wound prevented that. Maybe she needed to make light of the situation. “Hey, it’s just a sting. If I ever get bitten by a shark, you’ll really come in handy.”
He scowled at her. “That’s not funny.”
She pursed her lips. So much for using humor to get him to chill.
As he used a pair of tweezers to remove the remaining tentacles attached to her skin, she touched his hand to get his attention, and he looked up at her.
“Aidan, without you here I would have been writhing around in pain. Just because you can’t lick the skin to mend it doesn’t mean you’re worthless. I had no idea vinegar helped take the sting out.”
He lowered his head. “I don’t like seeing you in pain.”
“I don’t like being in it, but that isn’t your fault.”
He didn’t say anything, just went to work tweezing. When he was finished, he placed her foot on the ground, then stood, walked into the bedroom, and disappeared into the bathroom. Moments later, the sounds of running water filled the air. When he returned, he asked, “You’re feeling okay, right? No nausea, light-headedness?”
“I’m fine. Stop worrying.”
Another scowl, a flash of blue, and Jaylin knew they were treading into uh-oh territory. She limped toward him, wanting to see the blue fade from his eyes. “I’m fine. Seriously. A hot bath and I’ll be good as new.”
“I never should’ve chased you.”
Oh, for God’s sake. She cupped his face between her hands. “I wanted you to chase me or I wouldn’t have run. So if we’re going to play the blame game, it’s my fault for starting it in the first place.”
The blue slowly faded from his eyes. “Let’s get you in that bath. It’s going to be hot. It has to be.”
Hot was an understatement. Just south of scalding was more like it, but surprisingly enough it did ease the throb in her leg. Aidan sat at the lip of the tub behind her and rubbed her shoulders. She leaned her head back. “You could join me.”
He shook his head. “I’ll stay here.”
She’d see about that. He needed to be distracted. More so than she did. She sat up and untied the back of her bikini and dropped it on the floor with a splat.
“What are you doing?’
Ignoring him, she slipped deeper into the water, until her nipples bobbed on top. They were tight, waiting. A growl vibrated from behind her. She bit back a smile. In an instant, he was at the edge of the tub by her side, eyes latched on the stiff peaks. She arched her back just a fraction to bring them farther above surface, before relaxing them back under.
She was shocked when he let out a string of curses, and stormed from the room.
Chapter Nine
Aidan grabbed two fistfuls of his hair and tugged, sucking a noisy breath between clenched teeth as he stalked back and forth across the living room. His beast also paced in sharp, short strides, with its head low and a growl constantly vibrating inside Aidan’s chest. A warning of how close he was to losing it. Being near her right now was not an option.
A rational mind would know he was overreacting, that her wound was insignificant, but he was anything but rational at the moment, and hadn’t been since Jaylin had screamed in pain.
He could still feel the way her piercing shriek had cleaved right through him, making the cougar charge forward, tense, ears flat, ready to protect.
How the fear had almost consumed him.
Over a jellyfish sting.
If he felt like this over something so small, what would happen if she had a serious injury?
Something life-threatening.
He cringed away from even thinking about it. He didn’t want to remember how human she really was. How easily she could be taken from him.
What he needed was someone to ground him back in reality. Help him see the forest for the trees, because if he didn’t, he was at risk of doing something stupid.
His cell phone had lost signal somewhere over the Caribbean, but he always kept a satellite phone nearby just in case of an emergency, and right now felt like a pretty good time to use it.
He grabbed the phone he kept in the drawer of the end table and then stepped outside onto the deck.
He quickly dialed Britton’s cell phone number. Two rings later, his friend answered with a very Brit-like, “Yo!”
Just hearing his friend helped some of the tension ease. “It’s Aidan.”
“Hey, man! What’s up?”
“I wanted to check in on