Harvest Moon (9 page)

His fridge was well stocked, bringing about a whole new set of problems while I tried to figure out what to eat. I finally pulled out a slab of Colby jack cheese and laid it on the counter. Now all I needed was crackers. After poking into a couple of cupboards, I found a box of crackers. I plucked the knife from the wooden block when the front door opened.

My grip tightened on the handle, and my breath caught in my throat.

It was Jason. I was about to chew him a new one when I noticed the cut over his eye was healed, no swelling around his lower lip, and his hair was longer.

“I’m Jared, Jason’s brother.” He put his hands up in mock surrender. “Not here to hurt you.”

I glanced at the knife and set it on the counter by the cheese. “What is it with all these twins? Is it in the water here?”

He shrugged with a crooked smile. “We’ve got a few of them in our family.”

“Where’s Jason?”

He sobered a little and crossed to take a stool at the bar. “I ask that a lot lately. He called to see if I could watch the place while he…worked out a few things.”

I rolled my eyes and opened the box of crackers. “He told me he’s boxing.” I laid some crackers out on a plate and started cutting cheese. “Why would a doctor take that kind of risk? He knows what that does to your motor function when you take all those blows to your head, not to mention the beating on your hands.” I glanced toward Jared. “Sorry. It’s not really any of my business anyway. Want some cheese and crackers?”

“I’m never one to turn down food.”

I cut a few pieces of cheese and laid them on the crackers before walking it over to the bar. “So did your brother tell you why I’m his prisoner?”

Jared raised a brow as he picked up a cracker from the plate. “He didn’t mention anything about a prison, but he did tell me Nero is looking for you. I don’t know your connection to them, but they’re dangerous. That’s why I agreed to hang out here until he got back.”

“My connection. Short answer?” I took a bite and tried not to notice the way he studied me. “They killed my roommate. I found her. Now they want to keep me quiet.”

He swallowed and shook his head. “I’m sorry you got sucked into their web. How’d you end up in Reno?”

“Sebastian sent me a new ID and told me to come to Reno. If there was trouble, he told me to find Adam. I did that, but Adam doesn’t believe me so…” I shrugged.

Jared rested a forearm on the counter. He had the same strong, solid build as Jason, but he wasn’t as cut. His muscles weren’t from a gym. His tan skin and rough hands told me he worked outside.

“Jason told me you helped save our dad the day he was attacked.”

I nodded. “I work in the medical center by his office. Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Why isn’t your father in the hospital? Jason told me he’d admit him that day, but he never did. Why did he lie to me?”

“He had to tell you something.” Jared got up from the stool. “You probably wouldn’t have accepted the fact that our family can’t go to the hospital.”

“What do you mean? Is it your religion? He’s a doctor. He knows your dad needs professional medical care.”

“Yeah, he does.” Jared walked to the window, his back to me. “Why do you think he’s out there somewhere getting his face beat in?”

“That makes no sense.”

“Doesn’t have to.” He glanced over his shoulder. “He’s a doctor. But having the answers doesn’t mean you can solve anything. Our family is…” He focused out the window again. “It’s complicated.”

“Has your dad regained consciousness?”

He stared into the darkness. “No.”

My chest tightened. The chances of his father waking up now were extremely slim. The brain damage must have been too severe. Jason would know that. Had he told the rest of his family, or was this a burden he’d been carrying all alone?

I walked out of the kitchen and sat on the couch. “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, I am, too.” He came over and sat at the other end of the sofa. “Your family must be worried about you.”

I hoped he didn’t notice my shoulders tense up. “I don’t have a big family like you. What’s left of mine is still in Hawaii. I’m on my own.”

“Do they know you’re in trouble?”

I thought of the message I’d sent Grandma Nani through our family
aumakua
. “I think so. I’m trying to keep them out of it.”

“Family is leverage to Nero. They need to be warned.”

I got up and went back into the kitchen to clean up. Sitting still was an unachievable dream at the moment. “If I warn them, Nero will know right where they are.”

He paused for a second and then glanced my way. “You probably understand my brother better than you think. He knows what he should do, too, but he can’t. Having your hands tied when lives are on the line sucks.”

