Page 44 of His Atonement

She snags her kimono from my hand and once I feel she has had enough time to hide what is rightfully mine to see from me, I spin and level her with my gaze.

"My darling girl, I fear you do not understand how our game is to be played.” I grin, and give her my best shit eating one. "When I decide to pay you back for the most evil gift you left for me, you shall know it."

Frankie shoots me one of those sickeningly sweet smiles as she gathers her hair in her hands and wrings it out at her side. "I'm sure. Obviously ruining something like this for me won't suffice your need to one up me. What was I thinking?"

I open my mouth to speak but instead, frown as concern takes hold of me, digs its claws in and hangs on tight.

There is a scrape on her forehead, one that is nearly healed, but sits over the yellow remnants of a bruise and a small bump.

Between that, the cuts on her thigh and the state of her cabin, I fear my worry for her is seconds away from being unable to contain itself within me.

A fact I prove when my hand snakes out so fast I can barely process the action, hardly have time to think it through as my fingers grip her chin and tilt her head back so that I may see the wound in the moonlight.

And I sure as fuck don't have time to process the explosion of electricity that detonates the moment I'm touching her, the way it races up my entire arm and radiates through the rest of my body.

No, it all happens so quickly I can't make sense of it, especially when I'm so focused on her wound.

"What the fuck is this?"

Frankie blinks up at me, those woodland eyes wide, pupils blown the fuck out and when I get a better grip, cup her jaw and push her hair off her face she inhales sharply.

"What's what?"

My eyes flick to hers before moving back to her forehead. "What happened to your head?"

Her breaths are coming in short little bursts now, gaze bouncing between my eyes and my lips. "I… I fell and… I fell and hit my head."

"When?"

"The other day."

"Did you pass out?"

"No."

My eyes move back to hers, searching to see if she's lying, and when I not only find she is telling the truth, but see her eyes begin to shift from side to side the way they did several days ago, my concern grows.

"Did you lose consciousness at all? Have any other effects afterward?"

A subtle shake to her head, and several rapid blinks, then her wicked tongue runs along her bottom lip and gods how I want to kiss her.

Which is fucking bizarre because for all the sex I've had, all the various encounters over my eleven hundred plus years, I have never ever had the desire to kiss anyone.

It's just something I do not do, would never do because it is far too intimate and I do not do intimate. I fuck and nothing more.

Right now, though?

Right now I want to push Frankie up against the nearest tree and kiss her until our lips are numb.

And that is exactly why I let go of her chin with a nod and put space between us. "Right. I'm sure you're fine then."

Frankie clears her throat, and drops her eyes. "Yeah. Fine. Totally fine."

"Good. That's good." I look anywhere but directly at her, ignoring the need that still blooms in my chest. "Well, I'll let you get back to… whatever it was you were doing."

"Ok," she practically whispers, pulling her kimono tighter around her body before she glances up at me briefly, and when I look into those kaleidoscope eyes and see a glimmer of tears, something somewhere inside my chest snaps. "Have a good night, Zan."

I nod, and fight harder than I have yet to in order to put more distance between us, to keep from taking her in my arms to comfort her, to kiss away the tears she refuses to shed. "You as well."