Page 23 of Stone (Claimed and Protected #3)

D aniella

“You’re lucky it’s only a second-degree burn, Ms. Vale.” The doctor was kind but wore a patronizing expression as if I’d been careless when holding a cup of coffee in my hand.

“What do I need to do, Doc, to take care of her?” Stone asked. He’d insisted on coming with me into the examination room. What did he think I was going to do, tell the doctor he purposely burned me or was he afraid I’d try to escape off the island? “She’s a bit hardheaded and won’t take my advice.”

Talk about adding insult to injury.

I stared at him incredulously. “I’m right here and last time I checked, I am an adult. I think I know how to take care of myself.”

The doctor threw one of those looks toward Stone, which meant the two of them knew each other. I should have known when he offered a Hawaiian greeting to Stone as soon as we walked in. The doctor issued his instructions directly to my caretaker.

What was this? An old boys’ club?

“Gently cleanse the burn once a day and change the dressing. Watch out for any change including signs of an infection. You’ll need for Miss Vale to take some Tylenol for the pain probably for a couple of days and most important,” the doctor said and took a purposeful hesitation while finally turning in my direction, “do not get into the ocean under any circumstances.”

“What? I thought salt helped with the healing process.” Oh, my God. I was whining like a little girl.

The doctor shook his head. “That’s an old wives’ tale like putting butter on burns. There’s a much greater risk of infection and will slow down the healing process. A freshwater pool is fine but avoid chlorine as well.”

“Great. I’m in the middle of paradise for an unexpected mini vacation and I can’t go swimming. What else is there to do?”

The doctor laughed, giving another one of those women-can-be-a-pain-in-the-ass looks and Stone’s response was to lift both eyebrows.

“There are hundreds of incredible places on the island, Ms. Vale. Just ask Stone to show you around. He knows them very well,” the doctor said. “If you have any other issues, just give me a call.”

“Thank you, Doctor Hikialani.”

“My pleasure. Take care of her, Stone. I forgot to mention last time we had lunch I got the new equipment in.”

Stone beamed. “That’s great news. I thought for certain it would be hung up at the San Francisco port.”

I eyed them carefully. What were they talking about?

“I did too. Pleasant surprise,” the doctor said. “Oh, and you up for the surfing competition this year? Three weeks.”

Stone shrugged. “We’ll see. I have a lot going on.”

“Ah, come on. You’re the great Kahuna. You gotta defend your title. Of course I do plan on winning this year.”

I studied Stone’s ah-shucks face and it amazed me how little I knew about the man. It seemed the few people we’d interacted with in the quaint town knew him much better than I did. Almost as if he was a celebrity.

“Eh. I just love riding the waves. I’ll check into it. Come on. Let’s get you back to the house.”

“Thanks again.” We headed from the building and once outside, I took a deep breath. There truly was nothing like the scent of the ocean. “What equipment?”

“Just something he needed for the clinic.”

“What do you have to do with it?” I eyed him suspiciously as I tugged my sunglasses from the cheap but colorful purse I’d purchased.

He shrugged. “I just knew a possible source. It all worked out.”

“You’re not a good liar.”

His grin was almost like the one I remembered.

Since I was still a little wobbly, Stone insisted on walking with his arm around me to the parking lot. “I can walk, you know.”

“I know you can. I’m just watching out for you.”

I pulled away, purposely turning around and throwing my arms out so he could see my ability to balance all by myself. That was the moment I tripped on a curb. Oh, shit. I was going down and it wouldn’t be pretty.

He grabbed the same wrist he had that morning to keep me from falling, the momentum pitching me forward with my breasts smashed against his hard chest.

It was shameful that at that moment my mind decided to form a list of all the naughty things I wanted to do to him and have him do to me.

Thank God he had his sunglasses on so he couldn’t see the stain of embarrassment coloring my cheeks. However, his upper lip was already twitching from amusement from my antics.

With his tight red tee shirt accentuating every muscle God had given him, khaki shorts, and a backward baseball cap, he looked more like the college football star than a rugged Marine. Or perhaps he could double as a safari guide.

“Oops. I’m sorry.”

“No reason to apologize when I’m the one who needs to apologize to you. Again, I’m sorry. I was just…” He gritted his teeth so his jaw was clenched.

“Defending your right to have a nightmare in your own house without being pestered by a woman intent on invading your space and your privacy even if she was trying to be a friend and do the right thing.” I was forced to suck in a long breath after my vomit of words.

“Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?”

“Some guy I used to know a long time ago.” I picked at fake lint on his shirt, pinching air and blowing across my fingers.

“Some guy, huh?”

“Yep. Some big, strong, handsome man who once swept me off my feet.”

“Let me at him. I’ll kill him.” He issued a primal howl, even tipping his head back on purpose.

We were standing in the middle of a parking lot with several businesses surrounding us, people roaming everywhere and he couldn’t care less.

The flip in his personality was encouraging and annoying.

“No other man has the right to touch my girl.”

“Your girl, huh?”

