Zara looked eagerly out of the car window, desperate to see Bellisia. When Bellisia had failed to come back to the compound, she was terrified that her best friend was dead. Shylah and she had spent hours alternately crying and then trying to convince each other that Bellisia was alive and had managed to escape. Eventually, Whitney’s anger and his retaliation—separating Zara and Shylah—had Zara believing Bellisia was still alive. She couldn’t wait to see her. She had so much to tell her, and she needed her advice on what to do about the information she had stored and locked in her brain.
Zara recognized their driver, Adam Cox. He’d been a soldier for Whitney and, after Bellisia disappeared, Adam and his partner Gerald Perkins had been sent out, presumably looking for her. They had never returned. Seeing him driving the car made Zara uneasy. If she hadn’t been able to read Gino’s energy so easily, to merge her own energy with his, she might have become suspicious, but there was no way for Gino to hide the fact that just the mention of Whitney brought that cold demon inside him close to the surface.
Bellisia stood outside the two-story house the vehicle drove up to. She looked beautiful. Radiant. Tears welling up, Zara clutched Gino’s hand. “I can’t believe she’s really alive. Whitney wouldn’t tell us for sure. I hoped she was. I hoped she really was the one to kill Violet. When we heard the senator had died from being bitten by a blue-ringed octopus when she was diving, I thought it had to be Bellisia, but there was no way of knowing for certain.”
The car came to a halt, and Zara threw the door open. She swung her legs out of the car before Gino could stop her.
“Zara, what the hell do you think you’re doing? You can’t walk, remember?” He caught her around the waist to keep her from trying to leap out.
She’d forgotten. For just that one moment she was so happy to see her “sister” that she forgot Zhu, the torture, everything but hugging Bellisia. Bellisia looked toward the car and her face lit up. Zara had forgotten how beautiful she was, and how her smile could light up the sky. She was very small with blue eyes and pale blond hair. Already, she was in motion, leaping off the porch and running toward the car. Zara braced herself, her answering smile hurting her sore face.
Bellisia ran around the hood of the car and launched herself into the air. Ezekiel Fortunes caught her, wrapping his arms around her, his mouth on hers. Zara’s smile faded. Shocked, she couldn’t take her eyes off the couple. Bellisia hadn’t even seen her. Her gaze had found Ezekiel and she never looked anywhere else.
“They’re married,” Gino said. “This mission, you have to understand, princess, it wasn’t certain we were coming back. Boss called it a suicide mission, and if you’d seen the jump onto the roof at night with those power paragliders, you’d realize just how close it was with those winds.”
She knew he recognized that she was hurt and he was making excuses for Bellisia. He was right too. If she had a husband and that man had gone on a suicide mission, she would be looking for him first. Still, that didn’t take away the hurt. All those weeks of thinking Bellisia was dead. Instead she was falling in love and getting married—without her. It embarrassed her that Gino saw her at her absolute worst all the time.
“I’m really tired,” she said. “Can you take me inside?”
“Sure, baby.”
Of course he would. She didn’t look at him. She couldn’t. There was no tearing her gaze away from Bellisia and the tears streaming down her face as she looked her husband over so carefully. Bellisia had to have known that if Zara was left with Cheng for three days before the rescue, she would be tortured, but instead of even checking on her …
“Zara.” Gino’s voice was low. She was in his arms, her face in his neck. “Don’t. You’re understandably upset, but Bellisia couldn’t possibly have known what Zhu did to you. When we’re on an unsanctioned mission, we can’t report home. As much as Zeke would have wanted to tell her, he couldn’t.”
She’d said it out loud where Gino could hear her. What was wrong with her? Now he really knew what a mean, petty person she was. She should be happy for Bellisia, not feeling alone, miserable and betrayed.
“I always show you my worst side.” It came out a whisper. She kept her eyes closed as he entered the house and moved through rooms. She knew there were other people around, but she didn’t want them to see her puffy face and black eyes. For some reason, she felt embarrassed and guilty as if she could have somehow prevented Zhu from beating her. “It’s not like what happened to me was that bad.”
“Zara stop talking right now. Keep your mind blank,” Gino ordered. “Stop thinking until I can get you into the bedroom.” It was a clear command, issued in his gruff, obey me or else voice.
