No. Take me home. Please.
Her mind speech was a little indistinct, yet he could smell no alcohol on her breath. You need to go to the hospital. There might be internal injuries.
No! Her words might be slurred but the alarm in her voice was clear and forceful. I'm okay. My parents are there. I can't talk to them yet.
She touched a gloved hand to his cheek, her bright eyes catching his. Her pupils were slightly dilated, but not with desire. He suspected she'd been drugged. But with what? And could he risk not taking her to the hospital when she might have been overdosed?
"Please." Her voice was soft. Imploring. "Just trust me and do as I ask."
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was a fool for even risking a compromise, but he opened his eyes and said, "I'll take you home and check you over. If I think you should go to the hospital, you'll go, okay?"
Her relief slithered through him, flame bright. "Okay."
He picked her up, cradling her close. She rested her cheek against his shoulder and sighed almost contentedly.
"Home, James," she murmured, in a ritzy sort of way.
Her warm breath caressed his neck and breathed life into the embers of desire. Moons, simply holding her felt so good. So damn right.
He kicked open her front gate and hurried up the steps. Her front door was unlocked, and he shook his head, unable to believe any woman living alone in this day and age could be so trusting. Even a relatively small town like Ripple Creek had its fair share of creeps.
And she had probably cast him as one of them.
He pushed the thought away and headed up the stairs to her bedroom. Thankfully, she'd left the heat on, and the house was warm.
"I like your thinking," she said, as he placed her on the bed. "No better way to warm up a cold body than a good bout of sex."
He squatted in front of her and carefully took off her boots, then her woolen socks. Her feet and toes were warm. "You know this for a fact?" he asked, glancing up with a smile.
She sniffed and lifted her nose, her expression haughty but green eyes twinkling. "I have been told," she said in the best impression of snobbery he'd ever heard.
"Extreme physical activity is not good for someone who might have hypothermia." He rose and unwound his makeshift collar, then undid her coat and discovered another one underneath. No wonder she was so warm.
"I haven't got hypothermia."
No, thankfully she didn't. He tossed her coats to one side and started undoing her shirt. "But you have been hit by a car, and you're probably under the influence of some sort of drug." He doubted she'd be in such a playful mood otherwise. Not after what he'd said only an hour or so earlier.
She touched a finger to his face, running it gently down to his lips. It was a touch that burned right down to his soul.
"How about we try some extreme physical activity right now?" Her voice was low and so damn sexy heat shot to his groin.
He ached to do just that. It might still be the afternoon, and the moon might be on the other side of the world, but right now he wanted her as fiercely as he'd ever wanted anyone during the moon's rush. But as much as he wanted her, he didn't want to take advantage of her. Not any more than he already had. Her shirt joined her coats, followed quickly by her bra.
"See anything you like?" She leaned back, all but thrusting her wonderful br**sts in his face.
Everything. But he resisted the urge to bury his face in her bountiful flesh and twined his fingers through hers, gently tugging her upright. "Where did you go after I left?" He released her, but she swayed slightly, and he quickly touched a hand to her waist to steady her.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a happy sort of smile. "What does it matter?"
He kissed her nose, then began undoing her jeans. "Tell me."
She yawned, then said, "Betise's hair salon. Had to ask her some questions, remember?"
He'd forgotten he'd asked her to do that. "I didn't order you to go out in the middle of a snowstorm."
He hooked his thumbs around the waist of her jeans and panties and pushed them down. She stepped free then flopped back onto the bed, arms and legs akimbo.
"Come here," she said, patting the bed beside her.