Better (The Change Series Book 2)

by Melanie Jayne

  “Give me some of those suds.” She held out her hand.

  When she finished washing her face, I used the nozzle to rinse.

  She spit out some water. “I think you liked that way too much.” She smiled for a moment.

  “When you’re healed you can return the favor.” I started to wash her graceful neck.

  She dropped her head back and closed her eyes. I kept my gaze on her face as my hands moved lower to her chest.

  She made a noise deep in her throat as my slick hands kneaded her full breasts. I couldn’t help myself; I did it again, weighing each one in my hands.

  Her eyes opened slowly, and she exhaled, “Forde.”

  “Sorry, I got carried away.” She had great tits. Her nipples were hard, and I wanted to suck on them.

  “Hmmm.” She smiled at me.

  I knelt next to her and lifted her good arm and started to wash it. Then I ran the water over her chest and arm. “Tell me how high I can lift your bad arm. I don’t want it to hurt.” She started to move it, and I helped her slowly flex her elbow a few times.

  “That feels better now.” She had a determined look on her face. “It’s not fair that my elbow is fine, but because it’s been immobile, it hurts to move.” She finished with a little growl of frustration.

  Christ, my cock liked that sound. I started reciting the alphabet backwards in my head. I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable when she’d placed her trust in me to take care of her. I washed along her bruised ribs. I tried to drop the suds onto the purple bruises and not touch them at all.

  She was breathing shallowly and a little faster after I rinsed her.

  “Doing good, Lay,” I encouraged her as I moved to her legs. “We’re almost done.”

  “This isn’t so bad.” She stretched out her legs, trying to sound positive.

  We both knew she was lying.

  I knelt between her legs, widening them with my size, and her eyes opened immediately. I ran my hands up and down her inner thighs. I did this to give her time to stop me. When she said nothing, I gently started to stroke the lowest part of her belly, and then I moved lower to her mound. I didn’t rush this part, but I didn’t play with her like I wanted to, either. When I ran my fingers over her outer lips, I glanced at her face.

  Her head was resting against the wall, her mouth was open a little, and she was breathing hard. God, I could get lost in that look.

  “Mmm.” She made the sound deep in her throat.

  I rinsed her, and then placed a light kiss on her mound. “I would love to do more, but I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “I know.” She opened her eyes, and her pupils were huge.

  “Soon, I promise.” God, I wanted to do more, and I loved it that she did too.

  I put my hands on her soft hips. “Use your good hand to hold on.” I scooted her ass forward and ran the bar of soap along her crack.

  “Uh, I can get that,” she rushed to tell me.

  “I’ll help you stand so I can get your back, and then you can take care of yourself.” I’d let her, but soon there wouldn’t be a part of her body I wouldn’t taste or touch.

  She was a little unsteady as she leaned facing the wall.

  I washed her back. “God, you’re so beautiful.”

  “You mean the parts that aren’t purple?”

  I lightly ran my fingertips over an area that wasn’t discolored.

  She sighed and pushed her ass out, rubbing against my hard on. “This isn’t how I pictured our first time naked together.”

  I gently leaned into her and ran my tongue around the shell of her ear. “I like that you’ve thought about us being naked.” I kissed her neck and ran the hot water over her back. Then I gave her the soap and stood behind her so close, that when she dropped the soap, she turned her hand and cupped me.

  “Wow,” she breathed.

  I looped my arm across her chest and palmed her breast. “Soon, I promise.” I don’t know if I was reminding her or myself. “Time to get you out of here and dried off.” I knew if we stayed like this a moment longer, I wouldn’t be able to stop. “How are you doing?’

  “I feel so much better being clean, but I’m starting to feel a little shaky.” She tried to inject some enthusiasm into her voice, but she sounded exhausted.

  I moved her slowly to the shower door and stepped out first. I helped Layla to the padded bench in the corner and wrapped her in a large towel, then grabbed another to dry her hair. I worked quickly, and yet there were goosebumps on her body.

  “I’m not really cold,” she said.

