Sea Haven 01 - Water Bound

of her touch like a lightning bolt slamming through his body. There was no gentle stirring of 89

    his body. His hard-on was immediate and painful, an aching need that encompassed body and mind. He let himself enjoy the sensation. He’d thought he was incapable of a natural erection, one not planned out, one where he hadn’t set up the seduction and controlled every aspect of the scene. Rikki made him feel alive. Real. A human being.
    “First tell me what’s wrong.”
    “Damn it, can’t you just go to sleep? I don’t want to tell you.”
    “I don’t want you in my bed or my house. I don’t want you near my boat. That didn’t stop it from happening.”
    “What do you want me to say? That the moment you told me Ralph saw me, I thought about killing him?” He pulled his arm away so his gaze could lock with hers—so he could see her reaction, the revulsion, the horror.
    He waited for her to order him to go.
    Her eyes softened, and God help him, she was looking at him with compassion. “Lev, you believe someone is trying to kill you. You didn’t rush off to actually do anything to Ralph.” She smiled at him, her eyes as soft and as liquid as ever. “I thought about killing you numerous times, but I didn’t. The jury’s still out on whether I will or not.”
    There was a slight teasing edge to her tone. Her voice and the pad of her finger rubbing back and forth over his lips in an effort to erase his frown didn’t do much for his peace of mind or his heavy erection. She put a lump in his throat the size of a golf ball, and he felt like he might be choking. He couldn’t find a way to believe in himself, yet she did—this strange woman who had pulled him out of the sea.
    “Do me a favor, honey,” he said softly. “Go to sleep and let me watch over you with the rain. You’ve done so much for me, let me do this for you.”
    She studied his face for a long time before she nodded and turned on her side, facing away from him. When she’d removed her finger, he found he could breathe again, but his body didn’t relax until long after her breathing became even. He waited even longer, until he was positive she was in a deep enough sleep, before he wrapped his arm around her waist and laid his head near her shoulder so he could breathe her in along with the scent of the rain.
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Chapter 6
    RIKKI took her responsibilities seriously and Lev was a huge responsibility. He wasn’t like owning a cat or a goldfish. She actually had to take care of him. She spent a great deal of her time muttering to herself over the next week and a half. He was unable to get up for more than fifteen minutes at a time. His headaches were horrendous and he’d discovered more aches from his battering against the rocks.
    She resumed her normal routine, circling the house morning and night looking for signs of an intruder. She used every can of broth and soup Blythe had bought for her to feed the man. The first few days he ate little and slept most of the time. She worried that she needed to take him to a hospital, but each time she brought the subject up, he was adamantly against it, assuring her he would be fine.
    There was one day of beautiful weather, and she thought about going to work but instead spent the day glaring at him. He seemed oblivious. Two days of high surf made it easier to bear, but by the twelfth day she couldn’t stop pacing. She felt restless and out of sorts. She decided she had to leave him long enough to sit on the bluffs for a while and just breathe. At least Lev didn’t want to talk. He often woke up with a gun in his hand and his eyes cold as ice as he tracked around the room. She was careful never to startle him.
    He didn’t seem to mind her helping him to the bathroom, and she gave him a massage twice a day. He rarely talked even then and she could tell noise hurt. She didn’t mind silence, because noises often hurt her head as well. She knew she would have to find a way to get him clothes—that meant going into a store—and she wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment yet.
    She just wanted to get him on his feet and out of her house.
    She hadn’t slept very well after that first night. Mostly she stayed in the hammock swing off the kitchen, or, if it was too cold, on her couch. She often paced, worried that Lev wouldn’t wake up and then afraid that he would. She was so used to being alone that she was very aware of his breathing, the way he took up her air and her space. She kept the