Daniel wasn't sure if the burning in his arm was due more to his injury or the feel of B.J.'s hands on his skin. It was something he had never thought he would feel again, and his reaction was so intense it bordered right on the edge of pain.
He still couldn't believe she was here. Couldn't believe she had tracked him down again. Was he so easy to find? If so, it was definitely time for him to get into a new line of work.
“There,” she said, eyeing her handiwork in satisfaction. “Maybe your arm won't fall off now.”
“That's comforting.”
Without replying, she stuffed the first-aid supplies back in the case and snapped it shut. “You'll probably want to take alcohol to the rest of that tattoo. Looks kind of silly to have half a snake on your arm.”
He suddenly felt rather foolish in his tough street disguise. Even when she had been dressed in clothes that were not her own, pretending to be someone she wasn't, B.J. was completely herself. Daniel didn't know who the hell he was these days.
He glanced sideways at her face, noting that her hair was still mussed from the fight, she wore little if any makeup and there was a smudge on her nose. She was every bit as beautiful to him then as she had ever been in her expensive resort clothes.
So much for a whole month of trying to get over her.
“Damn it, B.J. why are you here?” Even he heard the deep weariness in his voice.
She dropped the defensiveness, her expression going somber. “I needed to return something to you.”
She reached into her pocket and then held out her left hand. Daniel st
ared at the gold band on her palm.
Rather than taking it from her, he clasped his hands between his knees. Ever since he'd left the resort, he had been aware of the ring's absence. After all, he had worn it around his neck for more than a dozen years. But whenever he'd thought of the ring during the past month, he hadn't pictured it hanging on a chain around his neck. He had seen it on B.J.'s delicate hand.
That thought drew his eyes to her nervously clenched right hand, with its reddened knuckles. Evidence of the way she had thrown herself into a fight between him and two other men, one of whom had wielded a knife.
Maybe not so delicate, after all, he thought with a humorless twitch at the corner of his mouth. But infinitely precious to him.
“When did you learn martial arts?”
His incongruous question seemed to take her aback. She lowered the hand that was holding his ring and eyed him quizzically. “I dated a tae kwon do instructor in college. I got as high as brown belt before we broke up.”
“Why didn't you mention it at the resort?”
“It never came up.”
“You didn't try to use it when Drake's man shoved you into a closet?” He had heard from Greg, through Ingrid, where B.J. had been stashed.
That brought her chin up, her eyes snapping indignantly. “I thought he was the person you had sent. And I was…thinking about something else.”
Daniel turned sideways on the couch and covered her hands with his, the gold ring folded out of sight in her palm. “B.J., why did you come here? You could have sent the ring to my aunt.”
She drew a deep breath. “You said you owed me a favor. You told me to name my price. I'm here to collect.”
Daniel swallowed hard. He had a feeling this debt was going to be higher than he had expected to pay.
B.J. watched the wariness cross Daniel's face. His fingers tightened momentarily around hers. “What is it you want?” he asked somewhat roughly.
Keeping her gaze steady on his, she reminded herself of the way he had looked when he had recognized her in that alley. For one brief, unguarded moment, she had seen true emotion in his eyes—and she hoped desperately that she hadn't misread him.
“I'll tell you that in a minute. First, I want to ask you something.”
“What?”
“Why did those men attack you?”
He wasn't expecting that. “I think it was retribution. I sort of messed up a deal they were putting together,” he said after a moment.