The Heathen (Preacher Brothers 2)

I could see tattoos peeking out from under the collar of his shirt and sneaking up his neck, and I swallowed roughly. I knew nothing about this man, and for all I knew, he could be dangerous. But I was a healer first and foremost, and my only objective, my only priority in this moment, was making sure he was okay.

Once he was resting back on the seat and I got a good look at his face, I reached for the flashlight again and pointed it on his features. He had short dark hair slightly mussed and falling over his forehead. Twin dark slashes were over his eyes, and his lashes were long and thick, dark and resting against his cheeks. He had a five o’clock shadow and a strong nose, masculine. And his lips were full, his expression relaxed. He had a nasty cut above one of his eyes, no doubt from his face meeting the steering wheel. A trail of blood, already dried on his temple, smeared along his olive-colored skin.

He had one hell of a bruise forming around the area of the cut and underneath his eye, swelling already setting in, and no doubt it would be even worse come tomorrow.

I started feeling around his face gently, palpating to make sure nothing was broken. Aside from the cut, which would most likely need stitches, and what I could do back at my place with my suture kit, he seemed unharmed, probably knocked out from the collision of his head against the steering wheel.

I took a step back, closed his door, and walked quickly toward mine as much as I could. My feet slipped out from under me from the fast-forming snow on the ground, and my palm landed on a partially hidden rock. I cried out and looked down, seeing a gash on my palm and blood starting to form.

I pushed the pain to the back of my mind and made my way to the car. Once I was back in my vehicle, I turned the engine on and cranked the heat. I pulled away from the curb and moved the car toward his, parking parallel with it. I put it in Park and opened my door. I made my way toward the driver side door again and opened it, working as quickly as I could.

After making a trip to put his duffel bag in my front seat, I unbuckled his seatbelt and slid my arm under one of his. I shifted his big body on the seat and now had both my arms wrapped around his waist. God, he was a big guy. Even as he was unconscious, I felt the strain coming from him. It took a good twenty minutes of me dragging him out of his car and up the trench to my vehicle, stopping constantly to catch my breath and readjust my hold on him.

When I finally had him next to my car, I leaned against the side and caught my breath, my arms aching and my palm screaming in pain.

I got back to work though, opening the passenger back door and hauling him in. It was an awkward maneuver, but I finally got him in and stood outside the car to just stare at him.

Sweat formed along my brow, between my breasts, and along my spine. For a moment, I thought of how insane this was. He took up the entire back of my vehicle. I checked my cell phone again, seeing there was still no signal, and I prayed I’d have better luck once I was at home. The weather started to lighten up a bit wind-wise, but the rain had turned into full-on snow and came down harder.

I could make it home, although I’d be going slow as hell. I had a first aid kit back at my place, medical supplies I kept on hand. I’d check him out, tend to his wound once I was there.

Once in the driver seat with the door shut and my seatbelt on, I curled my fingers around the steering wheel and looked into my rearview mirror. I could see him lying there, his chest rising and falling in even intervals, the bruise on his face looking even darker in the shadowy interior of my car.

“This is insane, Kimber,” I muttered and shook my head, focusing back in front of me and reaching out to put my car into Drive. And then I pulled back out into the road, heading home and hoping I hadn’t just made one massive error in judgment by bringing a stranger back to my place.

Chapter Three

Cullen

I was coming in and out, flashes of light and darkness moving behind my eyes, bits and pieces of sound flowing in one ear and out the other. I felt warmth and coldness, pain mixed with this comfortable sensation. It was sight, sound, smell, and touch all coexisting inside me at the same time, waging war with one another for supremacy.