Page 71 of The Verdict

And I wouldn’t lose any more.I reached for my hair, and my arm fell to my side with a small cry.

The door whipped open, cold air sweeping in the heat of Rhys’s worried gaze. “What’s wrong?”

I squeezed my eyes closed and breathed through the burn. “Nothing.”

I swore he made a low noise, but it could’ve been my imagination playing with the sounds of the shower stream.

“Tell me.”Trust me.

My lips peeled apart. “I can’t reach all the way up with my right arm; it hurts my side.”

“Let me help you.”

My breath caught. It didn’t sound like a question, but it was. He’d step away if I told him no. He’d close the door and back away from the ledge. But the way he looked at me, he was torn right down the middle between wanting to help me… and wanting to avoid everything it would lead to.

“You’ll get wet.” I offered the lamest excuse—escape in the book.

His breath hitched, and his jaw shifted, releasing a groan that rumbled around the shower. “Maybe I like when you get me wet.”

My nipples furled tighter, causing a painful ache that anchored between my thighs.

“Okay.” Before I could think about how he planned to do this, he stepped into the shower with me—clothes and all.

Dios mío.

The tiled enclosure was big given the size of the bathroom. Plenty big enough for one person, but far,fartoo small with him. Everywhere I turned, there was man and muscle and heat. Within seconds, his clothes were soaked. His shirt stuck to the ridges of his chest like it had melted onto them.

“Shampoo, please.”

I handed him the bottle, regretting my decision as I watched those masterful hands work the soap to a lather. The slide of his fingers. The slick sounds of the water. The numbers on his wrist tapping out a code as his muscles flex.

My own body frothed and foamed with want, air pooling deep in my lungs, anticipating his touch. In return, his gazeremained pinned on me. My parted lips. The run of water down my chest. The drips off the tips of my breasts. And lower… where it disappeared between my thighs.

“Turn,” he said with a deep, husky voice.

As soon as I faced away, his fingers spread over my head, the firm pressure making my knees weak with pleasure. Slowly, he massaged the shampoo into my hair and scalp, and it felt so good, I swore I went lightheaded. “That feels amazing.”

I didn’t know how long it took. Seconds. Minutes. Until I tipped back, relaxing against his front and losing myself completely in his touch.

“Tell me about your friend. Ryan.” I begged softly. “What happened to him?”

He exhaled slowly, taking long moments before uttering another sound. “We were tasked with infiltrating and disbanding an insurgent camp. While doing recon in a nearby village, Dare found a source who gave us good intel on the camp. Photos. Names. It moved up our timeline by a few weeks with the details he was able to get. And then we found out the camp was going to be moving, and if we didn’t go in now, we could lose our target.”

“The details came in fast. We were used to urgency—to action—but not like this. We were all unsettled, but Dare… Dare was sure.” He exhaled. “And we were ambushed.”

My heart tripped over itself. “A setup.”

The push of his fingers along my scalp was confirmation. “Ryan was killed. The rest of us… barely made it out.”

“And Darius had no idea…” My chest tightened.

This time, there was an even longer pause before he replied, “I guess that’s why they say love is blind.”

My breath caught, complete understanding dawning on me in an instant—Darius had fallen in love with their source, never realizing she was betraying him the entire time.

“I’m sorry.” The words never seemed like enough, but especially now, knowing truly what my fleeing the garage must’ve made him—made them all feel like.Another betrayal.

And still, he’d saved me. Taken care of me. Treated me like something precious and protected me. My throat tightened with something I tried so hard to ignore.

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