As if to prove a point, he gathered me into his arms, cradling me as if a baby doll while carrying me toward the Jeep.

“Since I was a good girl at the doctor’s, do I get some ice cream?” I pointed toward the outside ice cream stand that was alive with activity.

His laugh was boisterous, another reminder of the man he’d once been. “What the heck? Why not.”

I’d be damned if he didn’t carry me all the way to the stand, even holding me while we stood in line.

“Hey, Stone,” one of the customers said.

“Hey, Emilie. Tell Dirk the new board is fucking spectacular,” Stone answered.

“I will.”

Another guy waved as he walked past, his friendly face not based on the habit of neighbors greeting neighbors out of politeness. “Just who are you?” I asked.

He peered down at me quizzically. “Last time I checked I wasn’t an alien. What do you mean?”

“Everyone knows you. Everywhere we go.”

“Small island.”

“Bad liar.”

His chuckle was deep and far too enticing.

“You can put me down now.” I wiggled in his arms.

“Not a chance. I know how you are.”

I pounded my fist against his chest, but he wasn’t budging. The people around us were gawking and he wasn’t fazed in the least. Even with the eyes of the young girl standing behind the counter bugged out of her head.

“What would you like?” she asked, almost a little too timidly. Well, it obviously wasn’t every day a big strapping man carried a woman to get ice cream.

I opened my mouth to order and he placed his finger across my lips. “The lady will have two scoops of vanilla with sprinkles, Reese’s Pieces, and gummy bears. I’ll have a?—”

“Plain cone with one scoop of pistachio ice cream,” I interrupted.

“Make that two scoops.”

As the girl moved away to fix our order, he peered down at me. I must have one of those incredulous looks on my face with the way his mouth twisted.

“What? I’m a growing boy.”

“You remembered the way I like my ice cream,” I said a little more quietly than I’d intended.

“So did you. I told you. I remember everything.”

Everything. A girl could swoon from the word alone.

Shrugging, he had to struggle to grab his wallet from his pocket. I took it from his hand when he almost dropped it twice. “Let me do that.” He had a wad of cash and when I pulled out a hundred-dollar bill, he grinned. “You don’t have anything smaller?”

“I don’t like being without a few bills. Big ones.”

“I can see that. Like I said. Who the hell are you?”

His laugh kept my body quivering.

With the ice cream paid for, I carried both while he carried me toward one of the empty tables. We were yards away from the beach, the public air filled with activity. There was even a beach volleyball court set up, a game already in motion.

With a play area on one side, several walk-up restaurants and bars, and stores with bright awnings, the area was the perfect backdrop for a moment spent in paradise.

I dug into the ice cream and he watched me with the same look of amusement on his face while dragging his long tongue around the swirled ice cream.

“I can’t remember the last time I had this,” he admitted.

“Ice cream? You don’t take time to enjoy the things you used to?”

“I don’t know. I’m either working or surfing. Just a way of life, I guess. Maybe eating ice cream isn’t as much fun alone.”

“Mmm… And you spend time forgetting.”

He lifted a single eyebrow and turned his head toward the ocean. After licking for a few seconds, he pulled his hand away. “I meant what I said and I’m sorry I got angry with you. You don’t understand what it was like during the missions.”

I remained quiet, hoping he’d open up to me, but it was his choice whether he trusted me enough to do so.

“Not every mission was deadly or exciting, but the ones considered most dangerous put the lives of the entire team on the line. We were assigned to rescue a family of an Afghan man who’d been working with the government as a translator.

His identity was supposed to be top secret, but somehow, his work with the government was exposed and he and his family were kidnapped.

We were provided with intel about where he’d been taken. ”

“Was it credible?”

He nodded. “Yes, very credible, but extracting them was still considered highly dangerous.”

His ice cream was already melting and the force of his fingers wrapped around his cone was creating cracks. “Were you able to save them?”

“We managed to get inside the warehouse, but it was too quiet. I knew something was wrong almost instantly, but we had our orders. We knew via heat sensors where the hostages were being kept. We advanced cautiously toward the room. I was the one who walked inside first.”

While he wasn’t zoned out, I sensed he was falling into the same darkness I’d awakened him from that morning. I placed my hand on his arm, squeezing to provide comfort while concerned he’d have the same reaction as before. He’d obviously been reminded of the horrible night while rescuing me.

My touch seemed to pull him from the abyss, at least enough he offered a half smile. “I’m okay. The memories are terrible, but I can handle them when I’m awake.”

I hesitated to say anything, but it was obvious he sensed my question.

“No, I couldn’t save them, Dani. There was a trip wire and the wife and mother of several children was forced to wear a bomb.”

“What?”

He nodded. “There was nothing we could do except for kill the bastards who’d taken their lives.

And trust me, I enjoyed every moment of taking their miserable, worthless lives and wished I’d been able to take more time before putting bullets in their brains.

You asked me if you should be afraid of me this morning. The answer is yes. You should.”

“Why?”

“Because I was the soldier who tripped the wire.”