The Healing Touch - Apryl Baker Page 0,57

how she felt about him. Why wouldn’t he run after she’d embarrassed not only herself, but him as well, in front of all those authors?

Sighing, she dragged herself up, found her purse, and downed her medication. Honestly, she couldn’t remember if she’d even taken it yesterday. That might have been why she panicked so hard and so fast when the guys came over to chat. It could also explain the headache and the nausea today. You didn’t simply skip a dose of medication. It could cause all sorts of nasty things.

Maybe a hot shower would help scrub some of the shame and embarrassment away along with all the dust and dirt she’d collected from sitting in the floor. It certainly couldn’t hurt. She gathered her pajamas and turned on the shower, waiting for it to get hot.

The hot water felt amazing. It might have been fifteen minutes or an hour that she stood underneath the spray and let it soak into her tense muscles. Hot showers always helped relax her enough to let her anxiety start to wash away.

It was a technique her doctor suggested, since stress was associated with anxiety, and a hot shower was one of the best remedies for stress when a bath was out of the question. She refused to take a bath in a hotel room. Could one ever really know how clean the tub was? Same with the toilet. She’d been lining the seat with toilet paper.

Getting out, she yawned. God knew how long she’d slept. It hadn’t occurred to her to check the clock before she came in the bathroom. She wrapped one of the big towels around her body and turned on the water in the sink, the need to brush her teeth strong. She hated fuzziness on her teeth. Grossed her out. Once that was done, she grabbed another towel and bent over to start drying her hair.

“Becca!”

She heard Dimitri bellowing her name barely seconds before he burst through the bathroom. She stood up so fast, it dislodged her towel. She stared down in horror as it slipped off her body and pooled around her feet. When her gaze met Dimitri’s, she watched his expression go from shock to lust in a matter of seconds. The shift was so fast, she took a hesitant step backward.

“Close the door!”

He ignored her and came closer, his expression hardening. Shit. She grabbed at the towel and barely managed to pull it up before his hands wrapped around her arms, pulling her close.

“Dimitri…”

“Becca…”

She swallowed around the very large lump in her throat, aware of where his fingers burned into her very naked skin.

“We aren’t doing this.” As hard as she tried, she couldn’t stop the slight tremor in her voice.

He closed his eyes and she watched, fascinated, as he fought with himself. So many emotions, some she couldn’t even define, flickered in his expression. When he opened those baby blues, it only made her flight or fight instinct scream flight. Flee, run now. He shifted his hands to grasp her around the waist, and he picked her up, only to set her on the countertop. She still had to look up to meet his eyes. Dimitri was that tall. The lust burned brightly, but there was a hard determination there as well.

“You’re right. I’m not going to fuck you tonight.”

She let out a little sigh of relief, but it was short-lived. His next words made her stiffen.

“But I am going to fuck you, Becca, so hard and so deep, you’ll never forget the feel of me.”

“No…”

He put a finger to her lips. “Sweetheart. We have a lot to talk about, including something you don’t know about me.”

She let out a shuddering breath when his finger trailed along her jawline, down her neck to the top of the towel she was desperately clutching. He hooked his index finger in the fabric and pulled, until the cloth fell into her lap. He licked his lips, enthralled with her breasts.

Becca tried to pull the towel back up, but he shook his head. “Don’t.”

“Dimitri…please…I…”

“Hush, Krasivaya. I already told you I wasn’t going to fuck you, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to look at you.”

Dimitri savored the little whimper that escaped her lips when he traced the outline of her nipple with his finger. She wanted him. As badly as he did her, but he needed her to admit it. He wanted her, all of her, and he wanted to give himself to her, his true self, the