Sexy In A Bottle: A More Than Men Novella by Andrea Laurence Read Free Book Online

getting the hell out of this shed.
    Without thinking, she bolted from the building and charged into the rain leaving her coat and her flashlight. She didn’t care. The wind whipped her wet hair across her face, making her stumble on the rocks. She was almost to the house when her toe caught a ridge and she smacked down onto the wet stone. She scraped her knees and palms, but even that sharp pain wouldn’t slow her down. Crawling back to her feet, she shoved her hair out of her eyes and ran the last distance to the door.
    By the time she made it inside, her wet hair had started to get icy. She was soaked through her clothes to her goose-bumped flesh. Her lungs burned, and her face was screaming from the cold. It took a few minutes inside next the fire before she thawed out enough to feel the aftereffects of her fall. The rocks hadn’t been kind. When she brought her hands up to inspect them, the palms were raw and bloody, tiny bits of stone wedged into her skin. Her knee hurt worse, but she couldn’t bear to check it yet.
    She was still looking at her palms when Raj finally came inside. He was calm, not rushing despite the cold. He had left his coat behind as well and was as wet as she was. It didn’t seem to bother him, though. He was born of fire, right? Isn’t that what he’d said? She’d dismissed it, along with everything else, but how else could a man lie naked on the freezing rocks and not be cold?
    Raj frowned when he saw the blood on her hands. He moved slowly toward her, probably worried she would spook again, but Valerie didn’t move. With a banged-up knee, she wouldn’t get far, even if she had somewhere to go.
    His blue eyes gazed into hers, his presence suddenly as calming to her nerves as chamomile tea. Heat stirred inside her as he got closer. At first, the feeling chased away the bone-deep chill, but then it started to build into something more. Something wanton. Was he doing that to her on purpose, or did his mere presence light a fire in her belly?
    He held his hand out to hers. "May I?" he asked.
    Valerie had no idea what he was going to do, but she was in no condition to argue with him. She nodded softly, sending drops of water from her hair to the wooden floor.
    Holding her hand palm up in his left hand, he touched her skin with the index finger of his right. The heat of his touch drew a sharp hiss as he made contact with her raw, bloody skin, but the warmth grew until her whole hand felt like it had been plunged into a hot bath. When he pulled away, her injury was gone. He did the same with her other hand, and this time his gaze didn’t leave hers.
    He was so beautiful. Valerie hadn’t really allowed herself to appreciate his perfection because it came with a mentally unstable price tag. But now when he touched her, she couldn’t help it. His dark hair was wet and dripping, falling in his eyes. His soaked black T-shirt clung to every ridge of his chest as his breathing caused it to rise and fall.
    When she forced herself to look away, she saw that both her hands were now healed. She swallowed hard. There was no more denying this. "Thank you," she said, her voice little more than a whisper.
    He responded with a crooked, embarrassed smile. People must not thank him very often for what he did. "You are most welcome. But what of your leg?"
    Valerie had forgotten her leg hurt as she lost herself in the depths of Raj’s eyes, but looking down, she could see the blood soaking through her favorite jeans. "Oh," she said, not sure what to do next.
    " I shall care for you." Raj reached for her, and before she knew what was happening, she was in Raj’s arms. He lifted her like she weighed no more than a feather, carrying her down the hallway to her bedroom. He set her down on the edge of her bed. "We need to get you out of these wet clothes."
    " I can—" she started, but with a snap of his fingers, she was wearing nothing more than a dry pair of panties and a fitted T-shirt she often slept in. She