Chapter 321
[ 513 words ]
Chapter 321:
He trapped her within his intimidating proximity, planting his heavy left hand flat against the headboard beside her ear, his broken right arm rigidly secured in its splint against his ribs, blocking her exit with his broad chest.
He lowered his voice to a dangerous, velvety whisper, reminding her exactly how he had administered her medication the night before.
“If you don’t open your mouth and eat from this spoon,” he said bluntly, “I’ll use the exact same method I used last night. I’ll force every spoonful down your throat myself.”
The explicit, aggressive nature of the threat instantly shocked Caroline’s sluggish system.
𝗟atеѕ𝘁 c𝘩𝘢𝘱𝗍𝖾𝗋𝗌 𝗈n 𝘨𝘢𝘭n𝘰v𝘦𝘭𝘴.сo𝗆
A fierce, sudden blush crept up her pale neck and flooded her cheeks, breaking completely through her depressive pallor.
She stared at him, her eyes wide, realizing he was completely serious and unhinged enough to do it.
The intense proximity of his face and the memory of the aggressive kiss sent a sharp jolt of adrenaline through her veins.
Intimidated and deeply flustered, Caroline quickly grabbed the metal spoon from his left hand.
She scooped up a bite of the cold oatmeal and shoved it into her mouth, chewing mechanically to avoid his threat.
Jarrod watched her with a satisfied, predatory smirk and leaned back slightly to give her room to breathe.
He tucked his left hand into his pocket, his broad chest and his immobile, splinted right arm remaining rigid as he stood guard over her until she finished exactly half the bowl.
Caroline forced the food down, the physical act of eating slowly kickstarting her sluggish digestive system.
She took a long sip of the cold tea and shivered slightly as the liquid hit her empty stomach.
Jarrod took the half-empty tray from her lap with his left hand and set it aside on the desk, his objective accomplished.
He pulled a clean, dry tactical shirt from his dresser drawer with a single tug of his left arm and tossed it to her, ordering her to change out of the tear-soaked one she was wearing.
Caroline clutched the dry shirt, feeling a strange mix of annoyance at his bossiness and deep comfort in his overbearing care.
She realized that his aggressive, uncompromising demands were exactly what she needed right now to keep from falling apart.
She slipped the dry shirt over her head, the oversized fabric swallowing her small frame completely.
Jarrod watched her, his eyes darkening with possessive approval as she was once again engulfed in his clothes and his scent.
With the food finally settled in her stomach, a fragile calm returned to the stark officer’s quarters.
Caroline pulled her knees to her chest, the oversized sleeves of Jarrod’s tactical shirt falling past her hands, hiding her fingers.
Jarrod sat on the edge of the mattress, his intense gaze studying the returning color in her cheeks.
Caroline looked down at her hands, her voice trembling slightly as she admitted, for the first time aloud, that she had missed him terribly.
“When my mother died,” she confessed, “you were the only person in the world I wanted beside me.”
Jarrod’s breath caught. The raw admission hit him with the force of a physical blow to the chest.
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