The Healer's Hellion - Miranda Bridges Page 0,17

I really want to know if I’m different, special even. There’s nothing to suggest that, but the very thought of him holding every woman like this makes me upset. But only just a little, I tell myself.

“It’s not customary on Earth for a doctor to take such an interest in a patient, even to go as far as comforting them in such a way,” I say.

His gaze pierces mine, as though drilling for my secrets, but I don’t look away. And why? Because I am searching for his secrets too. He has to have something because everyone does. It’s just not usually as dark as mine.

“So I thought that this might be a Dravian thing or custom,” I say.

He exhales before speaking. “It is not typical, nor is it anything remotely appropriate.” The neon of his gaze streaks with black tendrils, reminding me of smoke as it weaves through the blue. “I have no excuse for my behavior,” he says.

Then abruptly he shifts me from his lap and slides from the bed. He doesn’t face me when he speaks, leaving me to stare at him in confusion. His shoulders are stiff, and I catch the clenching of his fists.

“I apologize, Skylar. You require sleep, and I will see to it that you are not disturbed, even by me.” He grabs a device on the nightstand and taps it before setting it back down. “You can call me, or someone else if you prefer, when you wake. I have put the settings in English.”

Then he’s striding across the room in the direction of the door. I scramble from the bed as soon as I realize his intent, but I’m too late. He closes the door without looking back at me, and I sink down onto the mattress, my mind in a daze.

What the hell?

One minute he was holding me, and I begrudgingly enjoyed it. Then the next thing I knew, he was dumping me, literally, and then disappeared. It kind of sounds like all my past relationships, except it just happened in a couple hours instead of weeks.

Exhausted and emotionally spent, I crawl across the bed and slip between the covers. Braxton’s scent is all over, and instead of feeling uneasy or weirded out, I snuggle deeper, laying my head on the pillow. I inhale, pulling more of him into my body, and vaguely wonder if I’m exhibiting the first signs of Stockholm syndrome.

Chapter 6

Braxton’s ship is huge, and it’s not a euphemism.

I don’t know what I expected from an alien spacecraft, but I’m more than impressed as he gives me a personal tour. Again, not a euphemism. However, even my awe does not stifle my current annoyance.

When I woke up after my crying spell and reached out to Braxton on the tablet, he answered with a surprised tone but quickly masked it. Then he immediately replaced it with a professional one, and since then, he’s been nothing but courteous and distant. That was two days ago.

And it’s working my last nerve.

As he points out different sections, rooms, and functions of the ship, I feel myself growing more and more irritable. He’s acting as if his attraction to me is an embarrassment to him. Which is not exactly flattering. I know that I want men to ignore me, but now that Braxton is, I’m not sure I like it.

Actually, I know I don’t.

“These shuttles over here are what we will use to travel from the ship to the Yalat’s planet,” he says, motioning to a large silver vessel that closely resembles something I’ve seen on Star Wars. It would be really cool if I weren’t surly. “Even with a cloaking device, our ship is too large to go undetected, but these smaller vehicles are not,” he finishes.

“Which one will I be in?”

He halts, dropping his outstretched arm. “You will not be going.”

“To hell with that.” I purse my lips and jerk up my chin. “You can’t tell me what to do, since you don’t have any authority over me.”

Slowly he turns to face me fully. Even though his expression is neutral, I can almost feel the waves of anger he’s trying to suppress. The small tightening of his mouth gives him away along with the single tick on his jaw.

“I brought you aboard this ship, so that does make me responsible for you,” he says, his voice a low rumble.

I shake my head. “You are to make sure I don’t cause any trouble, but that is not the same thing as