Page 38 of Last First Kiss
“Kind of.” She let go of her collar, righted her clothes and walked around him to her room.
“Kind of? What does that mean?” She continued to ignore him, walking into the bathroom and turning on the water to its hottest setting. Was she just going to walk away? She was absolutely out of her goddamn mind. He followed her inside, sticking out his arm to stop her from closing the door on his face.
“I swear to God, if you don’t start talking . . . I’m going to, going to . . .” He wasn’t sure what to say so he spit out. “I’m going to fire you.”
“Fire me?” She whipped around, her eyes blazing. “I’ve had a shit day. You’re going to fire me? Fuck it. Fire me. I don’t care.” She pulled up her shirt and he saw her flinch in pain. Did she have a broken rib? “But guess what, dude, I’m going to fucking bathe in this magnificent motherfucking tub you own.” She opened the medicine cabinet and then slammed it shut. Then the drawers underneath the sink and then finally the linen closet. “You don’t have Epsom Salt?”
She unzipped her jeans and pulled them down her legs. He shouldn’t look down, this wasn’t something she was doing to seduce him, but fuck, she was stripping in front of him, how could he not look?
“Woman, I swear to God . . .” He ran his hands through his hair and shook his head. “Get your ass in the tub, I’ll be right back.”
She had said she’d gone to ICS for some work and a few hours later she was back with bruises all over her body and a bullet wound of some sort? Rocco was many things, but short tempered wasn’t one of them. With enough poking and prodding he’d blow just like anyone else, but it normally took a hell of a lot of poking to wake the beast.
The beast was up.
Why the hell couldn’t she confide in him?
Why the hell did she wear armor so thick and tight he’d need a pickax just to pierce the surface that was Annabelle Clad?
And why the hell did he want to dig?
She was complicated. Clearly had baggage and obviously didn’t want him around.
Yet he’d never wanted to get to know a person more.
She intrigued him and in those rare instances when she let that armor crack, he could see something in her he wanted. Maybe even needed.
They were the same. Two broken souls. Except he’d been able to fight off his demons and put all his energy in his career. She, on the other hand, pushed her demons down by trying to hide behind a tough, self-assured demeanor. And by pushing away anyone who wanted to help. She needed to fight those demons head-on, acknowledge them, whatever they were, in order to move on. It took years of therapy, but if he could do it, so could she.
He dug around his medicine cabinet, one that was always stocked, found what he was looking for, and jogged back to the bathroom. Still full of rage, he opened the door, not bothering to knock. And, fuck him, the image of her naked he’d conjured up in his fantasies held nothing to the naked woman lying in a bathtub a foot from him. Even though bubbles concealed most of the view, he could still see her toned legs, washboard abs, and the swell of her breasts.
“What the fuck, man? Leave!” she yelled, sending water splashing over the edge of the tub as she tried to cover herself. “Ow!”
“Calm down, crazy, I can’t see anything. You’re hurting.” He didn’t like seeing her in pain. He opened the box of Epsom Salt and poured some into the tub, then poured some tap water into a glass by the sink and handed it to her along with a Percocet.
“Get out,” she hissed.
“No.” He shoved the glass closer. “Take this or I’m driving you to the hospital.”
Her eyes narrowed on him. “I’m not going to the hospital. A few bruises? I’ve had worse.”
No doubt.
“I don’t care. You’re hurt. Take this.”
“What is it? And can you please turn around?”
“Calm down, I can’t see anything with all those fucking bubbles.”
“I’m trying to relax.”
“You don’t look relaxed.”
“Of course not! I’m naked and you’re just standing there.”
He rolled his eyes and kneeled next to the tub. “I can’t see anything. Really.” It was true. A little bit of delicious skin but nothing that a bikini wouldn’t expose. She moved some of the bubbles around and seemed to give up the fight. He sat on the floor, placing the glass on the sink. “So what happened?”
With a raised eyebrow, she eyed his comfortable position on the floor but apparently deciding it wasn’t worth the fight, she laid her head back and closed her eyes. “I went to ICS. We have a simulation room. Joey doesn’t think I can handle this job, so I did the course, which I helped develop, by the way. But he added two real people, which I wasn’t expecting. Serves me right for not being on my toes.”
