Page 70 of The Verdict

“Rorik said if the glue held, I could shower.” When he still didn’t respond, I teased, willing to do anything to cut through the tension between us. “You don’t have to stay if you don’t think you can handle it. I’m sure Daria is still here…”

“Of course, I can handle it,” he ground out. “Nothing I haven’t seen before.”

I wasn’t quite sure who the reminder was for as he turned and stalked to the bathroom while I stripped out of the rest of my clothes. A second later, the swish of the spray hit the tile.

My pulse fluttered with each step that brought me to the bathroom, but it went flat when I reached the doorway. Rhys stood at the shower, the door wedged wide to fit his shoulders, with his hand resting under the spray.

He was testing the water.

It was a simple thing—something everyone did so theydidn’t step into a cold stream. But watching him do it for me… a balloon of hope inflated in my chest and then just as quickly shriveled.

Dios mío.This man didn’t deserve what I’d done to him—what I was doing to him. Didn’t deserve the lies just as much as he deserved better than the truth.

But he didn’t want what he deserved—he wanted me.His liar. His thief.His arm fell to his side and he spun, jolting when he saw me.Naked.

Rhys stared like I’d thrown a live grenade right at his feet, unsure if he should run for cover and save himself or risk it all and reach for me.

“Merritt…”

I tried to swallow but couldn’t, my throat was impossibly tight. It was all I could do to remind him softly, “Nothing you haven’t seen before.”

Chapter Fifteen

Merritt

His hot stare sank its teeth into my body, eating its fill as I approached.

“Do you mind?” I extended my leg with the monitor still attached, watching his gaze travel from my toes all the way up to my?—

“Yeah.” He dropped down with an almost mechanical focus on his task to unlock the ankle monitor. As soon as the weight was gone, I moved around him and stepped into the water with an audible sigh.

“This feels incredible.” Something about a hot shower was indescribably comforting when it felt like the rest of the world was caving in.

“Good,” he muttered, the word taut and frayed at the edges.

He didn’t move, and I didn’t want him to. So, I closed my eyes, relishing the warm spray and hoping that if I didn’t look at him, he wouldn’t leave.

I knew I wasn’t good for him. I had too much baggage and unfinished business, and I certainly didn’t need a man to fix it for me. But I couldn’t ignore that there was something between us, and I wasn’t a good enough liar to pretend it didn’t exist.

“Here.”

I blinked and wiped the water from my face, seeing Rhys hand me a washcloth through the door.

“Thank you.” I bumped his fingers when I took it, and he quickly retreated, rubbing his thumb over his wrist tattoo as he stapled his back to the wall and folded his arms over his broad chest. “How long am I going to be your prisoner?”

I set the cloth on the small ledge and grabbed the shampoo first.

Through the steam, I watched his jaw work, his gaze remaining nailed to the wall in front of him. “It’s either prisoner or murder suspect or…” He paused. “Worse.”If Mercury found me.

I squirted some shampoo into my hands. “You should just leave them alone. Go back to looking for the other doctor. I don’t need you to get my vengeance for me?—”

“And why is that?” He surprised me by interrupting. “Why don’t you want me to protect you?”

I lathered the soap until the suds spilled onto the tile floor. Did I tell him the truth about this? Did it even matter?

“I told you. Everyone who tries to protect me dies.” Papá. Mamá. Saturn. Saba.

“We all lose people we care about.”

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