Coto's Captive Read online

  Don’t gawk, she ordered, forcing her gaze to Yavil. Of course Coto has to take off his pants. The other man needs to clean his wounds and wrap them better. Yavil studied for Coto’s bleeding wrist first and removed the bandage.

  “What did this?” Yavil reached for a bottle.

  “They were vicious creatures with sharp teeth.”

  “Dogs,” Lynn offered quietly. “They are similar to what you chased away when you found me.”

  The blond glanced at her with his dark, strange eyes and nodded. He went to work on cleaning the wound and then put on some kind of goopy cream that was yellow. He bandaged the wrist, had Coto turn, and did the same to the other arm.

  Lynn silently watched, amazed at how efficient the other man was and how Coto didn’t even flinch. Lynn was pretty sure she would have cried and whimpered if she had those injures.

  Yavil patched up all his wounds except the one high on Coto’s thigh. He scowled.

  “I wish you had brought a house helper to tend you.” Yavil glanced at Lynn. “What about her? She could do this.”

  “You do it.” Coto didn’t even glance Lynn’s way. “It would not be a good idea to have her tend to me.”

  Yavil snorted. “It would cause you different pain.”

  “Yes,” Coto agreed. “I’ll do it if you aren’t comfortable.”

  “Thank you.” Yavil stood. “Just clean it well, put on the cream to seal the wound, and bandage it again. I will be outside. I have yet to eat.”

  Lynn watched the other man quickly flee the tent. She turned her head and saw Coto sit up, spread his legs, and stare at the bandage high on the inside of his thigh. He shifted, trying to get a better look at it.

  “He’s not going to touch that one?”

  Coto finally met her gaze. “Unless it is life or death, men are not comfortable dealing with wounds in that area. Most of our healers are women. I am not actively bleeding and my life is secure, so there is no reason to make him ill at ease with having to tend me this way.”

  “Are you kidding me?” she gasped.

  “No.”

  “Of all the homophobic bullshit.” She rolled her eyes, going to her knees. “Lie back and I’ll do it. I’m not a nurse but I’ve tended enough injured animals to do something this simple.” She crawled toward him, careful to avoid the stuff on the floor that Yavil had left behind.

  Coto’s pretty eyes widened and then he shook his head. “No.”

  She was on her hands and knees close to him, their gazes locked. “No?”

  He blinked once. Twice. A third time. “It would not be wise right now for you to do this.”

  “Why?”

  His hesitation before he answered was long seconds. “I am attracted to you.” He was blunt. “I have fed and have rested from my battle with the sharp-teethed creatures that attacked me.”

  “Okay. They were dogs, not creatures. What’s your point?”

  “I can do this myself.”

  She cocked her head, staring at him, and then grinned. “Are you afraid you’re going to get wood or something?”

  The frown was instant. “I don’t understand.”

  She glanced at his leather Speedos and then her gaze rose to meet his. “Are you afraid you’ll get aroused?” He’d used that word so she figured he understood it.

  “Yes. I don’t want to frighten you.”

  “Does your head spin or something? Do you spew green, gross stuff and chant in demon speak?” She knew she was being a smartass and he probably wouldn’t understand but he was being just as ridiculous. “Maybe you turn into a pumpkin?”

  “No.” His frown deepened. “I am not sure what you mean but my reaction would be obvious.” He paused. “My body would react to your touch.”

  “I won’t look to see how you react. Just lie back and let me do this. Don’t argue.”

  He slowly lay back. “I won’t attack you or force you, so there’s no reason to fear me.”

  “That’s great to know.” She studied the stuff laid out on the floor. She reached for him and hoped her hands weren’t cold as her fingers brushed his inner thigh while she carefully removed the bandage. The wound didn’t look nearly as bad as it had.

  “You really heal fast.” She stared at the damaged skin, seeing it was red and scabbed where the wound had started to close without stitches. “That’s going to itch badly. I fell last year and scabbed up my knees pretty good. It about drove me nuts while it healed. Of course, it would take me weeks to recover from this.” She studied the bite. “They really got you good.”

  “I was surprised by the dogs.” He watched her closely, his face carefully masked of expression.

  It amused her that he was trying hard not to react to her. She turned her head to hide her smile and reached for the bottle she’d seen Yavil use. She gripped one of the small hand-towel things and started to very gently douse the skin as she cleaned the wound.

  “Will this take care of infection?”

  “Yes. It will quicken the healing too. We usually don’t use this cream but we are far from home. It’s normal to suffer from injuries but this is what you would call an emergency.”

  His voice sounded deeper. She glanced up and saw his eyes were closed now. Her gaze traveled down his muscled body and paused over his shorts. She froze, going totally still, even holding her breath until the air burst from her lips as one word popped out.

  “Shit!”

  He jumped at her cussing and she barely jerked her gaze up in time as his eyes flew open to lock with hers. “What?”

  “Nothing,” she lied. “It’s just that it’s a bad wound.”

  The guy was aroused all right, the sight something she couldn’t miss since the leather wasn’t exactly loose around his body. He was seriously hung, judging by the bulge she’d gawked at. He was barely contained in the things and it didn’t look comfortable.

  “Relax.” She kept her voice neutral.

  She tucked her head more, so she didn’t glance over at his lap, her hair falling down in a way that helped curtain that view. She couldn’t be sure if aliens had the same male parts as humans did but that bulge looked the right shape, just not the right size, unless the guy wanted a job working in the porn industry. Some producer of smut films would die to get his hands on someone who could fill out leather that impressively.

  Lynn turned and reached for the yellow, creamy stuff and she used her fingers to spread it over his injury. She bandaged him next, getting a few quick glances at his lap. Nope. It really is that big.

  She moved down to the other bite and quickly cleaned it, smeared it with the cream, and bandaged it. She backed up and then turned, giving him her back as she crawled onto her bedding.

  “All done.”

  By the time she settled down and turned to face him, he’d moved, drawing part of his bedding over his lap. It was almost funny that he was hiding his hard-on from her. It proved yet again that the guy had to be an alien. A typical human guy would have flaunted that bad boy her way, thinking it would make her want to jump his bones. He gave her a tense nod.

  “Thank you.”

  His voice had become super deep, rough, and harsh. Her eyebrows rose. Oh hell. I have to know. “Why is your voice like that?”

  He cleared his throat. “Like what?”

  “It’s noticeably deeper. Why?”

  “I’m aroused and I’ve been without a woman for some time while traveling. It makes me more aggressive and my voice deepens. I am thankful that I’m not snarling right now. We should sleep. Morning will come soon and your sun will rise. There is plenty to do.”

  He turned then, presenting her with his back. She watched him, his body obviously tense. The guy needed to get laid. Hell, she needed to get laid. It had been nearly a year since she’d hooked up with her loser ex-boyfriend. Of course, the pickings were slim in Green Bend. Her new boyfriend was a body pillow she’d dubbed Teddy Bear and a bullet-sized vibrator that was currently without working batteries.

  She