Page 70 of Snow

Before the words registered, someone from behind her cleared their throat, and Nova froze. She closed her eyes. “No, no, no. Please no,” she whispered more to herself.

Then slowly, she turned her head. Snow’s tablet was propped up on the desk, and the screen was filled with Bear, Joker, Nails, Duke, Aussie, Playboy, Jay Bird, and even Commander Connors. And every single one of them was trying hard not to laugh, though Bear’s cheeks were puffed out like a damn pufferfish, Joker had his hand over his mouth, his shoulders were shaking, and Nails looked about two seconds away from losing it completely.

Her cheeks pinkened with embarrassment. She had literally barged in, collided with Snow, who was practically naked, and touched him in front of the entire team.

That’s it. She was going to have to fake her own death and go into witness protection. It was the only reasonable solution. There was no coming back from accidentally tackling a half-naked Navy SEAL while his entire team watched through a video call.

She took another slow step backward and cleared her throat. “Um…can we pretend that none of you just saw that?”

That was the final straw, as everyone burst out laughing. Even Commander Connors was laughing. She looked at Snow, who was fighting back his laugh.

She sighed in defeat. “You know what? Just get it over with. I would rather survive the laughter now than spend the next ten years wondering when you’ll bring this up.”

Before anyone else could answer, Commander Connors smiled. “Nova, sweetheart, I regret to inform you that you’ve just provided this team with enough ammunition to last the remainder of their careers.”

Playboy leaned closer to the camera with a grin. “Just so we’re clear, this is now officially known as The Great Towel Incident.”

“Great.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I survived law school, corporate politics, and so far an offshore oil rig, only to have my legacy become The Great Towel Incident.”

Her comment only made everyone laugh harder.

She groaned. “I hate all of you.”

“You’ll get used to us,” Aussie replied cheerfully. “But in our defense, we weren’t the ones petting Snow.”

“I was not petting him!”

Nova shook her head, unable to fight the small smile tugging at her lips. “Okay, as much as I would love to continue discussing my legendary entrance,” she said, pulling her phone from her pocket. “I found a few things that I think you all are going to want to see.”

The laughter faded almost instantly. Beside her, Snow’s amused expression vanished altogether, replaced by the sharp, focused intensity she had come to recognize whenever the mission took precedence.

“Explain,” he said, taking a small step toward her.

She held up a hand. “I will, after you put on some clothes.”

Behind her, Jay Bird’s voice floated through the tablet. “I support that plan.”

Nova pointed towards the bathroom. “I’ll just go wait in there while you change.”

Without waiting for another comment, she darted into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. She leaned back against it, squeezed her eyes closed, and let out a long groan.

“I can’t believe that just happened,” she whispered to herself.

She pressed her cool palms against her burning cheeks, willing herself to stop replaying the last few minutes. It didn’t work.

Instead, all her traitorous brain supplied was the image of water trailing down Snow’s chest, those bright blue eyes meeting hers, and the unmistakable feel of hard muscle beneath her fingertips.

Thoughts of their almost-kiss the night before flooded her mind. She dropped her hands and stared at the ceiling.

She covered her face again and laughed at herself.

“Smooth, Nova, she muttered. “Real smooth.”

Even though she might have just completely humiliated herself, if that look on Snow’s face was anything to go by, he hadn’t minded one bit.

◆◆◆

Snow stood there for a second longer than necessary, staring at the bathroom door. His brain was still catching up, replaying the last several minutes on a loop with Nova bursting in, her small, warm hands on his chest, and the look on her face when she realized exactly what she had walked into.