Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 88235 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88235 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Chain frowned. “Why would you agree to come with me if you don’t trust me completely?”
“Because,” Victoria said lightly. “I’ve been waiting my whole adult life to have a little fun and adventure—and I have a feeling you can offer me both.”
Chain grinned back. He respected her honesty and liked the attitude she was taking towards their impending trip together. Even if he only took her to the Mother Ship and stayed with her a day or two to give her the tour, he was certain it would be an experience neither of them would ever forget.
Chapter Eight
Was she crazy, agreeing to leave town—hell, to leave the whole planet—with a man she’d never met before tonight, Vicky wondered? She was sure her daughters would think so. And this was something she would never allow them to do. In fact, if either Melli or Jodi called her up and said, “Mom, I’m thinking of taking a trip to Europe with Carlos, this guy I just met in a bar,” Vicky would have done her best to talk sense into them.
Which is probably what they’ll do to me if I let them know I’m leaving Earth to go to the Mother Ship for a couple of days with a strange Kindred, Vicky thought. Rather than telling them she was going off with Chain, it might be better to text them a little white lie—maybe say she was going to visit a girl friend for some time off. It wasn’t normally something she would do but she didn’t want them worrying about her.
Yes, a little fib wouldn’t hurt, she assured herself as she reshelved the last of the books. And when she got home, she was going to call a professional carpet cleaning service to deal with that spot where the alien lizard man had been disintegrated.
The thought made her shiver as she stared at the greasy black stain on the carpet and she realized she had other things she had to do before she went off “skylarking” as her granny would have said.
“I need to pack,” she told Chain, as they walked back to the bedroom together. She nodded at the open door of the master bathroom. “And I have to put some cardboard or something over the bathroom window where that lizard guy broke through. I can’t just leave it like it is.”
“I can handle that while you get your clothing packed,” he said, nodding. “But this reminds me that I never tended to the wounds you got from the broken glass. Forgive me for forgetting.”
Vicky made a shooing gesture.
“Don’t worry about it—I’ll slap on a few bandages and be just fine.”
He frowned. “Why should you take such half-measures when I can heal you completely?”
“You can? How?” Vicky asked with interest. “Do you have some kind of special Kindred medicine you can give me?”
“You might say that. May I?” He was suddenly kneeling before her again—he could move really fast and was surprisingly graceful for such a big guy, Vicky thought. He was lifting just the hem of the red cloak, which she was still wearing wrapped around herself, and looking up at her with his eyebrows raised.
“May…may you what?” Vicky was disturbed to hear the faint breathiness in her own voice.
“If I remember correctly, you had an injury on your inner thigh and your breast,” Chain murmured. “May I have your permission to examine the first cut and see if I can heal it?”
“Oh, well…” Vicky bit her lip. “I…I guess so,” she said at last, nodding.
“Thank you.” Chain lifted the cloak high enough to make her really glad she’d shaved her legs recently, until he exposed the cut on the inside of her thigh, right between her knee and her groin.
Looking down, Vicky saw it really was a nasty cut. There was dried blood on it but even so, it was still oozing—it might even need stitches.
“Hmm…” Chain frowned. “This is worse than I thought. Do you have a clean cloth I can wash it with first?”
“In the linen closet, you’ll find a washcloth,” Vicky directed him.
He nodded. “Thank you. Please lay down on the bed and expose your wounded leg so I can work on it.”
Vicky wasn’t sure what he was going to do to heal her but she lay down anyway and cocked her right leg to the side, carefully arranging the red cloak so that it covered her crotch and other sensitive areas. God, she really should have gotten dressed before agreeing to let him look at her! But then again, he probably couldn’t have reached her if she’d had all her clothes on…
Her thoughts were interrupted by the big Kindred returning with a warm, wet washcloth. He stroked it gently over the long cut, applying pressure as he did until it almost completely stopped bleeding. Then he nodded in apparent satisfaction as he sat back and looked at it.