His to Protect: Book 1 in the Bound to Him Series by Sandra Antoni (top rated ebook readers .TXT) 📕

“Here, let me help you sit. You need a break,” I told her. Then I reached for her waist and gently lowered her to the ground. A deep sigh escaped her, and I sat down on the ground beside her. She buried her face in her hands, and I just waited, but I let my eyes skim over her.

Several strands of her long, auburn hair had fallen from her ponytail. Her good leg was bent with her knee up, and her other leg was straight out in front of her. She had shapely legs, but I again noticed the blood on her jeans.

She probably had a lot more injuries than just the ankle, especially if she had gotten caught in a rockslide. I felt my brow rise in concern. I needed to get her back to the house quickly.

“Chelsea, I have a different idea. Here, let me help you to your feet,” I told her, reaching around her slim waist and lifting her back to her feet so that she had all her weight on her good foot. I handed her the backpack.

“You hold this. I’m going to carry you,” I told her, and her eyes shot to mine.

“You can’t carry me,” she said adamantly, but I just bent down and slid one arm under her legs and the other behind her back.

She let out a squeal as I lifted her, and then I heard a groan that indicated pain. She squeezed her eyes closed as her arms went around my neck, and she buried her face in my shirt.

“Are you okay?” I asked her. She let out a shuddered breath and I felt her body trembling in my arms.

“Just give me a moment, please. I really don’t want to throw up on you,” she whispered. She was in way more pain than she was letting on. When she finally nodded that she was ready, I started through the trees as fast as I could without causing her too much more pain.

She wasn’t heavy, in fact, she was fairly light, but after thirty minutes of carrying her, I was feeling the strain in my arms and back. It was a relief when we finally approached the house, and I used my elbow to slide the patio door open. Without even thinking about it, I headed towards my bedroom.

I carefully laid her on the bed and realized that she’d had her eyes closed the entire time. When she felt the bed beneath her, her eyes slowly fluttered open. She sighed as she relaxed against the bed, and I sat down on the edge beside her. There was no fear in her eyes, and I was grateful that she was not afraid of me. But the pain was still there, etched on her face.

“I’m going to start with the ankle,” I told her as I reached towards her boot. “This is probably going to hurt.”

She nodded and closed her eyes again. Slowly, I began unlacing the boot, and then I loosened the laces as far as they would go. I worked the boot off her foot as gently as possible. Through her sock, I could already tell how swollen her ankle was. She hissed as I worked her sock off, and then I could see the purplish color surrounding her ankle. This was a bad sprain.

“Just relax. I’m going to go get some ice,” I told her, standing from the bed. Hurrying into the kitchen, I grabbed a Ziploc bag and filled it with ice from the ice maker. Once I made my way back to the room and had the ice on her ankle, I looked up at her face again.

She seemed relieved by the ice, and I saw the shiver run through her body. Then she turned her head and her eyes met mine.

“Thank you. I had no idea how I was going to get out of there. If you hadn’t come along…” She let the sentence trail off. I knew what she was going to say, but it was something that I didn’t want to think about. I was just glad that I had been there.

“Well, I’m glad I found you, but I have a feeling that the ankle is not the only injury, is it?” I asked her. Her eyes opened wider, but she shook her head. At least she was being honest.

“Come on. I’m pretty good at treating injuries. Let me take a look,” I told her gently. She sighed again, but this time she nodded. I could not help my smile, and I saw the corners of her lips turn up just a bit.

“Okay, I know this is going to be awkward, but let’s start with the jeans. You must have a pretty good gash under there with the blood that has soaked through,” I told her, not giving her a chance to process what I said before reaching for her waist.

She closed her eyes and turned her head away from me as I unfastened her jeans and pulled the zipper down. Then I carefully slid the jeans down her legs. I had already seen the numerous cuts and scrapes on her arms and hands, but she had a pretty good gash just below her left knee. Both her knees were pretty raw as well.

It was difficult to get the skin-tight jeans over her swollen ankle, and she let out a gasp when I finally pulled them off. Putting the bag of ice back on her ankle, I tried to keep my eyes on her injuries, but the black lace panties caught my attention.

Pulling my eyes back to her leg, I was grateful that her eyes were still closed. My cock was straining against the front of my pants, and I definitely did not want her to see that. That would be enough to scare her for sure, and I didn’t want to frighten her. She had been through enough already.

“I’m going to go get