The Bounty Hunters: The Marino Bros.: Box Set (47 page)

She decided to stop, have a break, and get a drink. She also wanted to check on her “guest.” He still had not risen.

When she peered inside her cabin, he was still asleep although this time he was turned onto his side. The blanket she had given him was so low on his side, it revealed his chest and arms to her feasting eyes. And although damaged, this man was definitely someone who took great care of his body. He was solid muscle and sinew. Wondering what he did for a living to stay in such great shape, she could not help but appreciate the view. She knew she was staring, and just couldn’t help it. It had been a long time since she had been with a man. She and Anthony had broken up over a year ago. She slipped by Blaze to pour herself a drink.

As she did so, she couldn’t get rid of her image of Anthony. She cursed herself for staying friends with the man, and letting him deceive her into driving him to that bank. The only reason he even knew she needed to go there was because she had confided in him. In a moment of weakness, she told him her mother was not doing well at all. They still spoke when they ran into one another as they still shared many of the same friends.

She’d mentioned she was going to talk to a new oncologist, and he’d offered to drive her to Tampa to talk to this new specialist at the Moffat Cancer Center. She didn’t know why she had accepted, but she had. That was her mistake. In her moment of weakness he had pounced. She didn’t know he and his brother were planning on robbing that bank. When they’d stopped and asked her to get behind the wheel to move the car if she was asked to, because they needed to make a quick stop and because her appointment was soon, she hadn’t thought anything of it. She didn’t want to be late, but she hadn’t wanted to be rude either. They were saving her the expense of the trip, and in her mind, she believed they were just running in to make a withdrawal, or she had thought.

She had no clue she was their getaway driver in their stupidly hatched plan to rob the Wells Fargo Bank. She’d no idea that they were only using her and her naiveté to have an extra person, one they were certain would keep her mouth shut.

She tried explaining that to the police at first, and they just shook their heads at her, telling her to tell it to her lawyer. Her public defender had laughed. It was a miracle she’d even made bail. She still had no clue how her mother managed that.

Blaze’s groan startled her back to reality. He was turning in his sleep, and his blanket slid lower exposing even more of him. Not wanting to get caught ogling the poor man, she decided to take her drink and finish it outside.

Once there, the paint cans beckoned her. So she decided to go ahead and begin tackling the side of the house she had cleared of weeds. There was no time like the present. Might as well make the most of the time she had that day. She was planning on walking to town later, once Blaze woke up, to get him help even though she felt confident he would recover from his injuries. Last night after dinner, he seemed to be feeling much better, and had only complained about his ankle when she’d examined him one last time. Yes, she shook her head, painting would surely clear her mind of her fantasizing about the man and his naked torso.

Fall From Grace

B
laze felt the
sun streaming in through the front door. The screen was closed, but the inner door was left wide open, and he cracked his eyes open a slit to avoid being blinded. He was glad he’d gotten some sleep eventually. He was feeling better too. Bella, er, Izzy, was nowhere to be seen. He heard some noises coming from outside and knew she must be near. It sounded like someone dragging something heavy along the side of the house.

He wasn’t in a rush to get up just yet. He listened to her softly hum some tune he did not recognize, and thought about what transpired last night. He was a good judge of character, and he just couldn’t picture her being a bank robber.

He moved to lay flat on his back, and stretched the soreness and stiffness from his joints, and again was surprised he wasn’t in much pain. The ointment Bella used had worked wonders. He moved his ankle, rotating it, and it felt better too. He sat up, and reached down to remove the wrap Bella had placed on it. He felt a momentary twinge as the blood rushed to the area, but once that subsided, he resumed his rotation of it, and indeed it did feel better.

Next, he inspected the scrapes on his hands and chest, and they too felt immeasurably better; they looked better too. The salve she used, she had called it White Oak, had the healing process already begun. This Clara was quite the accomplished practitioner in herbal remedies. He would have never expected it, but the proof was in right in front of him. The scratches on his chest were pink and closed, and his hands were not far behind.

