Mission: Impossible to Protect (The Impossible Mission Romantic Suspense Series Book 6), стр. 25
He slid her skirt down her legs. The callouses on his hands abraded along her nerve endings, sending shivers up her body. She was now down to her red panties, which she’d worn as a confidence booster when she dressed this morning. If she had known the outcome of the day, she would have stuck to her usual black.
“Panties on or off?”
“In your wildest dreams, buddy. Just get the sweats on. I can feel my ankle swelling.” She didn’t care if she was being bitchy. She didn’t flinch with the burst of heat from Lars’s gaze on her legs.
Despite his size, he was careful and deliberate in his movements. He smoothly slid the wide pant leg over her injured ankle without jerking it.
“I’ll lift you onto the bed, and you can pull up the pants with your left hand. Okay? We’ll get your ankle elevated, and then I can help you with the T-shirt.”
His face was flushed, and she couldn’t not notice the erection bulging against his zipper. God, she wished she hadn’t looked… Her female brain and body parts noted the impressive size despite her exhaustion. And she was glad to see that she wasn’t the only one affected by this sensuality test. She knew how tired she was by the fact that she wasn’t even close to tempted to make any jokes.
He lifted her easily to the head of the bed. She tugged on the oversized sweats, awkwardly, but she managed to get them to her waist. He gently lowered her against the headboard and then guided her ankle onto the pillow.
“Is this good?”
He really was being sweet, and she shouldn’t be pissy at him. He had done nothing but help her. “Sorry. None of this is your fault. You were never bitchy to me when you were in the hospital with a lot worse of an injury.”
His head came up fast. For a brief second, his face had a pensive look that she had never seen before, then his eyes shuttered, and he returned to flirting and the Jenkins grin.
“It would be very unmanly to express pain as a marine or a Jenkins. We have strict rules on the subject. And if I got ‘bitchy,’ my brothers would emasculate me.”
His grin widened to showcase his perfect white teeth.
“And no need to apologize. You’ve had a rough day and need to sleep. Let’s get you set up so you can crash.”
He grabbed the black T-shirt off the end of the bed and came to sit next to her, hip to hip.
“We’ll put the T-shirt over your head, and then I’ll unzip your bra thing to preserve your modesty.”
Danni didn’t know where to look or what to say. He was way more generous than she deserved.
He draped the giant T-shirt over her head and then painstakingly placed her splinted wrist through the sleeve. Her lower back started to spasm with the movement. She jerked upright.
“God, I’m sorry. I hurt you?”
“No, my back is very twitchy…right on the edge of spasming again. I need a massage and then a deep soak in Epsom salts. But neither is going to happen. Just ignore me. Let’s get this over with.”
He lifted the front of the giant T-shirt once both her arms were through the sleeves. He was so close that she could smell the musky scent of male mixed with the clean smell of soap. She refused to meet his eyes since hers might give away her emotions swirling out of control.
Instead, she stared at his hands when he unhooked the bustier. She held her breath, ignoring the sensation of his rough fingers so close… She focused on the hair on the back of his hand, visualizing him as a hairy ogre. He had a long, jagged scar across his right hand.
“How did you get that?” She ignored that he hadn’t stopped unzipping her bustier, exposing her breasts and stomach. He held the material close together, but she could still feel the cool air wafting across her skin.
“Sten and I were fighting with real knives, pretending that we were Ninja Turtles.” His breath hitched when his knuckle rubbed against her skin. “I got thirteen stitches and then was sent to my room after the ER visit. It wasn’t much of a punishment since Sten and I shared a room.”
She jerked the T-shirt down as soon as he pulled away the bustier. “Is there any place that you don’t have scars?”
“We can look together.” He grinned as his eyes lightened with laughter.
He was never serious. Always joking despite living a dangerous life filled with painful tragedies. His father had been killed in action when he was very young.
“Have you always been the jokester of the family?”
“You’ve met Nick and Finn. They seemed to be always focused and driven…to make up for the loss of our father. Sten and I were too young to be impacted like they were. They had a lot of anger since they worshipped our father. Sten and I were left to our own devices much of the time, which suited us perfectly. When I look back, I think we felt pressure to lighten up the family, entertain them with our daring exploits. And boy, did we.”
And fulfilling his role, he continued to pursue daring exploits in battle and with women. Did he ever wonder if there was more to him than being an entertainer? He was a solid, caring man… She was desperate for sleep if she was considering Lars Jenkins in a committed relationship.
Chapter Thirteen
Lars paced in front of Danni’s bedroom, checking his watch again. He had answered all his pressing emails about his upcoming trip, and still Luna hadn’t finished. Luna Star had been with Danni for well over an hour. How long could a massage go on? The LA team was waiting to move Danni