Zara tried to do what he said, pretending her mind was a slate, and every time she thought about Bellisia ignoring her, or self-pity, or the fact that she was making such a fool of herself in front of Gino, she would wipe that slate clean. Unfortunately, she couldn’t stop the tears. Those flooded his neck and soaked his T-shirt.
He kicked a door closed. The thump of his boot on the wood was loud as well as the slamming of the door. He took her to a bed and gently laid her onto her back. She attempted to roll onto her side, away from him, but he had anticipated her movement and stopped her with a hand to her belly. Gentle. Always so gentle. He looked scary and tough, but when he touched her, it was almost with reverence. That brought another fresh flood of tears.
“Zhu tortured you, Zara. He beat you unmercifully with his fists. He caned you. He used a whip on you. The man knows anatomy very well because he inflicted the most pain on you he could without permanently damaging you. He’s well versed in torture and, although he was careful not to do permanent damage, he certainly went for maximum pain.”
“You can’t know that.”
“Of course I know that. Aside from the fact that I’m a doctor and I can see what he’s done, and of course I know anatomy, I certainly can beat someone with my fists, cane them and whip them. I’m just as well versed in the art of torture as he is—maybe more. I’ve been dealing with that sort of thing since my family was slaughtered.”
Her heart jerked hard. She opened her eyes and looked at his face. God, that face. If a woman could fall for a face, she had. Those unusual, intense eyes. The scruff on his jaw. The hard angles and planes. The scars. His mouth. Slaughter? His family had been slaughtered? She’d been wallowing in her own misery, counting on him. Forcing him to stay with her because of her cowardice, but she hadn’t asked him about his past.
“Does that scare you?”
She frowned, uncomprehending.
“I learned to torture people. That I’m capable of torturing someone. That I have.” He refused to look away from her, his gaze holding hers.
She could see he was waiting again for condemnation. He had before, when he’d tried to put her off with scare tactics. To be able to have even a slight chance of combating Zhu, Gino had to know what Zhu was capable of, what he would do to her, to anyone in his path. Gino had to be a fierce ice-cold demon, everything that Zhu was and more. The more was his protective nature.
She shook her head. “It’s a little at odds with being a doctor, but I imagine you went to school sometime after you learned your other … um … skills. No, Gino, you don’t scare me. I just am sorry that you lost your family. We’re a pair, aren’t we? I have no family and you lost yours.”
He swept his hand over the tears on her face. “Princess, those tears had better not be for me. Looking at you, I believe I have what I want right in front of me.”
Her heart clenched hard and her stomach did a slow somersault. She didn’t know if she was willing him to want to be with her, to overlook her cowardice and every shortcoming that was right there in his face, or if she was being selfish because she was so afraid without him.
“I think I’m just tired, Gino. And the pain is getting worse. I don’t think the pills last nearly as long as when you give me IV painkillers. Am I being wimpy?” Why couldn’t she just ask him straight out? But she couldn’t, not until she had something to offer him. Right now, she didn’t have much, not even her own clothes. All she had was terror, neediness and tears.
“All right, baby, just close your eyes. I’ll darken the room and give you some more meds. Just the beating he gave you, bruising your internal organs, would cause pain. Add the whip and cane and of course you hurt like hell. There’s no need.” He was already setting up an IV.
Zara closed her eyes with some relief. Her eyes burned from tears, and from the light, from keeping them open, all of it. She hated that she looked so awful and that Gino had to see her that way. “It’s been nearly a week.”
“Five days isn’t a lot to heal your body inside, Zara,” he said. “Just go to sleep. The more sleep you get, the quicker you’ll heal.”
“You have the white knight syndrome in spades,” she murmured.
“Don’t kid yourself, baby, there’s nothing white knight about me.”
There was a knock on the door, and she panicked. She could feel her heart accelerate and her lungs burn for air. She couldn’t face anyone right now, especially Bellisia, and she knew it was her . “I can’t …”
“I’ll handle it,” Gino said. “Just rest.”
He already had the lights out and the curtains pulled while she lay in bed drifting on the pain medication with her eyes closed like the coward she was.
Gino swept his hand down Zara’s hair, feeling anything but the white knight she named him. He felt proprietorial. No way was Bellisia coming in and taking Zara from him. No one was going to do that. He’d staked his claim on her and he wasn’t backing off. He crossed the room to the door when the knock came again.
