“I’m fine, but. . .go ahead.” I set everything down, stepped closer to him, and attempted a joke. “Just don’t hurt me.”
His smile slowly faded as he searched my face. “I would never hurt you. Never.”
My heart jumped again. I wanted to look away, but he raised his hands to my face and grabbed all my attention. He whispered, “And you are beautiful no matter what.”
I turned my attention to his throat. The top of his shirt. Anything but his face.
He touched me, spreading warmth onto my skin. He slipped his fingers under my chin. He traced the swell of my bottom lip with his thumb. “It’ll be back to normal by tomorrow.”
My body heated. My breathing increased.
Licking his own lips, inch by inch he moved his hand to the side of my face close to the black eye. “The black and blue coloring is leaving. The blood at the corner of your eyes is gone.”
“I didn’t know it was there.”
“Which is why you should look in the mirror.” He dropped his hands but didn’t back away. His scent tangled around me, making me dizzy. “He’ll never touch you again. I promise.”
I edged away, not because Yoshiro scared me with his words or touch. I backed up because those hands—those gentle fingers—had terrified me. They made me want. They made me crave. They made me yearn for him to touch other parts of me—and not just with his hand, not just with his cock—he made me hungry to touch his heart. His soul.
And those feelings after all I’d been through, it made me feel weak.
He held my gaze. “I have to tell you something.”
“What?”
“A couple days ago, I had my friend look Wyatt up.”
I blinked.
“Kevin is good with computers and has always helped me with things like that. Kevin found Wyatt in a hospital in Portland. Wyatt needed stiches. The bullet went through him.”
A cold shiver ran through me. “So. . .Wyatt is fine.”
“Yes.”
While Yoshiro had warmed my heart, this news had made it drop into my stomach.
I cleared my throat. “For a few days. . .I’d been dreaming about him still in that apartment. . .bleeding out. Is that wrong?”
“No. I hoped for the same.” He came forward, returning the closed space that I had expanded. “I told Kevin to keep watch of Wyatt. This morning, he told me that Wyatt was released.”
I shook my head. “Goddman it. We should’ve left. We should’ve. . .kept on going. We’re too close.”
Yoshiro took my hand. It trembled within his. “Kevin is tracking his credit cards and cellphone. He’s that good.”
“Are you sure?”
“Trust me. Wyatt checked into a hotel a few blocks near the hospital. It makes sense. He’s still injured. The roads are still snowed in. There’s a number he’s called several times. Kevin says it’s an LA number.”
“Can he show it to me? It might be my mother.”
“I’ll get it.” He squeezed my hand, wrapping it in comfort and warmth. “This time you won’t run. Promise me that.”
“Yoshiro. . .you’ve helped out so much. . .but I’m scared. We probably should—”
“No. Wyatt comes even a few miles to this town, and I’ll go out and handle him personally.” Yoshiro sneered. “Fill his ass up with so many bullets the police wouldn’t be able to identify him. The kids and you are family. I won’t let him fuck with you all anymore.”
“But—”
“Maybe my words don’t mean much because you think we’re strangers. But I feel this deep within my soul.”
A lump of sorrow lodged in my throat.
He continued. “I want to protect you, not because you’re a charity case or your weak. I want to do it because you’ve done enough. You survived. You escaped. But. . .don’t you feel the magic too.”
He had all of my attention at no moment could I look away.
I whispered, “The magic?”
“Like there’s something more happening here. Like we were brought together, whether due to God or the universe or even our needs. . .our pain.”
I sighed. “This might sound stupid, but when we were on the road I asked God—I begged him—to guide us to safety.”
“And you came here.”
“Well. . .I crashed here, but yes. In the past days, I wondered if this was bigger than us.”
“We’re family.”
Those words made my eyes water. “We’re family?”
“We’ve all lived together long enough to be more than friends. We’ve laughed. We’ve struggled in the cold darkness with no lights. It doesn’t matter that we’re not blood. We’re family.” He stared down at my hand for a moment, then his fingers curled around mine. His hand was so big that it seemed to swallow mine. “Are we family, Ebony?”
I didn’t even think about, I just murmured the word, “Yes.”
“Then, we have each other’s back?”
“We do.” I tightened my hold around his hand, allowing myself to really feel him. His flesh was golden and warm. Strength radiated from him. Such a simple touch between us, and yet a surge of sensual awareness flooded me.