Auctioned By The Ceo novel Chapter 18

A much more comfortable silence fell between them, while Hannah fussed over his hand. The woman constantly amazed him. He would have expected her to hightail it out of the suite the minute Rhia had been asleep, yet here she was taking care of him.

She wasn’t stupid or reckless, so he could only assume that she deemed him not to be threat. His hopeful mood evaporated like mist on a summer’s morning, when she pulled his hand under the light of the side lamp to presumably see it better.

“There, that’s better. The swelling has gone a down a lot. You might just be able to use that properly tomorrow. Seriously, don’t go around bashing walls. It’s not good for your health.”

He could hear the teasing note in her voice, and sure enough she was smiling when she looked up at him, a smile that faltered as she took in his expression.

Logan turned her hand over and locked his jaw as the extent of her bruising became visible under the light. He traced his thumb over that digit’s imprint left behind in her pale skin, and shook his head.

“I shouldn’t have done that.”

The thump to his chest with her free hand took him by surprise.

“Don’t be a fool. That’s nothing, and I bruise far too easily anyway. I rather like them.”

He reared back, sure she must be having him on, but Hannah traced the remnants of his possession on her skin and sure enough her lips curved into a fond smile.

“I know, it’s not politically correct and all that jazz, but I liked you going all caveman on me. Trust me, if I hadn’t I’d have told you. And before you ask, no, I can’t explain why, and it doesn’t really matter, but these are the fun kind of bruises. Trust me, I know the difference.”

Her voice wobbled on the last few words, which added to the bad feeling he was having about all this.

“Meaning?” He didn’t mean that one word to come out quite so forcefully, and, sure enough she jumped and took a step away from him. Logan cursed under his breath and scrubbed a hand over his face. He was so fucking tired of all this shit.

“Forgive me, I just need to know that you’re truly okay with this. I didn’t mean to—Fuck.”

He stopped talking and downed that measure of whisky after all, the burn down his throat a welcome distraction from the churning unease in his gut.

Hannah sighed and stepping closer took that glass off of him.

“I hadn’t thought of that.”

Hannah rolled her eyes at him, a move which made his hand itch to spank that insolence out of her, but he didn’t have the right to do so. She might consent to some erotic fun in the bedroom, but out of it was an entirely different matter. Even more reason to distance himself, because this woman made him wish for things that could never be.

“Clearly not. Seriously though, it worked wonders for my sister. She’s thirteen years younger than me, and well, I’ve been looking after her since she was born. My mother…” Her voice hitched, and she didn’t look at him when she continued speaking. “Let’s just say she wasn’t much of a mother. I managed to get Sarah into our local Montessori with the help of the social workers, and she thrived there, away from the violence at home, you know.”

All the puzzle pieces clicked into shape in his head, he blew out a breath, not at all sure what to say to that, so he simply nodded.

“Anyway, it could have been worse. Her good for nothing boyfriends never hit Sarah, at least. I didn’t fare quite so well, but I learned pretty quickly to stay out of the way. Wardrobes were our friends, too. We used to pretend we escaped to Narnia.”

He swore under his breath, and his fingers itched anew to do some real damage on her behalf, but that wouldn’t achieve anything. Instead he crossed his arms over his chest and forced himself to simply listen. He owed her that much, and he instinctively knew that she didn’t talk about this often.

“I left home with Sarah the minute I turned sixteen. Got a job at Premiere Events in the mailroom of all places.” She laughed and glanced his way. “Then I’m sure you know that, after studying my personnel file.”