Page 50 of Double Obsession

Before he could heave it at her discolored cheek, her blade sliced into his shoulder. With a yelp, she pushed her body weight into the knife, sending it deep.

His arm went numb. The brick fell from his fingers and hurtled toward his face.

Chapter Twenty

Arkansas tossed four hot dogs into the sizzling butter and set the stove timer for three minutes. Meanwhile, she ran Hunter’s bloody kitchen knife under warm water. The second the alarm went off, she flipped the meat and refreshed the timer. She opened the oven door and removed crispy rolls. Since Hunter needed to eat healthily, she used the newly dried knife to slice up an apple. She arranged the fruit beside a jumbo-sized handful of potato chips and then fixed them each two hot dogs and a soda.

What an excellent gourmet presentation! “Grandmommy would be so proud.”

While whistling her favorite princess song, she used her hip to push on the door and carried their romantic dinner to the basement. Hunter lay where she had left him after she stopped his bleeding with a tea towel and duct tape. Thank Jesus, she was an excellent nurse.

Double thanks to her Savior that she had bound Hunter’s hands and feet so he didn’t injure himself further. Although gorgeous, he was an absolute klutz. She stopped short. What a shame that he had vomited all over himself. She steadied the tray on a tilting three-legged table and went back upstairs to grab a washcloth and scissors.

She returned to find his blue eyes studying her. Although covered in blood and vomit, he was devilishly handsome.

She knelt beside him and scrubbed his face.

“Ouch.” He cringed.

“Silly Hunter. You knocked yourself out.”

“Careful,” he moaned.

The washcloth traveled over his shirtless torso. She halted at his crescent. “We match.” She pointed at her cheek.

He grunted.

“You know what is interesting?” she asked.

His long lashes fluttered when he blinked.

“The duct tape on this side—” when she tapped on his injury, he hissed “—almost lines up with your scar on this side.” She inclined her chin to his crescent.

He snorted.

“I don’t think I can save your shirt.” She ran a finger over his flat belly. Her touch must have tickled him as much as it tickled her, because he squirmed. “I can go to the store in a few days and buy you a new one. Although you have a ton of clothes in your closet.” She balked at his messy jeans. “Good thing you have drawers full of pants.” Putting down the washcloth, she fiddled with his zipper.

His hips bucked. “No!”

“I’m not like those perverts. I’m trying to clean you up.” She ignored his mumblings as she wrangled his pants to his knees. From there, she fought with the scissors to free him from the denim.

Somehow she’d known her long-ago library acquisitionKnots for Sailorswould come in handy. Although she assumed she’d have to tie up a government agent instead of her injury-prone fiance´. Good thing she’d kept ropes and ties in Grandmommy’s trunk. The ankle cuffs she formed from hobble knots kept him from accidentally kneeing her in the jaw. For extra security, she’d wrapped ties around, then up his calves.

“There. All cleaned up for our first dinner together.” She tossed his sliced-up jeans to the side and carried the tray to him. Holding her upper body at a safe distance, so they didn’t accidentally knock heads again, she lifted from under his armpits and pulled him to sit.

The bound hands behind his back were a problem. He groaned as his body slid down. She hoisted him into position again, then used one hand to press him against the wall as the other held a hot dog to his lips.

He mumbled something that sounded like “izzie.”

“Lizzie and Buddy are fine.” Which was more than she could say about the rude cat dripping blood all over her new basement. “The storm tired them out, and they are hiding in the corner of the living room.”

“Dizzy,” he said.

“I would imagine so. For an athletic-looking man who does a lot of adventure sports and hikes, you are quite uncoordinated. It is a good thing that I am here to take care of you.” She tore off a piece of hot dog, then shoved it into his mouth.

He spit it out. “Medicine,” he mumbled.

“Only if you eat your dinner.”