“Yes, see, you’re already better if you can recognize it.” He disappeared and was back in five minutes with an ice pack and a thermal ice bucket filled with ice. “No heat. It’s an ice regimen. I’ll let Olivia know I was even a greater disappointment than she imagined so that she can get you some help.” He deftly stripped off the rest of her clothes. “You’ll be able to change the ice in the ice pack during the night yourself, but be careful about moving too quickly.” He paused. “Or I could stay around and do it for you. I should really check on you occasionally to make sure I haven’t done any damage.”
“I’ll be fine. I’m not afraid of any damage you could do me.” Not any physical damage. “You’ve been very efficient. I’ll be all right in no time.”
“I’ll make sure you are. I can’t disappoint Olivia. Now I’ll go get your phone and put it beside you on the bed.” He was heading out of the room. “If you need me, just call.” Then he was back and placing the phone beside her pillow. “Do you want the lamp on or off?”
“Off. Just leave the light on in the living room and the door cracked on your way out.” She turned her face away and said haltingly, “I think I owe you again. I’ll tell you all those things you wanted to know about the general now if you like.”
“Tit for tat?” He turned off the lamp. “I think we’ll skip all that tonight. Maybe later.” Then he sat there for a moment in the dimness before he reached over to slowly stroke her shoulders and back. Not with any hint of sexuality, but with perhaps the most exquisite gentleness she’d ever known. “Call me,” he repeated. His index finger was touching the top of her spine and running slowly down her back to her buttocks. “I have your back. This way, every way.” He pressed his lips to the very center of the hollow of her back. “But I prefer it not be this way.”
He placed a towel on her back and positioned the ice pack where his lips had been, then covered her with a light blanket.
“Good night, Kendra. Try your best to sleep well.” He was already at the door. He was looking back at her and she suddenly felt very naked and vulnerable and yet totally…protected. “Tomorrow…”
He was gone.
Heat.
Ice.
Emotional chaos.
Pain.
Lynch.
She buried her face in her pillow.
There was no way she was going to sleep well tonight.
Chapter
14
Jessie showed up at Kendra’s door at eight the next morning. She knocked and then called to Kendra as she unlocked the door and let herself in. “Hi, Olivia gave me her key with orders to get you up and dressed and down to her place for breakfast in an hour.” She poked her head in the bedroom and grinned. “Which may be a major task to look at you. Should I go back down and get Harley to help?”
“Don’t you dare.” Kendra carefully sat up and swung her feet to the floor. “Fond as I am of the big lug, I’ve no desire to deal with him before I get dressed.”
“I doubt if Olivia would let me bring him anyway. She doesn’t want to let him out of her sight since you told her about what Hayes did to that photo of him. So I think I’m on my own.” She found Kendra’s robe and put it on her. “You’re moving very slow. How do you feel?”
“Just the way I look.” She thought about it. “But better than last night. Lynch said I would, but for most of the night I was doubting him. It took me a long time to get to sleep. But you’re right, I’m moving too slow. If you’ll help me shower and dress, I’ll be ready to go by Olivia’s deadline.”
“That sounds like a plan.” She helped Kendra to her feet. “Because Lynch called me right after he phoned Olivia and filled me in on Dietrich. He told me he wanted me to cruise over to that hotel where you found Hayes’s corpse and ask a few thousand questions of anyone I ran across. I’ll have to leave right after I turn you over to Lynch.” She was guiding her gently toward the bathroom. “He sounds like a son of a bitch but very interesting. I had no trouble putting him down