Ezekiel stood right behind Bellisia, one hand on her shoulder, his face a mask. Gino could tell by his eyes that he knew exactly what Gino was up to, but it didn’t matter.
“She’s resting right now. I’ve just gotten her comfortable and she’s almost out,” Gino said, blocking the door. “I’ll let you know when she’s up for visitors.”
“I need to see her now, Gino,” Bellisia insisted. “I won’t disturb her, but Zeke told me Zhu tortured her. I have to know she’s all right.”
“Physically she will heal, although I’m concerned about her feet.” Gino stayed in the doorway, blocking access to the room. “Of course, the feet are bruised, but she has hematomas, bleeding in the spaces inside. There appears to be tendon damage, but I can’t tell how severe or how permanent it is. I’ll know more when I can take more X-rays, do an MRI and a few other tests just to get a good look. Right now, I’m not letting her put any weight on her feet.”
“Zeke said he used a cane on her.”
Gino nodded. “On her back, buttocks, the backs of her legs and also on her feet. He did a very thorough job of it, so very painful.” He managed to sound impersonal when he no longer felt that way. “On her front, he used a whip and he was thorough about that as well, so she’s having trouble moving around too much. The beating was very severe, and he did that before the other. He also used chemicals on her and that was before the physical torture.” He raised his gaze to Ezekiel’s. “She told me that on the plane. I didn’t have a chance to give you that information. She didn’t tell him a thing about the GhostWalker program. He didn’t suspect her of being a GhostWalker.”
“Why would they keep her alive then?” Bellisia asked.
For the first time Gino had to struggle to keep his features impassive. Bellisia had all but implied that Zara had given in to Zhu and told him what he wanted to know. He knew Zara was awake, or at least drifting in and out. She was already hurt and he didn’t want her to think Bellisia didn’t trust her.
When he continued to stare at her, Bellisia opened her mouth and shook her head, reaching back for Ezekiel’s hand. “That came out wrong, Gino. I know Zara. She would never give up information, not under any circumstance. She would find a way to suicide before she’d do that. I meant, Cheng had to have had a reason. He never does anything without a reason. Did he plan to sell her?”
That first night in the embassy, when Gino had slept in a chair beside her bed, she’d woken in terror several times. She’d told him Cheng wanted to sell her to a man named Moffat who ran a human trafficking ring and owned some club he used his victims in. She’d admitted she didn’t know which was worse, having Zhu keep her or being sold into trafficking.
“Cheng apparently wanted to sell her,” Gino said, “but it was Zhu insisting on keeping her. He believed her almost from the beginning, but he wanted to keep her. For himself.” Gino disliked saying it aloud. He was too much like the man, mirroring his words, his dark, ugly character. Gino wanted to keep Zara for himself and he planned to do so. He was good at carrying out a battle plan. The more he was in her company, the more he was certain Zara Hightower was the woman for him.
“My poor Zara,” Bellisia whispered. “What a terrible thing for her to have to go through. You said you were worried about her feet. Is she going to be able to walk on her own?”
Gino stepped toward her, forcing the couple to move back so he could step outside the room and close the door, just in case Zara hadn’t yet succumbed to the drug.
“She’ll walk. I’m just afraid she’ll always experience some pain when she does. Zhu was careful not to leave any permanent marks on her skin, but he didn’t mind messing up her feet. Probably so she couldn’t run from him.”
Bellisia frowned and looked back at Ezekiel. “Do you remember I told you how fast she is? No one could keep up with her when she ran. I hope her feet aren’t permanently damaged. Have you talked to her about it?”
Gino shrugged. “She’s been pretty out of it. She’s just getting to the point where she can go longer periods with lower doses of painkillers. The travel did her in. When she wakes up, I’ll bring her out of the room so you can talk to her. She was very anxious to see you.”
“She didn’t know Zeke and I are married, did she?” Bellisia asked.
Gino shook his head. “There wasn’t much chance to talk about anything, Bellisia. She was in bad shape when we got to her. All I cared about was getting her out of there and letting her body heal without pain. The first couple of days, she could barely stand a sheet on her body and even lying down hurt her. I kept her out of it for long periods of time to give her a break. There isn’t really a comfortable position for her. She’s doing better though.”
“Ezekiel and I can look after her now, Gino,” Bellisia said. “It must be difficult to take her to the bathroom, and she’ll be needing showers and baths soon. I can do that and Zeke can see to her medical needs.”