I put the cheese back and slammed the refrigerator door harder than I intended. “I just need to lay low until they lose interest.”

“Not likely to happen with Nero.”

Okay, Jared wasn’t making me feel any better. “I’m really tired. I think I’m going to try to rest.”

He nodded and picked up the TV remote. “All right. Jason should be back soon.” I started for the bedroom door when he called, “Thanks for helping Jason save our dad.”

“No problem.” I went inside and closed the bedroom door. Leaning against it, I blinked back a wave of tears. I hadn’t helped save his father.

I helped restart his heart, but the irreparable damage to his mind was done.

And Jason must’ve already known that.

I
jerked awake when the bedroom door opened.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.”

Jason’s deep voice had never sounded so good as relief flowed through me.

“Just need a shower and…”

“All your clothes and shampoo and everything are in this bathroom.”

He nodded. The light blazed behind him, keeping his face shadowed. I clicked the TV off with the remote and got up from bed. Apparently being terrified was more exhausting than I realized.

He didn’t move or speak, just watched me. When I stood in front of him, I could see the swelling under both eyes, and the cut over his brow had reopened. I couldn’t find my voice as I stared up at him, my gaze meeting his.

“I was an ass earlier.” His voice was barely a whisper. “But I can’t take losing anyone else. I know you don’t understand it, but…”

I took his hand. Carefully. Jesus, his fingers were swollen, too. Shifting my attention back up to his face, I walked him into the bathroom. “Let me help.”

“I’m fine.”

My eyes welled with tears as I shook my head. “I’m pretty sure we’re both
miles
from fine.”

He wrapped his arms around me, and instead of pulling away, I clung to him, careful not to hold too tight. I had no doubt his shirt was hiding some nasty bruises, too. He rested his head on top of mine and whispered, “I’m warning you now. I’m a horrible patient.”

I smiled in spite of myself and pulled back. “Of course you are. That’s why you’re a doctor.”

I closed the lid on the toilet and had him sit down so I could get a better look at his banged-up face. In the bright lights of the bathroom, it was tough not to cringe. “You have some first-aid supplies, I hope.”

He nodded. “In the medicine cabinet.”

I opened the cabinet on the wall and chuckled. “Bactine and Band-Aids? You call this a first-aid kit?” I turned around to find him shirtless, and my breath caught. Every muscle was well defined, strong, and discolored. So many bruises. “How many fights have you been in?”

“Too many.”

“Understatement of the year.” There was no way Bactine and Band-Aids could fix this. I set them on the counter beside him. “Have you had any X-rays? Your ribs are probably cracked in a few places.”

“They’re bruised, but I don’t think I have any breaks.”

There was the confident doctor god complex. I sighed, glancing around the marble counter. “Cotton balls?”

He pointed under the sink. I pulled a bag out of the cabinet and soaked one in the antiseptic. Gently, I touched it to the cut over his eye.

“Jesus.”
He pushed my hand away. “That’s making it worse.”

“You
are
a bad patient.” I raised a brow. “If you get an infection, this could get even uglier. Better to clean it now.”

I pressed it back over the cut, ignoring his growls. By the time I finished with the contusions, he’d given up fighting me. He probably recognized in his present state I could take him. Nurses weren’t shrinking violets. And I was a damned fine nurse.

“Can I shower now?”

I inspected his face one last time, trying not to allow my gaze to linger on his lips. “I guess so. I’ll get some ice packs ready for your face and a bucket for your hands.”

He got up as I went to the door. In the reflection of the mirror, he rolled his eyes. “I don’t need ice.”

“The hell you don’t.”

Before I got out the door, a vision flashed in my head. Jason collapsing in the shower, his head bouncing off the cold tile, and blood. I spun around as he hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his shorts.

“Wait. Leave them on. I’m going to help you.”

He looked back at me, confusion in his swollen eyes. “I’m perfectly capable of showering.”

“I’m sure you are, but you probably have a concussion, so we should be careful.”

He shook his head and turned on the shower. “I don’t have a concussion, but if it’ll make you feel better…”

His words drifted off as his eyes rolled back.

