All Chained Up Read Online Free PDF Page A

overpowering odor there was the scent of him. Male musk and a hint of clean sweat.
    Briar tugged the shirt up, her knuckles grazing the smooth flesh of his back. He hissed a breath again.
    â€œSorry,” she mumbled. “I’m trying not to hurt you.”
    His face was in the space beside her head, directly above her shoulder. A shiver raced down her spine as she felt his warm breath against her ear.
    Anxious to put an end to their proximity, she became less careful with her movements and yanked the shirt up, pulling it over his head, the backs of her fingers brushing the dark cropped hair that hugged his scalp. She glimpsed a tattoo on his back, but he reclined back on the bed before she could properly view all of it.
    She stepped away then, and her mouth dried at the sight of his body. A dragon tattoo wrapped around the side of his torso, evidently traveling from his back, crawling over his chiseled flesh like a living thing, its mouth open in a fearsome snarl across the front of his rib cage.
    Here was the proof of what she had already felt. Hard sinew. Lean muscle. His was not a body given to leisure. Several white-­ridged scars decorated his shoulders and torso, and she couldn’t stop her eyes from dragging over him, counting each one. He must engage in knife fights regularly. She stopped counting at twelve.
    â€œLooks like you visit here often,” she muttered, her hand instinctively going to one angry-­red scar slashing across his shoulder. The moment she touched the puckered flesh, she realized she had forgotten to put her gloves back on. Skin to skin, his flesh was warm against her bare fingers. Almost hot to the touch. She snatched her hand back.
    He didn’t respond, and she heard herself murmur, “Not much of a talker, are you?”
    After a moment he shrugged one shoulder and finally answered her. “Often enough. Been here awhile.”
    That single announcement rattled around inside her skull like a loose marble. Even if he hadn’t announced it, she knew. She sensed it. He must have done something pretty terrible.
    She swallowed the impossibly large lump in her throat, her mind briefly touching on what some of those horrible things could be before she stopped herself. She didn’t want to know.
    They didn’t lock ­people up for a long time for doing nothing. It was the only nudge she needed to remember what kind of man she was dealing with.
    He stared blankly at her, unapologetic. There wasn’t the faintest shame or regret in his expression over his admission. Been here awhile. He owned it like someone admitting to liking peaches ’n’ cream ice cream.
    â€œAre you afraid of me, Nurse Davis?” Her skin reacted at his faintly mocking tone, jumping alive with a thousand goose bumps at the deep timbre of his voice. Nurse Davis . Just the sound of her name laced with derision was enough to jackknife her pulse. Like he knew some secret about her.
    Her gaze ate up his brutally beautiful face. And that wasn’t right. Such beauty shouldn’t be threatening. Or wild or dangerous. But she supposed many things were. She thought tigers were beautiful but she wouldn’t dare touch one. And yet here she was, touching this man.
    She looked down and examined the area that had made him wince and sucked in a gasp. The skin there was a deep red and already starting to bruise.
    Ignoring his question, she wrapped herself in her professional armor and ducked her head for a closer look. “What happened here?” She shot him a warning glance. “What happened specifically?”
    He shook his head like it was nothing. “Just the usual.”
    â€œFists? Boots?” she pressed. As big as he was, she couldn’t imagine a simple punch to the ribs doing this much damage.
    â€œThe usual,” he repeated.
    â€œIt’s useful in determining the severity of your injury if I know what exactly happened. I assure you, it’s not for my