Free MemoriesofParadise by Tianna Xander Page A

pressing her against his hard length.
    “Careful, now. We don’t want you to fall and hit your head again.” Slowly, very slowly, he backed away, his hands still gripping her upper arms. “I’m going to let you go now.”
    That couldn’t be disappointment she felt when he released her. Turning away, Riana fought the urge to twist the t-shirt Clay had given her to wear.
    “If you don’t mind, I think I’ll go take a shower.”
    “Take a bath.”
    “Excuse me?” Riana spun around to glare at him. Who the hell was he to tell her what to do?
    “Do you want to take the chance of slipping and falling in the shower?” He winked at her with a smile. “I won’t mind coming in to help you, but somehow, I think you’re going to mind it.”
    Heat crept up her neck to her face as she turned toward the bathroom. “Okay, then. A bath it is.”
    She wasn’t sure, but she could have sworn she heard him chuckle and say, “Damn. I should have kept my mouth shut.”
    Closing the door, she leaned against it for a few minutes. How was she going to survive the night? She couldn’t sleep in this room knowing that there was a man sitting in the chair watching her. Hell, she didn’t know if she could sleep knowing he was in the other room waiting to check on her every hour.
    She appreciated the fact that he was willing to sit up all night to make sure she didn’t slip into a coma, but she wasn’t used to sleeping in the same room with strange men. That was one habit she had never acquired.
    Just the thought of having him in the same room while she slept should make her skin crawl. It used to. She had never liked attention from men. Even the slightest touch made her shudder with revulsion. Even when the town’s doctor patted her hand, she wanted to pull away from his touch. What was it about these two men that made her want to feel their arms around her keeping her safe? Why did she want them to take her into their arms and tell her everything would be okay?
    The question that was uppermost in her mind was, why did she want both of them when she had never wanted any man for as long as she could remember?
    For years, she’d gone to therapy, trying to figure out who she was and why she’d lost her memory. When the psychologist touched on the subject of Holly’s father, Riana began to have nightmares. Strange, dark nightmares where monsters followed her, tried to catch her and imprison her. When she woke up screaming one night to the shadows of someone outside her bedroom window dancing on her wall, she ran and never looked back.
    She never wanted to know who Holly’s father was, because if just the thought of him gave her nightmares, she never wanted to meet the real man.
    Pushing away from the door, she walked to the tub and turned the water on. Adjusting the temperature, she reached down, flicked the handle for the plug and began to undress. Turning, she looked at herself in the mirror and started to cry.
    The doctor had told her he’d shaved her head, but she hadn’t been prepared to see the large bandage wrapped around her head with a lump almost the size of an apple sticking out from underneath it. How big was her wound and how large was the area where she was now bald?
    Riana swiped away the tears with the back of her hand. She had no business crying over a few stitches and a bald spot when the others on the plane, with the exception of her daughter and one other, had perished in the crash. If she cried over anything, she should cry over them.
    Removing her clothes, she hung the blouse over the hook on the back of the door, then took a few minutes to wash out her underwear in the sink. Clay’s t-shirt was long enough that it would cover her and she would need clean underwear in the morning. It was bad enough that she’d have to wear the borrowed clothes she’d already worn for a day to shop for new things.
    After she removed the towel from the rack and hung her clean underwear in its place, Riana turned back to the