Around: Wrapped Around You by Evelyn Adams Page A

She didn’t wait for him to figure it out. The reality wasn’t as bad as what she thought he was imagining.
    “The head guy cut my shirt and bra while his goons held me. I was scared – terrified actually, but he didn’t really hurt me. Slapped me around a little but nothing more.” She tried to sound reassuring but saying it out loud brought the terror back, and she wrapped her arms around herself.
    “Nothing more? You shouldn’t have had to deal with any of it. God, Jules, I was going out of my mind thinking of you alone with those animals.” Instead of wrapping her in his arms the way she wanted, he clenched his hands by his sides, the skin across his knuckles stretched white with the strain of staying still.
    She needed him, needed his hands on her, burning away the fear and uncertainty. She forced herself peel her arms away from herself and shivering with cold and left over adrenaline, she reached for him. “I am okay,” she said, resting her fingertips on his forearm. The muscles bunched under his skin, and she ached to have his strength, shielding her. “Or I will be if you hold me. Please Eric, I need you to love me. Wash me clean. Make me warm again.”
    “Oh cher.” He pulled her into his arms, holding her so tight she struggled to catch her breath. It was exactly what she needed. “I’m so sorry. I can’t stand that I couldn’t protect you. I’m sorry I let my feelings of failure get in the way of taking care of you. You don’t have to ask me to love you. I couldn’t stop if I tried.”
    He pressed a kiss to her hair and then dropped to his knees in front of her, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his forehead against her stomach for a moment before turning his attention to her boots. He pushed up her jeans just enough to tug down the zipper on her calf-high boots. She let her hands rest on his shoulders, steadying herself as he tugged them off of her feet. The tile was warm against her cold toes, and she felt her body start to thaw.
    With single minded focus, he unzipped her jeans, tugging them down her legs and helping her step free of them. When she stood in front of him in only Caleb’s tank and her panties, he cupped her hips and pressed his lips to her stomach. The gesture was so tender and unexpected from a man as strong as Eric. Having him kneel at her feet, his need to touch her, obvious in his every movement, stole her breath. She tangled her fingers in his hair, anchoring him to her, and they froze, held together in their mutual need.
    Julie slid her hand along his face to rest her palm against the stubble across his jaw, cradling him while he clung to her. Every fiber in her body cried out for him, her heart swelling to near breaking with love for the man on his knees in front of her. He turned his face to brush his lips over the center of her hand, the tender kiss calling the nerves in her body to life for him. With deliberate slowness, he worked his way over her palm and up the sensitive skin of her wrist, laying a trail of kisses along her inner arm.
    The breath caught in her throat, and her nipples pebbled tight in the wake of his teasing touch. When his lips reached the inside of her elbow, he licked, his tongue hot on her flesh, and she sucked in a breath. She felt him smile against her skin and something inside her melted. If he could smile, they could be okay.
    Julie reached for him, urging him to his feet, but before he stood he hooked his fingers in her panties and dragged them down her legs, baring her to his mouth. His tongue snaked through her damp curls, flicking and teasing her swollen clit, before he kissed his way to the top of her sex. He bit gently, scraping his teeth over her fleshy mound and then he rose, peeling the tank top off of her as he stood.
    He paused, his gaze focused on her bare breasts, and she knew he was seeing the photograph the kidnappers had sent in his mind. It was the last thing she wanted him to be thinking about when he looked at