Blaze stretched a few more times and then got up. He needed to relieve himself, and searched around for a bathroom. He saw no door other than the front door and hoped beyond measure that perhaps there was one behind the absent staircase to the loft. He’d noticed Bella climbing the ladder where a staircase should have stood. It was probably one of the repairs she had yet to accomplish.

He gingerly took his first step. He tested his weight, and other than the first few steps felt minimal pain. He’d need to baby it one more day, and then he should be fine.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he rounded the corner and saw a door. The place did have a rest room. He opened the old wooden door in need of paint and faced a very small bathroom. It had a tub that had seen better days, a shower head, a small sink and toilet. He turned on the tap, but nothing came out. Shoot, no running water in here. Then he remembered Bella saying she didn’t trust the plumbing in the bathroom because of all the rot. She had a pump in the kitchen that was connected to her well outside. He noticed a pitcher sitting beside the sink, and a gallon water container sitting along the back of the tank. He presumably could use the facilities, he just needed to fill the tank after each use. So he did that.

Seeing a small pile of washcloths on the counter, he took one and dipped it into the basin, and managed to freshen up as best he could, but he desperately wanted a shower and left the bathroom regretting he couldn’t have one. His tumble down the embankment had left him feeling pretty grimy. But, at least in his duffle bag in the trunk of the inoperable rental, he’d be able to get fresh cloths. His shirt had been torn to shreds, and his light weight blazer had seen better days. His cargo pants which he had slept in were filthy. He needed to make a trip out to the car and get a change of clothes.

Finishing up with the wash cloth, he was determined to get his clothes. He set out for the front door when he heard a blood curdling scream that immediately set his nerves on edge, and then a loud thud beside the cabin made him jump. Despite his injured ankle, he allowed instinct to kick in and headed straight for the noise.

He flew out of the cabin and what he found when he rounded the corner was Bella waist deep in weeds and an upended twelve foot ladder. He first looked to her and then the house. He saw a few strokes of paint along the upper part of the house under the soffit and quickly put two and two together. She had cleared the weeds, and then had decided to start painting, tackling the higher parts of the house first.

Apparently in her gusto to get started on the painting she had placed the ladder on uneven ground without bracing it on a flat enough surface, and had come tumbling down when she reached.

“Are you okay?” he asked as she attempted to claw her way out of the weeds. Already up and moving, with weeds and dirt in her hair, she seemed okay, but he asked to be sure.

“Yeah, but I feel like an idiot. I fell off the ladder. Sorry, I woke you,” she sighed as she grabbed his proffered hand to pull her out of the three foot tall grass. She stumbled that last foot, as her ankle get stuck in a rabbit hole, and despite his best efforts to prevent it she went down.

“Ow, oh,” she shouted clutching her injured ankle.

“Oh no, are you okay?” he asked for the second time in less than ten seconds stooping down beside her.

“I don’t think so,” she answered. She was rocking gently and still clutching her ankle.

“Do you think you can get up?” he asked, voice full of genuine concern.

“I don’t know. It really hurts.”

Blaze took her arm and put it around one of his shirtless shoulders. He felt the heat between them and tried to ignore it. His reaction to her today was just as fierce as it had been the night before. It bothered him, but he needed to focus on her now.

He helped Bella up to her feet and carefully pulled her away from the tall grass. When her body came even more into contact with him he felt his cock stir in his pants. It seemed his body liked what it was feeling with her pressed up against him and he couldn’t help his reaction to her. Even filthy dirty and with weeds in her hair, there was something about Bella he just couldn’t resist.

“Ouch, oh! It really hurts,” she muttered taking her first step right into his waiting arms. “God, you would’ve thought it would have been the fall from the ladder that did me in, not trying to walk three steps out of the weeds.” She tried to joke, but he could tell she was in serious pain. Her words were uttered through clenched teeth.

“Let’s get you inside and that boot off and see what we are dealing with,” he suggested. With each footstep Blaze could see she was really in pain and not just because the grip she had around his back was getting tighter. Each step forward, he noticed her face became tauter. “Do you think it’s just a sprain? You don’t think you broke it do you?”

