on in the bathroom in case he needed to get up, and then opened the bathroom door, careful not to make enough noise to rouse Damian.
The bedroom was completely dark, but my heart skittered as I remembered exactly what Damian had looked like right before he’d hit that king-sized mattress.
Had I really stripped him down to a pair of boxer briefs without thinking about the wisdom of getting a man like Damian naked?
Yes, I had, and I’d do it all over again if necessary.
My heart had ached at the vulnerability I’d glimpsed in his eyes before he’d closed them in the cabin.
For once, he hadn’t been issuing orders, or hiding behind a haughty billionaire façade.
He’d simply been a guy in pain, one who obviously suffered horribly from debilitating stress headaches, and tried to carry on like nothing was wrong.
I’d recognized the signs immediately because my mother had been plagued by the same symptoms when all of her responsibilities of being a single mother and the only breadwinner had overwhelmed her.
Damian’s normally warm, naturally tanned skin had been so ashen that it was a little bit scary, and lines of tension and pain had marred his strong facial features.
I’d followed the gut-wrenching instinct to help him, no matter what it took to achieve that.
So, yeah, after I’d gotten him something to take that would help him a lot more than aspirin, I had dragged him into the bathroom for a hot shower.
When he’d finally emerged from the master bath, his color had come back, but his exhaustion had still been completely evident, so I’d insisted he sleep.
Honestly, it kind of pissed me off that Damian had been willing to suffer in silence.
A bit of a headache, my ass!
The stubborn man looked like he hadn’t slept in days. Damian Lancaster had reached his breaking point, whether he wanted to admit it or not.
He was apparently there for everyone in his family, and for all of his employees, but I had to wonder: who in the world was there for Damian Lancaster?
I straightened my spine. Me. I’ll be there to make sure he takes care of himself.
If no one else was going to look after the obstinate man, I would. If no one else could see that he wasn’t a robot, and that he occasionally needed to sleep, eat, and take care of himself like any other human, I’d remind him that he wasn’t completely invincible.
I let out a soft sigh as I replayed what I’d uncovered as I’d stripped the clothes from his massive, drool-worthy body.
I’d tried not to think about that. I really had. But vulnerable or not, Damian Lancaster nearly naked had been a sight to behold.
I’d been completely right about the man harboring six-pack abs underneath all of those custom shirts. If my main goal hadn’t been relieving his pain, I’m pretty sure I would have been gobsmacked and salivating like a ravenous animal.
Damian was simply…beautiful, and there was nothing I’d wanted more than to unwrap the considerably large, hard package that I’d felt beneath my fingers as I’d divested him of his jeans.
The only thing that had held me back was the fact that he didn’t need me in a sexual way right now.
He needed peace.
He needed a defender for what I knew was an exceptionally rare glimpse of the real Damian.
But, dear God, I had eyes, and there was no way I could see him in all his male hotness, and not have my body react to that.
Half-naked, Damian Lancaster was the embodiment of any woman’s red-hot fantasies.
“Nicole,” Damian mumbled, sounding like he was only half awake.
His voice startled me out of my lurid thoughts. Put your tongue back in your mouth, Nicole.
Concerned, I quietly approached the bed. “Sleep, Damian,” I said in a hushed voice.
“So this is what you look like when you let your hair down. Literally. You look like a sexy angel,” he grumbled.
I suddenly realized that I was standing in the ray of light coming from the bathroom as I reached up to touch my still-damp hair. The blonde curls were spilling over my shoulders.
I lifted the covers and slipped into the far side of the bed. “You’re hallucinating if you’re comparing me to an angel,” I informed him lightly. “Get some sleep.”
“You’re too damn far away,” he said hoarsely as he stretched out a powerful arm and pulled me to his side of the bed so easily that I almost forgot that I weighed more than the average female.
I let out a