Page 13 of Broken Trust
“I doubt that.” She leaned her arms on the edge of the tub. The water lapped around her. “But I can see why the others let you make the pizza.”
“They know better than to ruin my masterpieces,” he said, deadpan, and she laughed—really laughed—for the first time in what felt like years.
The sound startled her a little. It felt foreign. Lighter.
She tilted her head, studying him. “So tell me, Sinner. How has no one snatched you up yet?”
His hand froze mid-gesture, pizza peel halfway to the counter.
For the first time that night, he looked caught off guard.
Elin smiled into the steam, perfectly aware that her teasing unnerved him when her bare body didn’t.
Then she turned her head and caught sight of the man watching from the shadows. Her laugh cut off, and her smile faded.
The door whipped open with awhooshand Liam stalked out, snagging a robe from a hook on the wall as he crossed the patio.
Her stomach clenched. Ohh, her body remembered this man. The push and pull of those muscled thighs against worn camo. The way that T-shirt molded to his chiseled torso like a second skin.
Her insides clenched at the sight of him—until she glanced up at his expression.
His brows were lowered over eyes resembling a smoke storm. She pushed off the side of the hot tub and scooted onto the seat, deliberately stretching her arms along the tiled side so her breasts thrust outward.
He crossed to her in jerky strides and stopped beside her, thrusting out the robe. “Wrap this around yourself.”
At that moment Sinner made it a point to slam the small refrigerator shut to let them know he was there. “I’ll just give you two time to talk.”
Liam’s only response was a tightening of his jaw. Her gaze was immediately drawn to the crease and the tendon she knew would be leaping under the tension.
He pinned her in his stare. “Elin—”
She waved a hand to dismiss his warning and slowly glided to her feet. She took her time emerging from the hot water. As the cooler air struck her skin, it pebbled.
She told herself the reaction wasnotbecause of Liam’s closeness. That he couldn’t affect her that way anymore.
Except her body betrayed her. Her hand shook as she reached for the robe, and she tugged it from his grasp. He didn’t look away from her as she took her sweet time slipping her arms into the sleeves. She didn’t bother to knot the belt and left it open to reveal the line of skin that used to drive him to the brink of insanity.
He forced air through his nose and let his eyes droop shut as if studying the inside of his eyelids for patience.
She wanted to test him—to leave him drowning in the same longing and quiet torment she’d lived with for two long years.
When his gaze found her again, she lifted her hands deliberately, gathering her damp hair from the collar of the robe and letting the fabric fall open just enough for one bare thigh to slide into view.
He didn’t follow the movement with his eyes, but the muscle in his jaw flexed so hard it looked about to snap at the hinges.
Elin turned fully to face him, acutely aware of every inch of skin the robe didn’t cover—the curve of her breasts, the line of her stomach, the high-cut edge of her bikini bottom, and the sweep of her legs. She didn’t move to hide a single inch of it.
“You scared off the one guy who would actually talk to me.”
He made a noise, deep in his throat, part growl, part grumble.
That sound sliced straight through her, awakening parts of her she thought dead.
She took a step closer. And she knew those long arms could easily reach out and close around her.
Yet he didn’t attempt to touch her.
His throat worked in a hard swallow. “We need to talk.”