“I don’t think so.” Her voice came out scratchy.

Bella tried to put more weight on her left ankle but it was just too much. A sharp pain emanated from her ankle all the way up her shin. God, it hurt like a son of a gun. So much for walking into town later to get Blaze help. Now they were both injured.

Blaze couldn’t stand to see that pinched expression on her face any longer. He made a decision and he acted on it. In one fell swoop, he swung her up into his arms and began to walk her the last few steps to the house and carried her up the few stairs to her porch taking two steps at a time.

“You shouldn’t be carrying me like this,” Bella complained. “You’ll make your ankle worse.”

“My ankle feels better. Don’t worry about it. Let’s just get you inside and see what you’ve done to yours.” The porch which extended across the whole front of her cabin was a good size and he needed to cross it in order to get her inside. Even though she was slight, his ankle did feel the extra weight. This definitely wasn’t babying it like he’d planned.

He reached with one hand for the screen door, pulled it open, and then stepped inside. Blaze immediately made his way to the kitchen table, and eased her down onto one of the kitchen chairs. Bending on one knee before her, he quickly lifted up the leg of her pants. He was going to examine her ankle. Just as he was about to lower her sock she must’ve had the same idea. Bang! Their heads clanged together. He saw stars.

“Oh my God!” Blaze cursed. He looked up just in time to see Bella rubbing her forehead.

“What a pair we are,” Bella winced. “Holy heck, I seriously think we should just stay away from each other,” she teased.

Blaze smiled at her joke. And it was true. Ever since they’d met, one or the other of them was getting hurt. He held up one finger. “Let me look at your ankle, Izzy. You stay put.”

He waited for her to nod before he proceeded. As soon as he lowered the sock he could see the swelling had already begun, and just shook his head. “I think you’re right, Izzy. We are quite a pair.” He untied the laces of her boot and removed it carefully. Then he took her sock off completely. She had cute feet he noticed, but shook his head and reminded himself to focus once more. He began to feel around her ankle. Like his own ankle, nothing seemed broken. She had no ice to put on it as she didn’t have a refrigerator, so the only thing left for her to do was to elevate it and possibly use some of the salve she had which he suggested.

She agreed. “I’d like to wash up first though,” she suggested. “No sense putting it on right now. I’d also like to change out of these clothes.”

He figured she wanted to go into the restroom and clean up like he had this morning. “Want me to help you into the bathroom?” he asked.

“No. I’d actually like to take a real bath.” Blaze was confused. He’d seen the condition of her rotting tub. She must have realized what he was thinking because her next words clarified the situation. “I have one of those old-fashioned metal tubs over there in the corner behind those curtains.”

Blaze looked in the direction she was pointing. He’d seen the curtains before but hadn’t realized there was something like a tub behind it. He’d assumed it was storage. “There is a bathtub behind there?” he asked sounding doubtful.

“Yes. Actually it was upstairs. I lowered it down here with a rope.”

“Resourceful,” he quipped, imagining Bella accomplishing that feat. She was quite a remarkable and efficient woman. The longer he spent with her the more he wanted to get to know her, and that bothered him too. Another thing to add to his list of disturbing things when he was around Bella.

“A cool bath might help reduce the swelling,” she added, looking at him sheepishly. “But . . . I’m going to need some help.” Her lowered eyelashes told him she was embarrassed to ask. And that made him want to help her even more.

“What can I do?” came his quick reply.

“Maybe six or seven buckets of water from the well,” she asked, wincing. “I’ve got a couple gallons here so maybe . . . two or three trips.”

“Okay,” he shrugged and began to turn.

“Wait,” her voice stopped him.

“Yes,” he turned just as he reached the screen door.

“Can you help me over to the tub before you go out?” She hated to ask for his help, but knowing she’d really screwed up her ankle even the short trip was going to be excruciating.

Blaze just nodded and came to her assistance. Instead of giving her his arm like she thought, he once again scooped her up into his arms and carried her the twenty-five feet across the room.