Page 63 of Radiant Exception
“He figured out the right person to start with. Westcott shouldn’t be too hard for them to locate because he thinks he’s gotten away with everything, and there are additional tracking abilities for emissaries. I sent him the location data I had for our former junior officer, although I’m sure the Elysian is already in the wind,” Vaughn informed me.
“I shouldn’t have left the ship,” I scolded myself. “I wasn’t thinking—”
“Lark.” Vaughn stopped me.
I paused scrubbing my hair to find that his eyes were on me. The look on his face was pained, and it was clear other parts of his body were affected by seeing me naked in the shower.
“You’ve been through enough. It was lucky you even stumbled on the cache; otherwise, we may have never known what Chadwick was up to. And if you want to blame somebody, then blame me forignoring your calls because of my own pride. None of this would have happened if I would have just listened to you.”
“It was understandable, considering.” I resumed my scrubbing.
Vaughn shrugged.
“How are you feeling?” I asked gently.
His gaze met mine again. “I should be asking you that.”
I rolled my eyes. He knew better than to deflect.
“I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t found you—if anything had happened to you…” His words trailed off, but I could see his posture tightening.
“But you did find me.” I smiled softly at him, leaning back to rinse my hair out, making sure he had an unobstructed view of the entirety of my bare profile as I arched my back, my breasts on full display.
Vaughn gulped, knowing exactly what I was up to.
“I hate that they left marks on you.” He scowled, his eyes drifting to my wrists, where mottled bruising was visible from where I’d been bound. “I wish I hadn’t left those monsters for the authorities.”
The pleasure I felt at the thought of him being protective of me pooled at my core. Just because I usually didn’t need to be protected didn’t mean I didn’t like the idea of someone wanting to keep me safe. All the better if that someone was Vaughn.
“It’s been a long time since I had someone looking out for me,” I admitted in a moment of vulnerability.
His eyes softened at the comment. He seemed to take a breath, weighing if he should say what was really on his mind. “What yousaid on the ship…you were under duress. I understand if it was just an in-the-moment thing.”
“Changed your mind?” I smirked.
“NO.” His eyes widened in alarm.
“I meant what I said,” I doubled down. “I’m sorry the timing wasn’t the best.”
“Fuck the timing,” Vaughn replied vehemently, his eyes suddenly heated.
I turned off the water, having finished rinsing my hair. “Hand me a towel, won’t you?”
He reached to the rack beside him, pulling a towel from the rung, and passed it to me.
I made sure to dry myself nice and slowly, aware of his searing gaze upon every inch of my skin.
“Hair tie, please.” I motioned to the band on the counter, which he dropped in my palm.
I wrapped it around my wrist, moving to towel dry my hair as best as I could, given the tension between us had ratcheted up to a ten in the last minute, and I could feel the wetness seeping from my core at the thought of what could come next.
Satisfied with my hair, I passed Vaughn the towel back and used the tie to place my hair into a loose bun. It was a terrible habit to go to bed with wet hair, but considering I had better things to do than spend the next ten minutes with a blow dryer, I’d give myself a break this once.
“I can grab you some pajamas,” Vaughn offered as I stepped out of the shower. Bless him, he was trying so hard to keep his eyes above my neck, but unfortunately, failing miserably.
“No thanks,” I simpered, dragging the tip of my finger across his chest as I passed him while I sauntered to the bed, still bare. I made sure to add an extra swing to my hips, knowing exactly where he was looking.
Ilifted the curtain still blocking the bed from view of the camera in his room and climbed inside, noting the way the worn sheets were soft along the expanse of my exposed skin.
