Page 54 of Bound By Blood
When she turnedaway from the forge, he nearly groaned as he drank in her exquisitebeauty. A sheen of sweat glistened on her face, and dirt streakedher forehead, cheeks, and bare arms, but she was stillmagnificent.
He’d alwayspreferred his women more delicate and feminine, but thishardworking, dirty woman excited him more than any before her. Andall those who followed her would pale in comparison.
“Are you justgoing to stand there and stare?” she asked as she placed the bladeover the anvil.
Because if he was,she would have to put the sword in water and get out of here.Sharing this property with him was bad enough; she didn’t want himin the workspace she considered home away from home.
This shop and herforge were her only refuge from grief and the illicit thoughtshe’dawakened in her. She hadn’t experienced a good night ofsleep since he followed her home. Her sorrow still haunted her, butnow, when she wasn’t dreaming of her parents, she dreamt ofhim.
And thoseextremely erotic, completely X-rated dreams left her yearning formore and on the verge of crawling out of her skin.Thosedreams, on top of her unrelenting heartache, had turned her into aguilt-ridden mess.
Her parents hadjust died, and she was fantasizing about a man she was better offstaying far away from. She shouldn’t be thinking about sex at all,but she couldn’tstop!
“I came to see howthings are going,” he said.
“They’regoing.”
Lifting herhammer, she brought it down again and again as she used it to shapethe blade. She would add more layers of metal to it, intertwine herown small touches to make it sturdier, and forge it with thestrength it would require to see Saber through battle.
He pissed her off,but she wouldn’t let him die because of her. Because of that, shetook extra care and effort with this sword. It had to withstand thewrath of demons, and she would ensure it did.
While she worked,she waited for him to leave; they’d both fallen into an unspoken,easy agreement to behave like adults and avoid each other as muchas possible. Instead of doing the mature thing, he remained in thedoorway.
She focused on theblade while trying to ignore the fact he was shirtless. Since hehadn’t arrived with much, she’d seen him often walking aroundwithout a shirt and knew he was using the washer and dryer atnight. She saw the steam from the dryer vent and smelled thesoftener.
She’d consideredoffering him some of her dad’s clothes. They would probably be alittle small on him, but her dad’s sweatpants and workout clotheswould fit, but that meant speaking to him. It also meant partingwith more of her dad; even if they were just clothes, she couldn’tbring herself to do it.
Though he washedhis shirt daily, he’d obviously decided not to put it back on—thejackass.
When she liftedher head from her work, she used the back of her arm to wipe thesweat from her brow. She vowed to resist looking at him, but hereyes betrayed her and darted his way.
Her mouth wateredwhen she saw the sweat beading his chiseled abs and gleaming on hispecs. Thosearms! She could get lost in those large,powerful arms for hours.
But why was hesweating, and why was his black hair disheveled? She didn’t thinkit was from the heat of the forge. The heat wouldn’t be that bad inthe doorway, and he would still have the night air on his back. Ithad turned cool after sunset.
“What are youdoing out here?” she asked.
“I just got backfrom a run.”
“Oh.”
It sounded solame, but she had no idea what else to say, especially since shesuddenly itched to go for a run too. She needed something to burnhim out of her mind; the fire in her forge wasn’t working.
She had no ideahow he’d run in those jeans, but from how he looked, he’d run for awhile. Caro returned to working the sword until it was where shewanted it.
“Are you sure thatstone will be able to withstand my fire?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said.“They were forged in the fires of Hell.”
How had her lifegone from selling mermaids and dragons in the shop to dealing withstones forged in Hell? She had no answer for that question, but shestill couldn’t believe the complete one-eighty it had taken.
“I doubt my fire’sthat hot,” she muttered.
A small smiletugged at the corner of Saber’s lips as his gaze ran over her long,toned body again. Her fire may not be that hot, but she was.
CHAPTER 41
Setting the sworddown, Caro pulled her apron over her head and hung it from one ofthe hooks on the wall. “I’m hungry,” she said. “I’ll work on thissome more in a bit.”
