A Heart's Desire

Chapter 8

Matthew Noszka above! This dude is seriously dreamy. I just can't! Look at him!

Kellan lay flat on his back in a rather comfortable bed. Actually the most comfortable bed he had slept in for a while. Light filtered in through the partially opened white curtains. It was morning; early morning he could tell.

Now if only his leg and shoulder would stop throbbing so he could enjoy it. He sighed, shifting slightly on the bed as his back itched. It had taken him a moment to remember where he was.

Eva Wilde

She was a welcome surprise to his world as it threatened to crumble down around his ears. After her startling statement made the night before, she had waltzed out of the room. He was too tired and too weak to argue with her.

Now as he lay flat on his back and stared at the random patterns in the ceiling, he wondered what his next move would have to be. His thoughts were cut short as the bedroom door swung open, squeaking on its hinges. Startled blue eyes looked up and locked  with his, a pretty pink stealing over the girl's features. She looked delicate; like bone china. How on earth she had managed to support his weight he would never figure out.

"Good morning," she smiled, moving towards the bed.

She felt a little unnerved as his cold mossy green eyes stared at hers, mesmerizing her. It felt like he was stripping her to the bone, his gaze searing her very soul. She cleared her throat, and waited for him to speak. When he didn't, she grinned wryly, "I didn't realize speechlessness was a side effect of that antibiotic you've been taking."

He released her from his gaze much to her relief and gripped the sheets in his hands tightly. In truth he hadn't meant to ignore her, but he had been knocked speechless when she smiled at him. Pearly, white teeth set in a small mouth beneath full Cupid's bow lips had curved upwards at seeing him awake. Her eyes were just so blue, like a soft cool refreshing lake just begging him to take a cool dip beneath its waters. He felt like punching himself. When did he get so damn poetic?

Snap out of it

When he looked up at her again, she had moved to the closet and was pulling out a pair of jeans and a fluffy white sweater. He took the time to stare at her now that her back was turned. She was short, but he didn't think she'd like him commenting on that. Long natural black hair hung in a tattered braid down her back, wispy strands escaping. Obviously, she had just woken up. She had on a set of lavender flannel pajamas. When she bent over he had to stifle a groan. Any other time, he would have been delighted to meet a girl like Eva Wilde. Take her for a tumble in his bed. Then again, she didn't look like a one night stand kind of girl.

In fact she looked like the kind of woman a man would wife up. Put a ring on her finger and come home to every night. None of that was for him. Not in his line of work. Of course, now that he didn't really have a job, the rules didn't apply, right?

Adapt and overcome

He was good at that. Too good. But then the foster system was brutal and if you didn't adapt, you wouldn't overcome. And failure of any kind wasn't an option for Kellan.

She turned to look at him over her shoulder and then asked, "How are you feeling?"

He cleared his throat that was suddenly rusty and tried not to let emotions overwhelm him at the simple question. How long had it been since someone had even cared enough to ask him if he was okay?

How about never?

"I've been better," he said, his voice gravelly, "But I'm okay. Thanks to you."

She nodded, stepping into the bathroom. He heard the unmistakable sound of clothes hitting the floor and then water running. A few seconds later, she stepped back into the room, dressed in those tight jeans and the deceptively innocent fluffy white sweater, her face freshly washed.

She had a hairbrush in her hand and was working on taking the braid out of her hair. "How does a shower sound to you?"

He nearly missed the question he was so busy staring at her hands running through her hair. "That would be nice," he answered, still somewhat tongue-tied.

A few minutes later, he staggered into the bathroom and sank down on the closed toilet with a sigh. Eva tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear and sank down to her knees by the tub, turning the water on and checking it until it was warm.

She had moved a small metal stool into the tub and now carefully assisted him to sit on it, continuously warning him not to get his bandages wet. He sank down with a sigh, wiggling his bare toes in the warm water at his feet, and leaning back against the tile wall.

Eva thanked her lucky stars for the detachable shower head that was proving it was worth the extra money. Handing him the soap and a washcloth, she let him get to it, while she hummed an unknown melody under her breath.  Kellan was amazed at her proficiency. It was like she wasn't even fazed by the last several days events. He diligently scrubbed his body with his good arm, carefully washing around the bandages and just getting the one on his leg damp.

He was exhausted by the time she took the shampoo and climbed in the tub beside him, her jeans rolled up at the ankles, her nearness making him long to reach out and touch her, just to hold her.

It had been too long since he had been with a woman. Eva Wilde was messing with his senses.

Eva lathered his short hair with her coconut shampoo and nervously hummed under her breath, hoping he didn't notice how her hands shook.

It wasn't that she was worried he might harm her. Oh no it wasn't that at all. But she was all too aware of his wet figure sitting in front of her in nothing but a thin pair of black cotton boxers that were glued to him like a second skin now that the water had hit him. 

He was shivering by the time she finished rinsing his hair. The bathroom was pretty cold. She helped towel him dry and awkwardly helped him balance as he pulled the wet boxers off and let them fall to the floor with a wet squelch.

She even supported him back to the bed and gave him a pair of her brother's underwear from the guest bedroom so he wouldn't be completely indecent, laying beneath her pure innocent white sheets.

It wasn't until after she had changed the bandage on his leg and coaxed him to go back to sleep that she allowed herself to think about what she had done.

Her attraction to Kellan was bad. Very bad. It wasn't just the inner compassionate nurse in her that prompted the overwhelming feeling of caring for the strange green-eyed fugitive. It was the vulnerable little-boy-longing look that he had probably unwittingly given her when she had gone to get him dry underwear and left him sitting alone on the bed. His eyes were the windows to his every emotion and it was surprising Eva that she could read him so easily. Weren't FBI agents supposed to be steely and mysteriously unreadable? His every emotion was perceived through his eyes. Like the relief when she walked back through the bedroom door and the fear in his eyes as he fought sleep even though he desperately needed it.

Yes, what Eva was feeling was very bad indeed.

What the hell was she supposed to do?

......

Eva is in for the ride of a lifetime! Welcome back Wildies! It has been a while since I've updated this book but here ya go! I'm going to do my best to get back into writing A Hearts Desire. We shall see.

Please vote and comment!

Sincerely,
Scarlett McLeod