Page 86 of The Vigilant

I went to the sink and flipped on the faucet, taking a deep inhale. The air wasn’t as heavy when there was some distance between us.

“What difference does it make?” I asked and turned to reach for his bowl, only to find him standing right beside me.

“It makes a difference to me,” Tynan answered, his tone rumbling like thunder. “It makes a difference because you’re running around exacting reckless vengeance without any idea what you’re up against.”

“And what should I be doing?Trustingmy white knight to do it for me?” I asked like he didn’t deserve it and like I didn’t already trust him more than I was willing to admit.

“Withyou,” he corrected, his eyes glinting. “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.”

Dammit.I glared at him for turning one of my strengths into a weakness.How could I argue with Sun Tzu’s tenets that I’d already committed to my mind as though they were holy?

Tynan crowded me until I had no choice but to let him in front of the sink.

“What are you doing?”

“Helping you wash,” he grunted, and I sucked in an audible breath. His head snapped toward the noise, his eyes smoldering as soon as he realized what he said. The water hissed in the background, the steam rising from the basin. Everything crackled and popped like the foundation of our relationship that had already faltered once was on the very brink of collapse. “Helping you wash the dishes,” he clarified the second time around and snapped his focus back to the task.

He dumped a pile of dish soap onto the sponge and began to scrub; it was the same lemon scent he’d brought to the townhouse.

My arm brushed his. His wet fingers slid along mine. I felt every strained inhale of his breath just as surely as he must’ve felt every fierce shiver that ran through me. Every touch built something in the silence, electricity cracking simply from the heat and heaviness between us.

“I’m going to take a shower,” he said when we finished, then adding with a slightly sterner tone, “You can take the bed. I’ll sleep in another cabin.”

“What? No,” I protested as he faced me, the angle of his jaw locking tight.

This was his cabin—his house. I’d stayed here to make sure he was okay—to make sure nothing happened these first couple of nights, but now that he was doing okay, there was no reason he should be the one to move out.

“That’s not necessary. Rob said I could stay—” I broke off when his big hands cupped my face, realizing I’d been shaking my head in the negative as I spoke, and now he held me still.

“You’re staying here.”

It was the mostcommandingcommand I’d ever heard, and my insides warmed traitorously.

I swallowed, watching his eyes flick to the bob of my throat. “Fine. I’ll take the couch, and you can stay?—”

“No.”

His right hand slid from my cheek, lower until his palm covered the front of my neck, a collar of the hottest skin.

“Why not?”

And then my back was to the counter, my front just barely touching his when I tried to inhale. In an instant, we were back in that bubble. The one where he had me pinned down to the bed and fucked me with his fingers.

“Because I’m taking care of you,” he said, the strain bleeding into his low voice.

He was taking care by making sure temptation wasn’t close enough to touch.

But I didn’t want that. Not now. For days, all I’d wanted was for Tynan to be okay—for him to heal—and that had trumped the deeper, stronger ache of simply wanting him. But now I couldsee the man in front of me with his hand around my throat was just fine…and the need I had for him consumed me like a blaze.

No one ever took care of me. No one even promised. Yet Tynan showed up time and again, proving I could unload the layers of bent and blemished armor and feel safe…for once.

And that night when he’d held me at the mercy of both his punishment and his pleasure had been the first moment I’d felt…free…in longer than I could remember. Free to submit. To not be strong. Free to physicallywantwithout worry. And free to trust that Tynan would take care of me.

“Are you?” I murmured, my voice sounding raw as I shifted, moving my thighs closer together to try and ease the tightness in my core.

“Yes,” he said low, his hold on my neck tightening just enough to make my mouth part.

This was the most reckless I’d ever been—the most in danger I’d ever felt. Not because I ever remotely thought Tynan would hurt me, but because I was afraid of the harm wanting him would do.

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