Page 44 of Ruthless Touch

“Calm down, Goyangi-ne,” I say. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m trying to help; you need to be cleaned up.”

Her breathing comes in ragged intakes, dark eyes wild with confusion and fury. Gradually, the fight goes out as reality settles in.

“What do you want with me?” she rasps.

“I want you to be the feline I’ve come to know,” I answer. “And right now, like this… you’re not. So let me take care of you and bring her back.”

She says nothing, though she clearly doesn’t trust me. The glare she gives is so sharp and deadly it could cut glass.

But she doesn’t fight when I slowly lift her shirt over her head. We work together to slide her filthy cargo pants down her legs.

Her normally luminous dark brown skin is cut up, bruised, and streaked with dirt.

My chest tenses with the same kind of rage I’d had in the warehouse—while we may have fought earlier, most of these markings are from Gi-tae.

And judging by her swollen lip and jaw and bloodied nostrils, he’d gone anything but easy.

“How does a bath sound?” I ask. “This place only has a tub. No shower.”

She gives me another wary look as I help her stand, draping her arm around my shoulders. I’m supporting most of her weight as we walk to the bathroom.

The space is small and compact like the rest of the modest apartment, but everything we need is already within reach.

The faucet to turn on the hot water. A selection of soaps. Epsom salt and fresh towels.

I check the running water to make sure it’s warm enough to soothe but not too scalding to shock her battered system.

Steam begins to rise from the surface, and I turn expecting to see her still in her bra and panties.

A different kind of heat floods me; Elise has unhooked her bra and slid it down her arms. At the way I’ve gone still and started staring, she gives a half shrug.

“You’ve already seen them,” she mutters. “But if you don’t mind, some privacy?”

I’m trying my best not to look, not to let my instant attraction for her take over the moment.

But it’s hard when her perfect tits are now exposed and my mind jumps back to the last time I’d seen them.

…the last time I’d sucked them into my mouth.

I draw a deeper breath and run fingers through my hair. “You sure you can get into the tub yourself?”

She takes a step forward as if to prove me wrong, then staggers sideways. My reflexes kick in, my hand stretching out to clamp shut on her upper arm and steady her.

“If it makes you feel better, Goyangi, I won’t look.”

She eyes me suspiciously for a second or two before she nods.

I keep my word, however hard it is to do when a woman as beautiful and attractive as she is is stripping down in front of me.

My gaze focuses on a distant corner of the room. Out the corner of my eye she slides out of her panties.

Together we step toward the tub, and I serve as a pillar for her. She clutches my forearm as she gingerly climbs into the warm bath. She sinks low enough that the soapy suds obscure her nakedness the next time I fully glance over.

“Better?” I ask, brows raised.

“It would be better if you weren’t around,” she says icily.

“Ouch. That’s cruel, feline. But you should probably get used to it. If you think you’re going free, you’re mistaken. Finish bathing. My physician’s on the way. He’ll take a look at you.”