Free Aura by M.A. Abraham

would go, they would never meet again, that was for the best.  They would never be more than memories with no names, no labels.  It would be easier to forget that they had ever met, easier to pretend that the attraction she felt to this stranger had been no more than a fanciful dream.  

She snuck little glances at him from under her eyelashes.  He felt huge to her and he made her feel inadequate. That was something that should have irritated her, but failed to.  Instead she felt drawn to him in ways that made her feel warm all over.  She was very uncomfortable with the sensation.  She accepted the fact that she knew nothing about men.  She knew that without her back up team, Roger and Wolf, she would have been terrified of him.

She licked her dry lips to wet them as she considered the man before her.  His hair hung past his shoulders in an unruly riot of waves and curls, which she thought would look better with another wash.  She noted her own odor and decided she could use a proper bath as well.  Despite that thought she wrinkled her nose in distaste at the smell of him.  She finished her meal, got up, wiped her fingers and mouth on a makeshift napkin, and approached the man.

"If you have finished eating I will tend to your wounds now."

He nodded as he scowled up at her, and reluctantly removed his tunic.  She bit at her lip as she examined his cuts, his muscles twitched as her fingers seemed to play over the surface of his skin with a feathery touch.  The role she played as doctor gave her a more secure feeling.  It tended to distance her mind from her body’s reactions to his presence.

The man was not so removed from his feelings.  He felt his blood heat, and his hands itched to touch her.  After being celibate for so long he was surprised that his more basic instincts had chosen this time to surface.  But then again, why not, she seemed a likely candidate for his attentions.  A smile spread across his face as an unlikely thought crossed his mind.  Perhaps she even wanted his attentions.  He had to know.

"You afraid to touch me, or do you wish to invite me closer?"  He half growled, half taunted.  He was unsure of what type of reaction he wanted from her.  His mind and body were battling it out and he fought a growing sensation of lust that burned hot through his veins and made him grow hard.  No woman had ever made him feel this way before and he sought to suppress it by sheer will.

The question took Aura by surprise, and she felt a searing surge of anger at the implication.  She tossed him a clipped laugh and snapped off a snarky reply.  "You are not that irresistible mister.  If you are looking for a good time, go find yourself a red light zone.  In the meantime, you seem to be healing well.  In another couple of days we will take the stitches out and you can go home."

"I cannot wait that long, I should have left already."  Came his reply.

"That might be so," Aura shrugged an indifferent shoulder as she answered him.  "But your injuries are not ready, so make the best of it.  This might also be the perfect opportunity for you to take a bath.  I will even supply the soap if you do.  I made it myself and it really is quite good."

"A bath?"  The man asked as if he had never heard the word before.

Aura gave a groan of exasperation and rolled her eyes upwards as she snipped.  "Do not tell me, you have never heard of a bath or a bar of soap before.  No wonder you could be smelled from a dozen paces when I found you."

The man looked at her in disbelief as she spoke.  He could not believe she was speaking to him in such a manner.  Had she no respect for him?  No idea who or what he was?  She wanted him to bathe?  Here?  She could not be serious.  What was he to bathe in?  She had nothing large enough to hold the amount of water it would take him to have a proper bath.  Or did she?

He frowned as he watched her, deep in thought.  Perhaps it would not be so