  “It must be my touch,” I teased, and I swear she blushed.

  “Do you have something I can put on?”

  I dropped the towel and turned to grab the tee I had sitting on the shelf by the door. “I’m going to be as gentle as I can,” I warned her.

  She used her good arm to lift the injured one. She groaned once before the shirt dropped over her curves. She was pale.

  “You with me?” I reached for the brace. This was going to hurt her, and I tried to work quickly.

  As I adjusted the strap around her chest, she said, “This brace is good, but God, I’m glad I was knocked out when they put it on me the first time.”

  I knew she was hurting. “You should be happy you weren’t awake when they moved your arm every which way to test its mobility. That shit hurts like a bitch. I know from personal experience.”

  Her eyes got big, “So that’s why you’re so good at all of this? You’ve been through all of this before?”

  “Once for each shoulder.” I shrugged. “Let’s get you into bed. Can you walk?”

  “It’s not like I’m going to make you carry me.” She gingerly scooted forward off of the bench.

  “I carried you from the Expedition to my bed last night. Don’t you remember?” I put my hands on her waist and helped onto her feet.

  “God, I didn’t even think about it. I’m so heavy. I hope you didn’t hurt your back.” She started touching my side with her hand.

  “I didn’t even breathe heavily. It was easy,” I bragged.

  Once Layla was settled under the covers, she took another pain pill.

  I finished drying off and threw on a pair of cut-off sweats. I took the glass from her hand and set it on the nightstand. “Night, babe.”

  She reached for my arm. “Where are you going?”

  “I’ll be in the other room. If you need anything, just yell. I’ll hear you.” I put my hand on top of hers.

  She didn’t loosen her grip. “You could sleep here.” She cut her eyes to the other side of the bed. “If I’m on your side, I can move over.”

  “You want me to sleep with you?”

  She nodded slowly. “Yeah.”

  “I don’t want to bump you or hurt you in the night. Are you sure?” I wanted to give her an out.

  Her gaze locked with mine. “Please.”

  “Give me a minute to check the doors and the alarm, and then I’ll be in.” I gave her hand a squeeze. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t sleepy, I wasn’t about to say no to her request.

  She nodded and relaxed into her pillows.

  I took care of the security measures, and then turned off the bedroom lights. I climbed carefully into my bed.

  “Forde?” Her voice was soft.

  “Right here, Lay.” I moved closer to hear her and to be near her.

  “Thank you for all of this.”

  I moved in so that I was close but I wasn’t touching her. “I like taking care of you. Thank you for letting me.”

  She was quiet for a bit, and I thought she was asleep. But then, “I mean, thank you for keeping me safe.”

  “Some might say I haven’t done a real good job.” I moved my hand lower to stroke her upper thigh.

  “I feel safe with you. Maybe, for the first time in my life, I don’t have to be on guard.” Her words were a little slurred from the pills and the physica
l exertion.

  I continued stroking her thigh, making circles with my fingertips then switching to a long slide. “We’ve both spent most of our lives looking out for ourselves. Sometimes, it’s nice to give that responsibility to somebody else for a little bit. Let them help you. It doesn’t make you weak. It takes a lot of strength to trust somebody that much.”

  I felt her body start to shake. She was crying. My chest tightened. I didn’t mean to upset her.

  “I was so scared, Forde. I didn’t know what was happening, and I froze for what felt like forever.”

  “You did the right thing, Lay. Freezing is instinctive. You’ve never been shot at before, but you did everything exactly right.” I wanted to pull her to my chest, but I knew it would be excruciating. I could only continue to stroke her thigh.

  “I don’t know what made me think to go down into the basement. I knew that it would be a good place to hide.”

  “When you’re ready, I’ll go over more things with you so that you’ll always be prepared. We’re going to keep you safe Layla, I promise.” I kissed her shoulder.

  Chapter Eleven

  I heard a phone buzzing. I was still half asleep, but I knew it wasn’t a dream. I felt the mattress dip as Forde moved.

