Aiden's Charity

Chapter Seven

“Time to eat.” Charity watched as Aiden moved slowly to the bed several hours later, his expression set in determined lines as he picked up a pair of long sweat pants from the chair by the bed and approached her. “Come on. I’ll help you get dressed and carry you into the kitchen.”

She shivered at the sound of his voice.

“I’m not hungry.” She shook her head. Right now she was more concerned with keeping herself from jumping his broad body and stuffing his cock up her pussy. She felt like a rabid animal, intent on mating.

“You look hungry.” He frowned down at her.

Oh, he had no idea.

“I’m fine,” she gritted out.

“You don’t look fine,” he pointed out a little too patiently to suit her.

She opened her eyes, staring up at him with a lack of amusement or patience.

“I look like a scrawny bitch in heat, which is pretty much what I am,” she said with blistering emphasis. “So go away and let me die in peace.”

Aiden sighed patiently, the sound further grating on her nerves. He held out the pants. “Dress willingly or I can force them on you. Your choice, Charity.”

She knew she needed to eat. Knew she needed to regain her strength but the blistering arousal tormenting her was unlike anything she had known previously. The pain wasn’t nearly as blinding as the need to be touched. But if he touched her, if he took her, she knew the consequences could be catastrophic.

Gathering her strength and her courage, she sat up slowly, watching him warily as she held out her hand for the pants. He ignored her. He knelt at her feet with a warning look. Likely daring her not to kick his teeth in, she thought with a hidden smile. Oh, how satisfying that would be.

Aiden hid his grin as he watched her. Her expression didn’t change, but the forced curve of her mouth, the stillness about her cheekbones warned him. He remembered in a flash of insight seeing that look on her face a second before she nearly ripped the balls off one of the Lab guards years before. Patient, calm. Exacting.

He eased the material over her legs, watching them carefully for any tensing. He would need only a second’s warning, but damned if that warning wouldn’t come in handy.

When he reached her thighs he swallowed tightly as the fought the instinctive need to caress her. He could still smell her heat. It was soft and sweet, yearning. Son of a bitch, she was making his head spin, it was so intoxicating.

“Ease up,” he murmured as she lifted her hips.

He jerked the material over the soft curves of her ass, his fingers itching to stroke them. The palms of his hands were nearly sweating with the hunger to caress her.

“All done.” He tightened the drawstring marginally, making certain it wasn’t snug against her sore midriff.

He knelt on the floor again and rolled the cuffs carefully over her bandaged feet. He wanted to resent her. Wanted to resent the necessity of taking care of her. Yet he couldn’t. He had caught himself in the kitchen thinking of ways to ease her, to make things easier on her. Then he would remember he was supposed to be angry. Only to remember the horror stories he had heard in relationship to the experiments conducted on her. She was going to drive him crazy.

He was driving himself crazy trying to decide what he was supposed to feel, how he was supposed to act. This mating business was a pain in the ass, and now he knew well why he had wanted nothing to do with it. He had other things to do, other concerns that he felt was far more important than attempting to analyze these unfamiliar emotions.

“There you go. All done.” He rose to his feet before bending down to lift her into his arms.

She was too light, almost fragile in his arms. She was also tense as hell and too damned weak to do more than just tighten against him as he carried her into the kitchen.

Once there, he set a bowl of stew before her and a tall glass of crisp, cold milk. She needed energy, food. Something that would stick with her and give her strength for the coming battles ahead.

“I have to go out for a while,” he told her as he watched the delicate manner in which she ate.

She nodded sharply.

His lips twitched. She wasn’t gobbling her food, but he’d be damned if he couldn’t tell she wanted to. She kept careful control of herself, though, eating with a steady determination that hinted at the hunger she suffered from.

“Get as much rest as you can, Charity,” he told her long minutes later as she sat back in her chair, replete, and glanced at him. “I’ll be back to check on you sometime today. If you need me, there’s a landline in the bedroom. It connects to the communications building. Just tell whoever answers that you need to speak to me.”

“I’m sure I’ll do fine without you.” He didn’t like the forced unconcern that suddenly surrounded her.

“I’m sure you will.” At least he was certain she would try to make sure she needed him for nothing. “You need to rest for a few days, Charity. Get your strength back. I’ll stay away as much as I can, but you know as well as I do that it’s only to delay the inevitable.”

She glanced at him from the corner of her eye.

“I need a bath.” She didn’t answer his comment. “Could you get someone to help me with that?”

His body tightened. He could see her, stretched out in the big tub in the bathroom, dressed in nothing but steam and heated water. His cock jerked in reflex.

Hell. Of course she needed a bath, he thought in weary disgust. The question was, could he maintain control long enough to help her with that?

“I’ll help you.” He tried to shrug as though he could do it with no problem, but already his body was heating further at the thought of it.

She watched him broodingly. He could see the battle going on in her head. She wanted the bath, desperately. She didn’t want him helping her with it though.

Finally she sighed in resignation. “Fine. As long as I can get clean. The most I should need is help getting out of the tub. I can handle the rest of it on my own.”

She should have been a Feline, he thought. Damned independent, stubborn female.

“Where am I anyway?” She suddenly grimaced as she stared around the kitchen. “Are we still in South America?”

“Colorado.” He rose to his feet and cleared the table quickly. “The government allocated us several hundred acres here as a home base. The compound is heavily fortified with several dozen army personnel as well as Air Force support from the base across the mountain.”

“The compound.” She nodded then. “I’d heard of it. When I get better, I’d like to see it.” She didn’t look at him, and for all her appearance of unconcern he could tell it mattered to her to see what they had accomplished. Aiden didn’t care much for the fact that it pleased him.

“When you can walk comfortably, I’ll take you on a tour,” he promised her softly as he moved to her drooping body. “Come on. Let’s get you back to bed. You need to nap a bit more before you’re ready to do anything.”

She sighed bleakly as he lifted her into his arms once more. “I don’t sleep well, Aiden.” She tried not to lean against his body. He could feel her tensing, holding herself away from him as she fought to maintain her control. He would allow it, for now, he thought.

“I have something that will help you sleep, baby.” He laid her back on the bed before moving back to the kitchen.

When he returned, he carried a glass of water and a sedative Armani had approved for Hope and Faith last year.

“It’s just a sedative,” he told her when she stared at the small pill in his hand. “Our doctor had to create one especially for Hope and Faith. Sometimes, they don’t sleep well either.”

There was a single week of the month that the two women were more like rabid animals in their temperaments than grown women.

“Did she check…”

“She checked everything, Charity. Trust me, the damned woman doesn’t miss a thing. Now take your medicine like a good girl so you can rest. You will need your strength soon.” He gave her a wolfish smile. All teeth and male amusement.

Her eyes narrowed on him but she took the pill, swallowing it with a long drink of water before lying back against the pillows.

“Now sleep.” He tucked the blankets around her. “I’ll check on you later and help you get a bath.”

Her eyes were closing even as he spoke. Aiden resisted the need to brush the hair back from her face, to caress the delicate line of her jaw. His fist clenched as he turned on his heel and stalked from the cabin before his need overcame his good sense. She was going to make him crazy, he thought. Then he grunted mockingly. Or perhaps she already had.