Read Wicked: Tempt Me Not [Wicked Series Book 1] for Free Online Page A

“It's a little blue. Are you sure it's not broke?"
    "No,” Devin told her as he scratched the side of his neck. “Hurts bad enough though."
    Holly looked up at him briefly before reaching out for his ankle. The slightest touch and he was yelling.
    "Sorry."
    "Just leave it be,” Devin spat out between clenched teeth. “Fucking thing hurts enough without you poking at it."
    "Um, do you need anything?” she asked him quietly.
    "A sponge bath would be great,” Devin smirked as he scratched his arm. “I feel like I rolled in hay."
    "Your neck is pretty red,” Holly told him. “But the sponge bath? Not happening."
    Devin grinned before his eyes once again became heavy.
    "You look like shit,” Holly said. “I'll let you get some sleep."
    Devin opened his eyes and grabbed her arm. “No. Stay with me."
    Holly offered him a tiny smile and nodded her head, settling herself back on the floor in front of the sofa. She watched his eyes close again, and looked at the cut on his head.
    It didn't look nearly as bad now as when she first found him. It had stopped bleeding and there was nothing but an angry red mark marring his skin.
    Finding him in the woods had scared the shit out of her. Face down in the dirt, wearing nothing but his jeans.
    Every horrible thought she could imagine flew through her mind, each one worse than the first, and she was running to him with her heart in her throat.
    She'd called his name and tried rousing him to no avail before grabbing his arms and pulling him back to the cabin.
    It didn't take him long to come to once settling him on the sofa and she felt the tension coiled in her neck release an instant later.
    She sat with him for half an hour, studying his face before finally standing and clearing away the water and towels she'd used to see to his cuts.
    He appeared to be sleeping, with no signs of apparent pain, and she switched the lights off. When the room was dark and nothing but the flickering light from the fire illuminated the room, she settled into the chair opposite the sofa.
    Long minutes were spent memorizing every nuance of his face. The curve of his shoulders, the small dips and valleys on his abdomen and Holly felt herself blush before raking her gaze back to his face.
    Her pulse quickened when she saw Devin looking at her.
    "Like what you see?"
    She looked away, embarrassed, and he laughed.
    "What are you doing here?” he asked.
    "You asked me to stay,” she said. “Change your mind already?"
    "No,” Devin grinned. “I mean, what are you doing here. Alone on the side of a mountain."
    "Oh,” Holly laughed. “My friend, Roxy, planned a vacation for us and this was it. She's a lawyer and got tied into a case at the last minute. She couldn't make it."
    "So, you came anyway?"
    "Not exactly. She was supposed to meet me here. She was in Chicago on business and was going to leave from there and come here. She called me when the shuttle dropped me off saying she couldn't make it."
    "How long are you here?"
    "Two weeks,” Holly said.
    He nodded his head, moving his foot and grimacing before settling back down.
    "What about you?"
    "Forced isolation,” Devin grinned.
    "Forced?"
    "Yeah, my manager sprang me from rehab with the condition I had to hole up here for a month with no outside distractions.” He grinned, looking up at her with half lidded eyes. “He'd have a heart attack if he knew you were here."
    "Good thing he doesn't then,” Holly laughed.
    "He'd have me thrown back in there for sure."
    An onslaught of questions rattled through Holly's mind and she bit her tongue to keep them from spilling out. His life was none of her business. She had no right to ask but it didn't stop her from wanting to know every sordid detail.
    "Alcohol."
    "What?” Holly asked.
    Devin grinned. “I can almost see the questions floating over your head."
    "Sorry,” she said. “There's just so much written about you in the papers its hard to know what's truth and what's just lies."
    "Lies,” Devin