Theirs to Keep - Maya Banks Page 0,9
safe with me and Cade. We aren’t going to let anything bad happen to you. Everything that frightens you is currently in your mind and in your memories. Those things can’t hurt you. Only real people can, and I’ll kick anyone’s ass who tries to get close to you.”
She turned her face upward so their gazes connected. A small smile pulled at her lips. “Do you know I believe you? There’s something in your voice. I don’t understand it. It’s probably stupid of me, but maybe I’m desperate to trust someone. I feel so…” Her voice choked off in a near sob. “I feel so alone.”
Merrick brushed his lips across her brow. “You aren’t alone. You have me and you have Cade. I promise you we aren’t leaving you. We’ll do whatever we have to in order to help you.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
She laid her head over his chest, and he immediately put his hand to her bedraggled raven hair. Dark as midnight, a startling contrast to ocean-blue eyes. She was the sort of woman a man noticed in a crowd. Which meant he and Cade were going to have to be damn careful with her safety.
The door opened, and heavy footsteps sounded on the floor. The woman jerked upward, her eyes wide with fright, and she clutched at Merrick in an unconscious plea for protection.
“Shhh,” he soothed. “It’s just Cade. He’s back with food and your medicine. It’s going to be okay.”
A moment later, Cade appeared with a takeout bag and a white pharmacy bag. He strode toward the coffee table and set down his purchases.
“What do you think you’d like to drink?” Cade asked. “I have water, tea and juices. I picked up orange and grape from the pharmacy.”
“Water is fine,” she murmured.
He pulled everything from the packaging and then opened a steaming bowl of chicken noodle soup. He opened a bottle of water and set it down beside the bowl and then motioned her forward.
“Can you sit up enough to eat, or should I feed you?”
Merrick saw the discomfort that crossed her face. She shook her head and then tried to push her way from Merrick’s arms. He helped by holding her upright and not letting her move too fast.
When she was perched on the edge of the couch, Merrick draped the blanket over her shoulders, and Cade took her hands between his in a gesture that obviously surprised her.
He rubbed back and forth, infusing warmth into her fingers, and then he looked at her with tenderness in his eyes that Merrick understood all too well.
“As soon as you eat, I’ll give you an antibiotic pill and something for pain as well. You’ll sleep well after that.”
She nodded her acceptance and reached for the spoon, fumbling clumsily as she tried to grip it with the bandages on her hand.
Finally Cade took the spoon and gently put her hands back into her lap.
“Let me,” he said quietly.
Chapter Five
CADE STARED INTO HER EYES and then lifted the bowl and the spoon before sliding onto the couch beside her. She was flanked by him and Merrick, and he wasn’t sure how well she’d take that. More than one woman would feel threatened by having two hulking Neanderthals basically trapping her.
Cade wasn’t as big as Merrick. He didn’t sport the tattoos or the long hair. But he worked out with Merrick. He was his longtime training partner, and he adhered to the same strict regimen that Merrick did.
“I’m going to hold the bowl like a cup so you can sip from it,” he said. “It might get messy if I try to feed it to you by spoon, not to mention, it’ll take forever.”
She offered a trembling half smile and allowed him to tip the bowl toward her mouth. Her bandaged hands came up to lay over his, and then she took an experimental sip.
She drew away, closed her eyes and sighed in seeming contentment.
“Good?” Cade asked.
She nodded.
He put the bowl back to her mouth, and she took a larger sip this time. She was slow, taking measured tastes as if waiting to see if her stomach rebelled.
Cade waited patiently until she finally sat back with a sigh and waved off any more.
“That was wonderful,” she said.
He reached for a bottle of water and then fished out the medicine he’d gotten for her. After dumping an antibiotic pill and a pain pill into his palm, he put one to her lips and held the bottle up so she could swallow. After