Page 78 of A Dangerous Game
Chapter Twelve
Gentlefingerscardingthroughhis hair slowly coax Carter out of a dreamless sleep. He fights it, the distant ache and sting of his body warning him to avoid reality, but the fingers continue, and lips start brushing kisses across his cheek and temple and bare shoulder, and words are being whispered, calling himgoodandbeautifuland asking him towake up, sweetheart,and he loses the battle.
His vision is a little blurry when he first opens his eyes. He blinks a few times, then raises a fist to rub the fog away. The movement causes a sudden, sharp pain to shoot from his shoulder all the way down to his toes. He locks his body up, breath caught in his throat, vision blurrier than ever. A sound between a moan and a whimper passes from his lips.
“Shhh. You’re okay,” he hears a low voice murmur. Fingers are still stroking his hair. “Just hold still. Try to breathe. You’re okay.”
Carter slowly inhales. The subtle shift of his body to perform the task is painful, but not nearly as bad this time.
“Carter?” Nathan asks, sounding unsure.Because last time, Carter had corrected him.
“Yes. No more pet. Just me.” Carter sighs. Heavily. Then he tries to shift on the bed again. He doesn’t get very far before he’s deflating into the mattress and groaning. “Ow. Fuck.”
Nathanhmmsunder his breath, his fingers moving through Carter’s hair again. They shouldn’t be - Nathan and Carter don’t do cuddly shit like that, only sir and pet - but those fingers feel so fuckinggood, and everything else feels so fuckingbad, so he doesn’t argue against the comfort. At least not for a few minutes…
“You should take some pills. And let me dress these wounds.”
“What happened with Vasco?”
“Smooth subject change.” Nathan pushes off the bed, reaching toward the bedside table. When Carter glances over there, he sees that Nathan is in nothing but a pair of loose fitting gray sweatpants.
Carter frowns. “What time is it?”
“Late.” Nathan’s lips twitch. “Or early. Depending on perspective.”
“You changed your clothes.”
“Well, I showered. Would have been strange to put the tux back on.” He looks over his shoulder at Carter, his eyes only lingering on his face before slowly crawling along Carter’s naked body. Carter feels something flutter in his stomach. He ignores it very hard. He also tries very hard not to picture the man in the shower, which is… rather difficult, since he’s seen that sight before and knows how absolutely delicious every inch of the view is. Carter eyes the dimples above Nathan’s ass.So unfairly sexy.
“How about we make a deal?” Nathan asks.
A sexy deal?Carter shakes his head at himself. This must be the pain fogging his mind. And the exhaustion. And, obviously, the whole still in love with him thing, but Carter is choosing to ignore that part of the equation.If he ignores it long enough, it’ll go away, right?“Alright - what’s the deal?”
“I’ll tell you all about the meeting with Vasco, and you let me take care of you.”
Carter sighs. He probably should have figured that’d be it. “Fine.”
“You know, any other slave in this place tonight would kill to be taken care of the way I want to take care of you.”
“Ouch,” Carter mumbles, turning his head so he’s no longer looking at the man that has a fucking point… “Okay. I get it. No more complaining.”
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to be an ass.” Nathan settles on the bed, making the mattress dip. “I’m pretty fucking exhausted, but that’s not an excuse. You’ve been through a lot tonight. You can complain all you want. I shouldn’t-”
“Just get started,” Carter whispers. “And start talking about Vasco. Please.”
There’s a slight pause before Nathan gently taps his shoulder. He looks over, finding a bottle of water and two pills being offered to him. “Take these first. I’ll start on the less injured areas while we wait for them to set in.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Nathan watches him carefully as he takes the medicine, accepting the water when Carter hands it back. He screws the cap on and switches it out for a tub of some kind. One he hasn’t used on Carter before. “What’s that?”
“Arnica. It’ll help with the bruising. You have some nasty welts, which is what we usually deal with when it comes to injuries on you, but tonight, with so many people hitting you with just their hands, there’s going to be deep bruising on your lower half. This will help with that. Plus, it helps with infection and swelling, so can’t really go wrong. I’ll still put the usual salve on your welts, too, though.”
Carter settles his head back on the pillow and closes his eyes, guilt working its way through his body. “You were right earlier. I’m really fucking spoiled.”
“Carter…”
“So, Vasco…”
Nathan sighs in what sounds like exasperation. “Right. Vasco.”