Page 40 of The Villain

I shifted my weight, and the layer of water under my toes almost made me protest again;I should be the one cleaning all this up.But then the sharp pain in my leg and hip from my fall coincided with Dare’s deep command.

“Get in the water, Athena.”

“Okay.”

I held his arm as he turned as far away from me as he could. For the first time since meeting him, I wondered if he had a girlfriend. Not a wife; there was no ring on the hands that touched me. Or if he was just truly a gentleman.

Just get in the water, Athena.

My other arm released the towel I’d been holding tight. When it landed on the wet floor with a soft slap, Dare tensed.

My heart pounded into the front of my chest. A drumbeat that marched me forward down this heady, uncertain path. I reached down and untangled my soaked pants from my ankles, deciding to wait until I was in the water to remove my underwear. At this point, it seemed like the safest option.

Feeling for the edge of the tub, I lifted my leg over the side and stepped into the hot water. I shivered, the sensation so incredible I couldn’t move fast enough until I was sinking down into the heat.Dissolving was more like it.A deep, satisfying moan bubbled through my lips as the warm water seemed to erode away all my aches but one.

“You alright?”

“Yes,” I breathed out, noting the rasp of pain in his voice. I wanted to ask the same of him, but instead could only manage, “Thank you.”

He responded with a grunt, and then I heard him move next to the tub. There were slapping and sloshing sounds.He was cleaning up the water.Guilt bubbled in my chest.

“I’m so sorry about the mess,” I said softly, feeling tears prick back at the corners of my eyes.

“It’s fine, Athena. Really.” His voice was both gruff and soft. “It’s just water.”

At that, I felt some of the tension drain from my shoulders. “If you say so.”

He made a low noise, and then his wet footsteps moved away from the tub. Biting my bottom lip, I took the opportunity to reach for my underwear and work them over my hips, hoping his focus was where he was—on the other side of the bathroom.

When I heard a cabinet stretch open, I quickly lifted the hand and discarded the soaked string of fabric over the edge of the tub, thinking it would land discreetly on the towel I’d left piled there.

Instead, it landed with an unmistakable, unignorable sharp slap on the floor.

No.My pulse faltered, but I hadn’t imagined the sound.He’d moved my towel—used it to mop up the water.But the realization came too late. And it was instantly followed by Dare’s low, swift grunt as though I’d fired a bullet straight into his chest.

I held my breath, wishing it would slow the loud gallop of my pulse as I waited for what happened next. Maybe he would ignore it—pretend he hadn’t heard. Hadn’t looked. I could pretend, too. It wasn’t as though I could actually see him staring at my discarded thong on the ground, his body tense and his jaw pulsing. It wasn’t as though I could watch his hot stare start to smoke as it lifted and settled on me, the depths of his gaze churning with hunger.

It wasn’t as though I could see if any of this affected him the way it was affecting me.

“I’m going to get Rob.”

My exhale fired from my chest.Of course, he was.Because I wasn’t his guest. I was a victim. His charge.

“Wait,” I called, my voice cracking. Instantly, his stepshalted like they were under my control, not his. “Why did you come? Did you find something? Did you find Brandon?”

I didn’t want him to leave. Out of all the things I wanted about this man, the thing I wanted most was for him to stay.

The catch of his breath betrayed his answer.

“What did he say?” I sat forward and pulled my knees to my chest, hating to beg. “Please, Dare. I need the truth.”

“Sacramento PD picked him up this morning. We questioned him, and he confessed to the gambling debts and to taking out the insurance policy.” His voice came closer. Lower. He had to be crouching near the tub.

“And the bomb?”

“Athena…”

Next to. He was next to the tub.

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