Gino stared down at her for a long time, letting her see the devil in him. Very slowly, he shook his head. “Not happening, Bellisia. I’m taking care of her. She’s my responsibility now.”
Bellisia scowled. Ezekiel tightened his fingers around her hand, but Gino could see she wasn’t going to take the warning. “She’s my sister. My responsibility.”
“Yeah, I could see that when we pulled up and she sat in the car waiting while you were all over your husband. Zara’s mine. She wants to be with me, in my care, and I’m not going to relinquish that just because someone says so—or I have something better to do.”
Color crept into Bellisia’s face. “I can’t believe you just said that. I had to make certain Zeke was all right.”
“I got that. So did she. She wasn’t all right though. She’d been tortured, unlike Zeke.”
“Gino.” Ezekiel’s warning was just that one word. His name.
Gino didn’t give a damn. “She’s mine, Zeke. No one’s taking her from me.”
Bellisia tossed her hair, eyes flashing. “She isn’t a doll, Gino. She’s a living, breathing woman with feelings. And she’s fragile. Vulnerable, especially now. You’re not taking advantage of her.”
He gave her his most chilling smile. White teeth. No humor. Eyes dead. She had recognized the demon in him when they’d first met. He saw the knowledge in her eyes, but she never said anything to him and was unfailingly polite, but she avoided him if she could. Now he gave a reminder.
He let Zeke see him, although seeing the cold, dark side of Gino wouldn’t be news to him. They’d known each other too long. It was just that Gino had never chosen to set that demon in him loose on his fellow GhostWalkers—but then he’d never had anything of his own worth fighting for.
Ezekiel got it immediately and put a warning hand on Bellisia. “Baby, let Zara sleep. When she wakes up, you can ask her where she’d like to be and who she wants looking after her. Gino is an excellent surgeon and he’s been taking care of her from the moment we broke into Cheng’s lair.”
Bellisia stood looking up at Gino for a long time. “She’s not like me, Gino. She’s sweet and kind and good.”
“I’m very aware of what she’s like,” Gino said, his voice gentling, when he didn’t feel gentle. Bellisia was going to fight him, and she was Zara’s best friend.
Bellisia nodded and turned away, allowing Ezekiel to sweep his arm around her. In Gino’s assessment, Bellisia was all the things she had said Zara was, just in a different way. She made Ezekiel happy, and that alone made Gino like her, but she saw into him and she didn’t like what she saw. He didn’t blame her. Because he could have been Bolan Zhu.
Gino slipped back into the bedroom and firmly closed the door. They didn’t need any more visitors. “You awake?” Her breathing told him she was.
“Thank you, Gino. I put you in a bad position and I’m sorry.”
“No problem, princess. I’m never going to mind handling things for you. That’s what I do. What I want to do.”
She half turned over, the movement awkward, and he remembered she was in that long skirt and blouse that were most likely uncomfortable. “I’ll get you into something you can sleep in, Zara.” Because he was sleeping in the bed with her, and full nudity might just be a problem for them both.
“Why don’t you mind having to take care of me, Gino? It usually makes everyone angry, or at the very least, annoyed.”
She sounded a little lost, and his heart turned over. “I like taking care of you. I’ll always like taking care of you.” Her blue eyes kept looking at him, wide and sad. He shrugged and told her the truth. “It feels like a privilege to me.”
“You’re a little crazy, you know that?”
He nodded solemnly. “Sadly, I’m well aware.”
“I didn’t mean it in a bad way, only that you’re so sweet to me, Gino. No one has ever been so good to me.”
“Baby, that isn’t true. Bellisia and your friend were always good to you, and they didn’t mind taking care of you either. Bellisia just told me that she would be happy to take over your care. I know you’re hurt because she didn’t go to you first, but when your man goes off on a suicide mission, or any mission because there’s a chance every time that he might not come back, you’ll be running to him.”
“You’re defending her, but it didn’t sound like she was being very nice to you.”
He shrugged. “I don’t mind, not when she’s looking out for you. I’m telling you up front, so there’s no misunderstanding, Zara, I’m not a nice man. Bellisia sees that in me. She also sees I’m interested in more than taking care of you as a patient. She doesn’t like it. I don’t blame her, but it isn’t going to stop me from pursuing a relationship with you.”
He took the IV from her arm and rubbed his thumb over the spot, watching her for a reaction to his declaration.
