday sun. It was so unusual for the UK to have such high temperatures but to her it was normal, although she missed air conditioning more than she thought possible having taken it for granted all her life. She turned the fan on and opened the window that faced the back garden to circulate some air in the room and sat on the sofa.
Blake joined her a few minutes later and instead of taking the seat opposite, he sat beside her. “You want me to go first?” he asked as he twisted to face her.
Pax turned her head to look at him not wanting her body all twisted. “Well, you seem to have more to say than I do so go ahead.”
Blake nodded. “I came here this morning because I’d changed my mind about wanting to help. I have my reasons for saying no and I won’t go into those, but I do want to help you. That being said, this,” he waved a finger at her, “changes things. I won’t let anyone get away with putting their dirty hands on a woman and especially one that means something to me.”
Pax felt her heart jump and her abdomen get heavy at his declaration. She wanted to ask him what he meant about her meaning something to him but didn’t want to look weak and needy. It wasn’t her style, at least not anymore. “So what is the plan?” she asked, ignoring his words.
“Right now, we get you healed up and then we travel to the US and confront your father head-on. There’s no way to go in undercover now. They know you’re on to them.”
“My father wouldn’t have done this.” The need to defend the father she still loved even as she fought to bring him down was not lost on her.
“Maybe not, but he needs to see what’s going on and I need to get a read on things.”
“But I don’t need you for that,” she said back peddling suddenly as she realised that being in her home country with Blake would feel too intimate. They would be away from the issues of working for opposing companies and him being a playboy with the power to hurt her. Everything would get muddied away from the UK and she knew it was a danger to her heart.
“You may not need me, but you have me.” He took her hand rubbing the soft skin of her palm. “I want to help, Gracie. Let me, please? I wasn’t bullshitting when I said I care about you. I do. Do I want to fuck you five ways from Sunday? Yes, I do. Will I hurt you intentionally? Absolutely not. I care, but if you want this to be strictly platonic, I’ll pretend you’re not hot as fuck and be your friend.”
Pax had no idea what to say to that because he’d said all the right things. The problem was she didn’t know if she wanted him to fuck her five ways from Sunday or be her friend. She very much feared it was the first and she couldn’t bring herself to feel sorry about that. The delicious shiver in her body and the tingle in her clit as he’d said the word fuck made her want to climb in his lap and have him start now but she controlled herself.
“Deal.” She stuck out her right hand for him to shake.
Blake took it and kissed the inside of her wrist. “You didn’t say which it would be.”
Pax could see the light dancing in his eyes and had the feeling she had bitten off more than she could chew this time. “All right, Romeo, tone it down a little.” She smirked at him to cover the way his words and touch affected her.
“Fair point. Now, what have you told Zenobi about your absence?”
She watched him lean into the couch, the breeze from the fan making his hair move like a lover was running her hands through it. “I told Roz I have a stomach bug.”
“And she believes you?” Blake asked looking slightly incredulous.
“Yes. Why?”
“Did you not leave any evidence of the beating you took?”
Pax thought back to the previous night and tried to figure out if she had removed all the evidence. She thought she had but he had her doubting it now. “No. I was pretty careful about cleaning everything up.” she replied her brow furrowed.
“Impressive. Not many would think to clear away all the evidence.”
“Yeah, well, attention to detail is my thing.” She knew her voice was filled with pride.
Blake ran his eyes over her and nodded. “Yeah I know,” he said somewhat cryptically. “So, tell me everything you can remember about the men who attacked you. Every little detail might help.”
She told him everything from just before Bebe left to her getting home and falling into bed.
“Will Jack be okay with you leaving to go to the US on some mercy mission with me?”
“It’s hardly a mercy mission. But I’m on leave still with this knee injury. He only has me doing torture physiotherapy with Waggs anyway. As long as I keep that up in some way while I’m away, he’ll be fine with it.”
“Okay,” she said trying to hide a yawn. It was mid-afternoon already and after only getting a couple of hours of fitful sleep last night she felt exhaustion pulling at her.
“You should get some rest,” he said softly, a look of tenderness in his eyes.
“I need to get a shower.” She wanted to be clean but didn’t have the energy for that either.
“How about you get a few hours’ sleep and I’ll help you shower afterwards?” Pax raised an eyebrow at his suggestion. “All in the name of getting you clean and comfortable. I won’t look I promise.” She could see the slightest twinkle in his eyes.
“Hmm, we’ll see?”
Blake stood and moved away, and she had a sudden desire to ask him to stay. She didn’t want to be alone. It was silly and weak, and she almost bit her tongue off trying to stop the words from spilling out.
He got to the door and turned to her. “You a heavy sleeper?”
“Mostly, why?”
“I’m going to go and cut your lawn. It’s like a jungle out there.”
He pointed to her front and back ga
rden that she hadn’t had a chance to cut yet. She had planned to do it one evening this week, the grass grew so fast in this heat she had to do it weekly. Pax had actually found she enjoyed it but had been so busy she hadn’t had time.
“Oh, okay. Then, yes, I can sleep through that.” She didn’t add the sense of relief she felt knowing he was sticking around would help her sleep. No need to act like a complete wet fish.
“Get some sleep, Pax. Shout if you need me.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and gave her a grin that practically melted her clothes off it was so hot.
She grinned to herself as he walked away and then settled as best she could with her arms around a cushion and fell into a dreamless sleep knowing she was safe.
Chapter Seven
Blake stripped his shirt and threw it on the rattan chair which made up part of Pax’s impressive garden furniture set. It was nearly thirty degrees Celsius and he was sweating like a whore in church. He wiped his brow and pushed the mower towards the front of the house to do the front lawn.
He had checked on Pax a few minutes earlier, and she was out for the count. He had been planning to go into the office and talk to Jack but had seen the hesitancy on her face when he’d stood and knew she felt vulnerable. So he’d decided to stay and mow her lawn. He could have chatted with her all day. He found her interesting, funny, and witty. She also had an air of vulnerability that intrigued him.
Pax was outwardly confident, composed, take charge, and full of attitude, but he now saw a side he hadn’t noticed before and he found he liked that almost as much. He wasn’t sure how helping her shower was going to work out later though. He was entirely in control of his own mind and body, but he’d never achieve sainthood was never in the cards for him.
Pax intrigued him in a way that went beyond the sexual desire he felt for her. Yes, he wanted her with a need he had never felt before. He had fought it in Monaco, had tried to hide the need he felt, but now he was loath to do that. Was it love? No, it wasn’t love but it was something more profound than attraction. He wanted more from her.