  “Forde.” He sounded alert even though I knew he’d been asleep.

  I half listened as I took inventory of my body this morning. I wanted to feel better. I didn’t want Forde to have to sit with me another day. I couldn’t picture him lazing in bed on a Sunday morning. I bet he only spent extra time in bed being busy, and we weren’t going to be doing that. Although in the shower, I’d wanted him to touch me. I’d yearned to feel his thick fingers inside of me, stroking and stretching me. I shifted to my back and let out a sigh as I studied Lucas Forde.

  He had his back to me and was sitting up. It was wide and thick, slightly tapering to his waist. His skin was darker than mine, like he had a perpetual tan. His hair was longer than I was used to and there was just the hint of wave to it. I wondered what he would look like if he pulled it back into a short tail. He was speaking softly into the phone.

  I twisted my hips and stretched my leg over until my foot could stroke his thigh. He captured my foot with his hand and glanced over his shoulder. I gave him a good morning smile. He released my foot, shifted, and laid back onto the mattress beside me, rolling onto his side, facing me.

  “She’s still sleeping. I’ll give you a call after she gets up,” Forde told the caller.

  I watched him as he listened to the response.

  The muscle at the side of his jaw flexed. “No, we’ll come to you. Take it or leave it.” He ended the call.

  I didn’t say anything. I just waited to see what that call had been about.

  He dropped the phone behind his hip. “Sorry about that.”

  “You don’t have to apologize.” My voice in the morning was always a little raspy.

  “I get calls at all hours,” he said, waving the phone. “Is that going to be a problem for you?”

  “As long as the calls aren’t coming from ex-girlfriends, I don’t care.” I poked him with my foot again. “I guess in your line of work, it’s twenty-four seven.”

  “Our,” he answered.

  “What?”

  “Our line of work, and yes, it can be twenty-four seven.”

  My gaze met his, and I felt something warm and melty in my stomach. “Are you always so certain of your decisions?” I liked that he’d included me.

  “If I tell you yes, will it stop you from questioning me?” Now, he was smiling, and Forde’s smile was mesmerizing.

  “Maybe.” He scrambled my brain. I gave my head a little shake, hoping to clear it. “Was that call about me?”

  “Yeah, Detective Eames wants to interview you about the other night. I don’t want him here, so if you feel up to it, we’ll go to the station.”

  I didn’t have good memories of the police station. I’d spent way too much time there. The interview rooms were cold and smelled, plus the coffee sucked. “I don’t have anything to wear.”

  He laughed. “That’s your biggest concern?”

  “Well, yeah. I can’t go there in one of your T-shirts and no underwear. It wouldn’t be, uh, professional.” I started to laugh, too. I used to laugh at myself all of the time. It felt good to be able to do it again, even though it made my ribs hurt. “I mean, as the new administrative assistant at Forde Limited, I need a certain level of respectability and, uhm, bad-assery.”

  “Bad-assery?” He leaned closer to me, “Is that even a word?”

  “Probably not.” I loved it when he looked at me like this, sweet and a little hungry. “But I need my clothes.”

  “I’ll make a call and fix it so we can get in your place and pack your shit.”

  I nodded. That sounded good, I needed to wear more clothes around Forde, maybe even my winter coat and mittens. Otherwise, it was too easy to rub my bare skin against him, and that would be bad for my focus.

  “Then to the interview and maybe grab some lunch on the way back, if you aren’t too tired.” He started to play with my hair, running his fingers through it.

  I let out a loud sigh, loving the feel of his hand touching me. “I don’t have much to tell. I didn’t see anything.”

  He shifted and rolled so that he was suspended over me, with his weight resting on both of his hands, and kissed me on the lips, careful to not jostle my bad shoulder.

  I ran my good hand up his shoulder to the back of his neck. I made the move to deepen the kiss.

  His phone rang again. “Shit,” he said against my lips.

  I let him go so that he could take his call.