“I’m the one on painkillers, and you’re the one not making any sense. I don’t even look halfway decent right now.”
“It isn’t about your looks, Zara, although I’ve seen enough pictures to know you’re beautiful. I just don’t want there to be any misunderstanding between us. I want you with me. I’m determined to make that happen in spite of knowing there will be a few obstacles, and Bellisia is probably going to be one of them. Having said that, I’m not going to pretend to be someone I’m not. You’re going to get the real man so you’ll know whether or not you can live with me.”
“Are you trying to scare me off?”
He looked into her upturned face and his heart did some crazy somersault in his chest. Her face was black and blue. There was even a little yellow, making her eyes and cheek very colorful.
“No, I just don’t want you to think you want to be with me because I rescued you.”
“That’s a legitimate worry,” she acknowledged.
“Or that you believe I can handle Zhu’s threat to you and once it’s over, you won’t need me anymore.”
“Like the gunslingers in the Old West. Come clean up the town, you did, thank you, so now leave,” she agreed.
He liked that she got it immediately. Even with the drugs in her system, her mind worked just fine. More than fine.
“What about the other way around, Gino?”
He raised an eyebrow and pushed back some of the thick reddish hair spilling around her face. He could spend a lifetime with his hands in her hair.
“I’m not always going to be beat-up.”
“No, you’re not. And I’m always going to want to take care of you. I’m always going to be that man standing in front of you. Sometimes you might not like it, Zara. That’s something you’re going to have to decide if you can live with.”
“Why me? I don’t see how it’s possible for a man as courageous as you to want to be with someone like me.”
“I’ve never met a woman braver. You need a home and a family of your own, and if I’m not mistaken, you want to stay in that home and take care of your family. I need that in my woman. I want her to put me first. To put our children first. And, princess, when I come home from a mission, I want you coming to me just the way Bellisia did to Zeke. She didn’t do a damn thing wrong. I know you were hurt, but you have to understand, she was right in going to her man and making him know he’s everything to her.”
Zara pressed her lips together, a little frown on her face. “I know you’re right, Gino. Intellectually, I know you’re right, but I had no idea she was with him. For me, she disappeared, and I worried she was dead. I was terrified when I was with Zhu, and frankly, I still am. I couldn’t wait to see her, and it felt like I didn’t matter in the least to her.”
“That isn’t true. If you could have seen Bellisia’s face when I told her what happened to you, you’d know you matter to her. Tomorrow, when you’re feeling better, you can meet all the women here. You’re going to love Nonny. She’s Wyatt’s grandmother and has lived here in the swamp all of her life. She’s an amazing woman.”
“The house smells the way I think a home should,” Zara said. “Welcoming.”
“I agree. Nonny knows her way around a shotgun, but she’s the most welcoming woman I’ve ever met.” At least she hadn’t shot him down and told him there was no way she would have any kind of an actual relationship with him. He’d been as honest with her and as up front about his intentions as he possibly could be and she wasn’t yelling her head off for Bellisia to come and save her. He supposed he should consider that a win, even if she hadn’t thrown herself into his arms and declared undying love.
“Just so you’re aware, Bellisia and Zeke would gladly take over your care if you prefer them to me. I told you, but you didn’t really address it. I need to know if you want them to handle the rest of your recovery.”
She slid back down in the bed. Even with her eyes black and blue, that slate blue staring up at him had his heart accelerating when facing men with guns didn’t.
“I don’t want them, Gino. I want you.” She made it a very firm statement.
“I’m taking your clothes off and inspecting every laceration before I put the tee on you. I’ll have to reapply the antibiotic ointment. All this traveling easily could have reopened the worst of them.” He wanted it clear he was shifting into caretaker mode.
“You’ve seen me without clothes often enough that I’m pretty certain you know every tiny laceration and bruise on my body by now.”
He caught the slight edge of embarrassment in her voice. “Sit up and let me get your clothes off. They can’t be comfortable. And trust me, baby, I’m always happy to remove your clothes. Right now, I’m taking care of you, but later, I’m not going to be so impersonal. It’s getting more difficult.”
