Tegan came to stand in front of her, his broad chest filling her vision, radiating a warmth she wanted so badly to feel against her again. She closed her eyes as he began carefully unbuttoning her bloodstained blouse. He peeled the sticky silk off her body and let it drop to the floor.
Maybe she should have felt awkward or at least resistant, allowing him to undress her after the awful way things had gone between them last night. But she was sickened by the gore on her clothes, and there was a shaking, distressed part of her that welcomed Tegan's care. His touch was protective, not sexual, all steady strength now. Capable and compassionate.
Her ruined pants went next, along with her socks and shoes. And then she was standing before him in just her bra and panties.
The Minion's blood soaked through to your skin, he said, frowning as he ran his hand over her marred shoulder and down along the line of her arm. In the adjoining bathroom, the shower turned on. I'll wash it off you.
She walked with him into the spacious bath suite, saying nothing as he gingerly removed the last of her clothing. Come on, he said, guiding her around the wall of mottled glass bricks that separated the large shower area from the rest of the room.
Warm steam rolled around them as they neared the spray.
You're getting all wet, Elise said when Tegan strolled in ahead of her without taking off his jeans.
He merely shrugged. Water sluiced all over him, into his tawny hair and down the thick, banded muscles of his shoulders and arms. Cascading rivulets ran over the beautiful lines of his dermaglyphs, and onto the darkening denim that covered his long, powerful legs.
She looked at him and felt as if she were seeing him with fresh eyes...seeing him for the first time. There was no mistaking what he was--a solitary, deadly male, trained to kill and nearly perfect in his apathy. But there was a stunning vulnerability about him as he stood in front of her now, soaking wet, his hand extended out to her in kindness.
And if the warrior in him gave her pause before, this new vision of him was even more unnerving.
It made her want to run into his arms and stay there, forever if she could.
Step under the water with me, Elise. I'll do the rest.
She felt her feet moving beneath her, her fingers coming to rest in the warm center of Tegan's palm. He brought her into the soft rain of the shower. Smoothed her hair back from her face as they both became drenched together.
Elise melted into the warm water and the even greater heat of Tegan's body brushing against hers. She let him soap her skin and shampoo her hair, glad for his comforting touch after the ugliness of her day.
Feel good? he asked as he rinsed her off, the low vibration of his voice traveling through his fingertips and into her skin and bones.
It feels wonderful.
Too much so, she thought. When she was with Tegan, especially like this, he made her forget about her pain. He made it all too easy to accept the void that had existed for so long in her heart. His tenderness could make her feel so full, pushing away all the darkness. Right now, as he caressed her and held her so safely in his arms, he made her feel loved.>There it goes, Elise said as the mechanism finally gave way. She dropped the book and pushed the glass aside, then knocked out the screen and let it fall to the ground below. Climb out, Irina. Go now!
She felt the Minion bearing down on the room where they hid. His thoughts were malicious, black with menace. She heard his guttural roar the instant before he threw himself at the door. He came at it again, then again. The hinges screamed with the impact, the frame splitting as he came at the thing again with the force of a battering ram.
Elise! Irina shrieked. Oh, my God! What's going on?
She didn't answer. There was no time. Elise lunged for the letters, but as she pivoted with them toward the window and her only hope of escape, the Minion shoved the door open wide enough for him to heave into the room. He threw the obstructing chair out of his way and came at her, brandishing a dreadful-looking hunting blade in his hand. He snarled, and the stretch of his features gave prominence to a vicious scar that cut down his forehead and onto his right cheek. The cloudy eye in the path of that scar was gleaming with malice.
Don't run away so soon, ladies. We're going to have a little fun.
Hard fingers clamped around Elise's neck before she could dodge the Minion's reach. He shoved her onto the surface of the desk and leaned over her. Slapped her so hard with the back of his big hand that her vision swam and the whole side of her face rang with pain. With a powerful drive of his arm, he planted the tip of the blade into the wood next to her head, missing her by a deliberate, scant inch.
His grin was full of sadistic humor as his fingers closed tighter on her neck. Play nice and maybe I'll let you live, he lied.
Elise kicked and twisted, but his grip was unrelenting. With her free hand, she cast about for anything to use as a weapon. The shoebox tipped on the desk, spilling its odd collection of cuff links, pictures...and a pearl-handled letter opener. Elise tried not to call attention to her find, but she was determined to get hold of it.
Let her go! Irina shouted.
You'd better not move, the Minion growled, glancing up at her in warning. That's right, bitch. You stay put, or your friend here is going to eat steel.
Elise closed her eyes as Irina sobbed at the window, paralyzed by terror. But in the moment the Minion was distracted, Elise's fingers closed around the hilt of the letter opener. She knew it would be a sorry match against the knife her attacker had, but it was better than nothing at all.
The second she got a firm grip, Elise brought the makeshift weapon up in a sweeping arc. It struck the Minion in the side of his neck.
The deep puncture sent him rearing up off her with a howl, his fingers clutching at the bleeding wound. Elise didn't realize he had gone for his own knife until he drove it toward her. She rolled away, narrowly escaping his clumsy, irate strike.
The Minion stumbled a bit, pressing his hand to his neck and looking dazed as the front of his shirt went red with spilled blood.