“Shit.” I rushed to his side, easing his drop to the floor. There was no way I could support his dead weight, but I could keep him from hitting his head. Once he was on the floor, I wet a washcloth with cold water and sat down, lifting his head into my lap. I pressed the cool cloth to his forehead and patted his cheek, wishing I had smelling salts handy. “Jason?”

His eyes moved behind his eyelids and finally they opened. He stared up at me, disoriented at first before he reached up to take my hand from his forehead. “How? How did you know?”

“Know what?”

“About the concussion. You knew I’d fall.”

“Just a hunch.”

He sat up slowly, almost nose to nose with me. His gaze locked on mine. “You don’t have to lie to me.”

“That goes both ways.” Steam filled the room, masking the electricity zipping between us. His eyes dipped to my lips, and some idiotic part of my heart hoped he’d kiss me. Thankfully a bolt of clear thought jolted me into action. “We should get you in the shower while the water is still hot.”

He blinked and sat up, putting some distance between us. His master bath had a spacious glass shower stall and a big Jacuzzi tub in the far corner. He opened the glass door and a wall of steam billowed out. I braced him, my arm firm around his waist as he stepped inside.

“What about your clothes?”

I glanced down at my T-shirt and jeans. My only clothes I had with me. My bag was still outside in Jason’s car. But he couldn’t be trusted in a shower alone at the moment. If he passed out again…I didn’t allow myself to replay the vision of his blood washing down the drain.

“They’ve been wet before.”

“You don’t need to come in here. I’m much better now.”

“You are not. I’m coming in with you, or you’re not showering.” I nudged him forward with my hip. “Stop being a baby and get in there.”

The warm water soaked through my clothes, but I hardly noticed. All my attention was focused on Jason. He was much taller than me and probably outweighed me by at least seventy-five pounds, but if he lost consciousness again, I could slow the fall and protect his head.

He tipped his head back under the water and closed his eyes. Before I could say anything, his mouth curved into a smile. “Still awake, but my eyes sting enough already without getting shampoo in them.”

I chuckled. “They wouldn’t sting if you stopped getting them punched.”

He lifted his head from the water, all his attention on me. “Thanks for helping me tonight.” His gaze wandered lower and I wondered just how see-through my wet T-shirt might be. He brought a battered hand up to my cheek, his thumb barely brushing my slick skin. “You’re so beautiful.”

My heart pounded, and I struggled to keep my body from thinking for me. “You’ve got head trauma.”

He almost smiled. “I thought you were beautiful from the moment you banged on my office door and chewed me out.”

I pressed my lips together, trying to find a safe place to focus my attention. He filled the entire shower stall, his skin clean and wet, every part of him chiseled. His gym shorts clung to a package I had no business noticing.

His finger caught my chin, lifting it until I met his gaze. “Sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I’m probably a real prize right now.”

Every bruise and swollen cut on his ruggedly handsome face only enhanced the spirit inside of him. “You’re still way too handsome for your own good.”

His legs bent, but not from a lack of consciousness. I rose up on my toes, my lips meeting his halfway. His chest rumbled as he pulled me closer. I couldn’t tell if it was a moan of passion or a groan of pain, but it didn’t slow the kiss. His mouth savored mine, lingering, tasting, until he parted my lips with his tongue. A sigh escaped my throat as the kiss deepened.

I ran my hands up his chest and around the back of his neck. He took a step forward, pushing me back against the cool wall of the shower. His erection pressed against me, but it didn’t wake me from the haze of passion, the urgency of desire. I didn’t want to think about reality, about danger, about lies, about the future.

I wanted this complicated man full of secrets and pain and wounds.

Breaking the kiss, he rested his forehead on mine as we both struggled for breath. “If I wasn’t so beat up, I’d be stripping you down and taking you right here.” He panted a couple of times, and a curl of wet hair dangled over his forehead. “But I’m pretty sure my legs’ll give out.”

Saved by weak legs. With each breath, reality encroached on the passion he’d stoked inside me. “Yeah, we should get you in bed.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“So you can sleep.” I turned off the shower and supported him as he got out.