She lifted her arms for him to remove the blouse. He looked because he’d be a fool not to. He wasn’t a saint, and she had beautiful breasts. The stripes across them were definitely healing. He indicated for her to lie back so he could strip the skirt away as well. Her body was gorgeous. Those long legs, the curve of her hips, that tucked-in waist, the little curls almost as red as her hair in the sunshine. His body reacted, which was bullshit when he was a doctor and trying to be professional. He shouldn’t be noticing all those details, but he couldn’t help it. He already thought of her as his.
“You’re definitely healing. I don’t like that a couple of these lacerations are being stubborn. By now, they should be completely closed, but you’ve got a few that aren’t, the ones that were infected. I should have stitched them. They were deeper than I first thought.” He ran his finger along the line just below the red slashes under her breasts. “You’d been through so much already, but I should have just done it.”
“I think you’re being hard on yourself. They’ll heal.”
“Might scar, Zara.”
She shrugged. “Maybe. It isn’t like I expected to get out of there alive. A couple of scars won’t hurt.”
He carefully applied antibiotic ointment to each long slash over the front of her body. He cursed Zhu under his breath with each application, not understanding how a man could do this to a woman. She tensed under his hands a few times.
“Am I hurting you?”
“It’s all right. Just stings in a couple of places. I told you I couldn’t take pain.”
She kept her eyes on his face and he felt that impact. He found himself smiling. “What?” Because she was thinking something important. Color crept up her body. He actually felt the wave of heat. That made him more curious than ever. “Talk to me, baby. I want to know what’s going on in your mind.”
Her fingers crept toward the sheet as if she might draw it up. Clearly she was feeling vulnerable. “Turn over. I want to take a look at the bruising on your back.” If she was lying face away from him, it might be easier for her to tell him.
She obeyed him, easing her body over onto her stomach, lying gingerly, making certain to take care as she put her weight on the sheets. That was another reason he was certain she was right for him. She wanted to please him. She did what he asked, even if she was afraid, or in this case, if it hurt. She trusted his judgment. He knew part of that was because she’d had to trust him fast in extreme circumstances, but it was additionally because he came through for her every time. It was also instinctual.
“Now tell me.” His fingers skimmed the fierce bruising caused by the caning. Those bruises were in various shades of blue, black and yellow. Most of the damage was done internally, the inside muscles bruised.
“I wanted you to kiss me.”
She whispered her confession, and he went still. Her head was turned toward him, one cheek against the sheet, one eye hidden. The other looked up at him through the long fan of lashes. She looked shy. Embarrassed. But she’d had the courage to tell him the truth.
He smiled at her. That smile began somewhere deep inside him because that was where she was getting to him. He started out thinking she was right for him, not that he’d fall for her, but that bravery of hers, when she thought herself a coward, was too much for a man like him to resist. Her brand of courage wasn’t the kind everyone could see, but it was there, quiet and just as unswerving as his was. The fact that she would trust him with the truth when it was embarrassing to her, shattered him.
“Trust is a gift, Zara, and I won’t forget that you give it to me every day we’re together. I won’t ever abuse it.” That was one thing he could say with absolute certainty. He wanted a woman to accept him and the things he did, but that might mean she couldn’t know what he was doing or where he was going when he went on a mission. He would be up front about that. Zara would be the kind of woman who would understand. “Thank you for giving me your trust and for telling me what you were thinking. Kissing you is hard to stop once I start, but you want kisses from me anytime, princess, you get them. I’ll expect the same from you.”
Her lips turned up in a faint smile that had the strange effect on him of robbing every bit of air from his lungs. He turned his attention to examining the bruising on her body, but that wasn’t any easier. She had a body that just spoke to his.
“You have a gorgeous ass, did you know that?” He rubbed gently over her buttocks, where those long dark lines were.
“No, not really. No one’s ever really looked at my … um … bum.”
“Ass, baby. Perfect, beautiful ass.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
He trailed his palm over the stripes on her upper thighs. Zhu had hit her precisely, laying the cane on almost every square inch of her back, buttocks and legs, doubling up every other stroke. The same was true of the whip. Zhu definitely knew anatomy. Under any other circumstance, Gino might admire his handiwork. Zhu’s skills were the kind a man like Ciro Spagnola needed, which was why Gino had them.
“Tell me what you like, Zara. Your favorite things to do.” He tugged on her arm to indicate she could roll over again. He had to put a T-shirt on her before he examined her feet.
