You Own Me (Owned 1)

Before I could form my protest, I was being hoisted up and into his arms.

He lifted me up like I weighed nothing and walked with me as if I were a feather. I fought the urge to fall into his chest. He was so strong and comforting.

Finally, I was able to manage, “I need to shower.” Real sexy, Moore, alert the hunk of my potential B. O. I could feel him smile against my forehead. I almost melted.

“Do you need help?” he asked, still smiling.

I involuntarily tensed in his arms. The idea had me reeling.

“No!” I said, a little too quickly.

Vic waited outside the bathroom door as I undressed. He had insisted on coming in but I wouldn't have it. Vic tried again, saying that he wouldn't look and would just wait outside the shower. I shut the door firmly, but softly, leaving Vic on the other side.

The idea of that core-melting, hot man being my nursemaid was too mortifying. If he was go

ing to be in the shower with me, he was going to be in the shower with me, not standing outside it making sure I didn't fall over like an elderly dementia patient.

I started the shower, pushing the handle to its hottest setting. I peeled off my dirt-covered clothes and bent over to untie my miserable-excuse-for—boots. Bad idea. I was already woozy and, as the heat filled the room, my vision started to narrow.

“Lenny?” Vic called from outside the room.

Oh, spinning floor tiles. That's a cool feature!

“Lennox!”

I vaguely heard Vic calling me. I knew I was supposed to be doing something, but all I could think about was the cool, weightless feeling I was having. I wanted to explore it more. I wanted to sleep. It was getting hot and steamy in here! But why? I couldn't really see anything anymore, but that was okay. I felt good. I felt really good.

Shit. I felt bad. I felt sick all over.

Just as quickly as the amazing, weightless feeling came, it left and was replaced with cold, black lead. I needed to vomit, but I couldn't vomit up lead. I grasped for something to hold on to, I was going down.

“Jesus!” was the last thing I heard before everything went black.

I came to with Vic's massive body hovering over me. I got the feeling he'd been trying to wake me for a while, because I saw his features go from hardened to relief instantaneously. The onslaught of pain I felt was outrageous. To go from blackout sleep to this crushing pain was almost laughable. I didn't laugh though, I groaned.

“Yeah, you hit the tile pretty hard.” Vic shook his head. “Shoulda let me in the bathroom with you.”

“I'm . . . a . . . lady.” I managed that witty comeback between groans. It was too bright in here. You know how when you have a headache and the light is suddenly too yellow? That's how it was. I felt like the light was trying to burn a hole into my brain. Yellow everywhere.

“Yeah, well, not anymore.” Vic winked at me.

My jaw dropped, mortified. Of course. I had ended up in this bed somehow. It wasn't that he saw me naked, it was that he saw me naked in the most unsexy and undignified pose ever. Sprawled out on the bathroom floor. God. I closed my eyes, willing sleep or death to overcome me.

“Lennox,” Vic said, his voice stern and powerful. I wonder if he knows the effect his voice has on me. “You know I treated you like a lady.”

Ugh, so missing the point! I tried to turn my head away from him, but it was too much. I winced and groaned again.

I felt Vic's big, calloused hands on my arms. As much as I wanted to shrug them off of me, they felt so nice and warm. Comforting, even. Vic sat me up gently, pulled me into his chest, and handed me some pills from an orange bottle.

I looked up at him, then the pills in his hand, to the bottle, and back to him. “Really?” I couldn’t hide the incredulity in my voice.

“Come on, babe, you don't think I would give you something dangerous, do you?” He asked, feigning a hurt look.

“You were out for a while. Scared me. I called a doctor to come and look at you. He gave me these for the pain. Said you'd hurt for some time, but you'd be okay.”

I blinked. He called a doctor? And, who was Vic that he knew doctors that made house calls? Still, I took the pills gratefully and swallowed them with some water.

Did he just call me “babe”?