  ***

  Rick Khaled met us at my rental house. I tried not to stare while Forde did the introductions. I didn’t remember very much from our drive from the hospital. He was taller than Forde and had a very muscular build. His skin was the color of coffee with just a drop or two of cream. He shaved his head but wore a full beard. He was scary until he smiled, and then his golden eyes sparkled. He acted as a guard while Forde helped pack my suitcase then tossed everything in my bathroom into a duffle bag. I sent up a silent prayer, hoping that the lids were all on tightly or there was going to be a mess. All of this went on while I tried to figure out what I was going to wear. I couldn’t wear a bra with my ribs so tender and the brace in the way. I settled on a camisole, a long-sleeve top, and I kept Forde’s huge hoodie on with my oldest pair of jeans. I was a walking fashion victim, but I was covered and comfortable.

  I insisted on packing my own underwear. He found my insistence hilarious. I didn’t know how to explain my reluctance for him to handle my intimates when he had bathed me and helped me dress. It wasn’t rational, but our budding relationship wasn’t either. I mean, we’d never had a date! He’d just moved me in, and according to him, we were an “us”.

  “You have that freaked out look on your face. What’s upsetting you?” Forde asked as I sat on my bed.

  “I’m not upset,” I murmured.

  “Is it being in the house?” He sat beside me, taking hold of my hand. I liked that he touched me often. I was getting used to the casual affection from this man.

  “No, that’s not it.” I let out a sigh. “I’m glad you and Rick are here with me. He looks scary, and I know you are, so I’m good.”

  He didn’t press, but he continued holding my hand.

  “It’s all so fast,” I blurted.

  “Back to that again, are you?” He started to make circles on the back of my hand with his thumb. He didn’t sound irritated, more like he found it cute.

  “This isn’t how I do things. I’m a planner. I don’t just act and see what happens,” I said. “I don’t know very much about you, and yet, I’m staying with you. We haven’t even gone to dinner.” My words were rushed, and I sounded a little hysterical to my own ears.

  He raised our joined hands to his mouth and kissed my knuckles. “
I get why you’re freaked. I would’ve liked to have taken you to dinner, seduced you into coming back to my bed.”

  I made a sound in my throat. I could count on one hand the number of men I had dated. I could count on one finger the number of sexual partners I’d had. I was not experienced. I blushed when the love scene in a book got hot and adventurous. “Never on the first date.”

  He chuckled and brushed another kiss to the sensitive skin. “And you would have held me off.” He flashed me a smile that was a little bit cocky. “But, Layla, this isn’t usual circumstances. Mark this about me: I’ve got no problem taking advantage of circumstances to get my way.”

  My heart thudded so hard, I bet he could hear it with his superpowers. I tried to seem cool when I felt like my body was on fire. “Really?” I sounded a little sarcastic.

  His eyes were focused on mine. “I haven’t waited around to be given things in my life. If I want, I take.”

  I knew all of this. Forde was confident, and I was, well, more reticent, always worried about the outcome. “That’s probably why you’re a success,” I whispered, “and I’m…well me.”

  “Success means different things to different people. To me, it means I can do what I want, with whom I want.”

  Now, he was giving me the gentle smile. I knew he was trying not to upset me. I let out the breath I was holding. “I just don’t know what I’m doing. I’m used to having a plan, even if it was to just get through the day. I’m not sure what is going on.”

  He looked into my eyes for a few beats. “I get that. How about tonight we come up with a plan for the next few days? Will that help?”

  I nodded.

  “See? That wasn’t so hard.”

  Then he gave me that shit-eating grin, and I couldn’t help but giggle. I was getting what I wanted, but then, so was he.

  ***

  Rick was given “Babysit Layla Duty” the next day. He didn’t seem too upset. He was kicked back in Forde’s huge recliner in the condo’s man cave area. I didn’t know what else to call it. It was a room that ran the entire length of the side of the condo. It had a huge sectional and the biggest TV that I’ve ever seen. It also had a bar and multiple pieces of workout equipment, plus two gaming systems. If Forde would have enlarged the half bath to include a shower, I could have happily lived in this room.