“I like being outdoors,” she admitted, slowly sitting up as he went to his drawer to retrieve a clean shirt. “We had a big barracks, but there were always guards. Every minute of our time was directed by Whitney’s schedule until late evening. When I was allowed to go to school, even though he had men watching me, I would go outside at night and just look at the stars. I wanted to see mountains and rivers, forests, waterfalls. Everything. I haven’t experienced those things yet. As an adult, he still had guards on me and the rules were even stricter than when I was in school.”
He pulled the shirt over her head, noting she had more arm movement than before. The enhancements Whitney had given her aided her body in healing fast. “How long did he give you before those capsules break open? Was there always a set limit he told you about ahead of time?”
She nodded. He went to the end of the bed, sat and picked up her ankles to examine her feet. Zhu had definitely done the most damage there, either deliberately hurting the tendons or uncaring that he did so. Gino was certain the damage he’d inflicted was deliberate.
“Depending on the job he’d given me and where it was, he would change the time. In this case he gave me four weeks. We discussed the possibility of a lockdown because Bellisia had gotten caught in one. I had given talks to three businesses before Shanghai, in three different cities in China. We should have about a week and a half before those capsules break open.”
“Have you ever had one break open early?”
She shook her head. “It did, supposedly, happen to one of the other girls. She was doing something for him and didn’t make it back. They brought her body home, and she’d died of the virus. He said the capsule broke open early, but Bellisia didn’t think so.”
“What did Bellisia think happened?”
“They wouldn’t let us see her. We tried to sneak into the morgue, but Whitney had posted guards. Bellisia said if it was the virus, we would have been able to see her. Whitney had her cremated so we never knew for certain.”
Gino could see her feet were beginning to heal, but they had a long way to go. He didn’t want her to put any weight on them. He tested the reflexes and movement, all of which made her wince. Rest, anti-inflammatories and then physical therapy were her best chance of recovery. “You have to stay off your feet, princess. That’s important.”
“I don’t exactly feel like putting them on the ground, Gino. When I move them, they hurt very, very bad.”
“That’s a sign you shouldn’t move them too much,” he pointed out. “I’m not taking chances with the capsules breaking open. I’ll be taking them out as soon as I finish my reports. I’ll get Wyatt to assist me.”
She nodded, but he noticed she avoided his eyes. There was something she wasn’t telling him, something she wanted to tell him, but she had to do it in her own time. He had a suspicion it had to do with why Whitney had lied to Major General and said they could keep Zara if they rescued her. Then there was the matter of the soldier pointing a gun at a specific spot in her brain.
Gino pulled off his boots and climbed onto the bed with her. “I’m going to put you on my lap, Zara.” He waited, but she didn’t protest, so he picked her up and settled her on him. He wanted her to get used to his arms, the feeling of his body against hers and how it reacted when she was near him.
She put her arms around his neck and looked up at him. Her eyes were that strange slate color, and looking into them, he felt as if he had fallen under a spell. He wasn’t a man given to flights of fantasy so it was a little strange for him. He wrapped his hand around her throat so her heart was beating into his palm and he tipped up her face to him.
There was that trust again. Shy hunger. Desire. He liked that a fuck of a lot. He leaned his head to hers and took her mouth. She might not have a lot of experience kissing, but the combination of the two of them was so potent, it was as if she lit a match to dynamite. Flames spread through him like a wildfire out of control. He shifted her closer and took complete command of her mouth. She followed his every move. The slide of her tongue sent heat rushing through his veins to pool low and mean in his cock.
He used his thumb to tip her head back farther, giving him greater access. Fire poured through him, erupted in his belly and flowed through his veins. It didn’t take long to know he had to pull back when that was the last thing he wanted to do. It took discipline to lift his mouth from hers. He rested his forehead against hers and stared into those eyes of hers.
“I want to keep kissing you, baby, but it’s best if we stop now before there’s no stopping. Your body isn’t ready for anything but rest right now. I’m putting you in bed, and I’m going to take a long shower.”
“Does that really work?” There was genuine curiosity in her voice.
“No. I had to take a couple of showers at the embassy, and when it comes to you, no, they don’t work, but it might help before I go face everyone.”
“You aren’t coming back here?”
There was the smallest note of alarm in her voice. Some panic in her eyes. He smiled at her. “I’ll be here with you, tonight. Just have to finish those reports, grab food and I’ll be in for the night. I promise.”
She studied his face for a long time before she nodded and relaxed in his arms.