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“All the beds have to be stripped and all the bedding washed, dried, and put away. We need to cover the pool, remove and store the deck chairs, and cover the grill and the furniture.”
He nodded. “Is that all, Captain Bly?”
She shot him a wry look. Not quite wanting to be out of her snit with him, then she would have to talk to him, and she was still scared. She needed some more time to acclimate to the new woman in her, that pushy bitch who was making her change…definitely for the good. “I’m sure I can think of something else if you’d like.”
He held up his hands, humor glinting in his eyes. “No, no, that’s plenty.”
“If you’re a good helper, you’ll get ice cream.”
The humor in his eyes deepened as he stared at her. He gave her a warped half smile and said, “Ice cream, huh? I will endeavor to be good.” The sexy way he delivered it made her pulse accelerate, especially with his emphasis on ice cream and good.
Images and sensations from every encounter with Shark filtered through her mind, images of Shark, hard and aroused against her, sensations of his fingers massaging her breasts, of his hand stroking between her thighs, his mouth there, his tongue doing those wicked things only he could do. Then she thought of being without him beside her when she slept, and it was an unbearable thought. How was she going to get through this, knowing he was in danger, wondering if she was ever going to see him again?
Working to disconnect from those worries, trying with all her might to put her faith in him, she said, “Don’t charm me, Bale. Get to work.”
“Yes, ma’am.” That huskiness in his voice was evident and she was well aware he was no pushover.
He turned to go up the stairs to strip the beds, and she went to the remote and turned on the TV for background noise. Entering the kitchen, she opened the refrigerator and started to throw away anything perishable. She had no idea when they would be back here, if ever. She was going to miss this house and the surrounding views.
After all, she’d found herself here, through her own revelations, in the arms of Bale “Shark” Maddox. She would never forget that journey from the darkness into the light, from blindness to awareness, from emptiness to love. She was so much better off for having met him.
The afternoon progressed and they got everything done by the time her flight loomed.
They would need to leave in about an hour.
“This is the last of the bedding,” he said as he dropped a load onto the couch. She sat down to start folding it. He came back in with the last load, settling on the other side of the laundry to help.
“Are you still pissed at me?” he asked, looking up at her.
“No,” she said. “I wasn’t really mad at you. I was mad at the circumstances. You were being reasonable, and I was being?—”
“Concerned about your friend, Maddy. I get it. Believe me. The things I’ve seen.” He clenched his jaw in a grimace. “You just need to get out of here.”
Not sure how to handle the situation, Maddy just kept folding like a coward.
“Maddy, I’ve told you about my past, but I haven’t really told you about me. Not really sharing everything like you’ve opened up with me.” Shark looked at her, his gaze solemn and unwavering. He didn’t say anything for a while, but finally he spoke, his tone quiet. “I’ve been closed down all of my life. It wasn’t until I met you that I confronted this scared, lonely little boy in me that has stepped away from comfort, joy, and so many other things, especially with the people who are closest to me like the team. I’ve caused problems and unbalanced the team several times because of it. I’m thinking you deserve someone honest and able to talk to you plain and direct.”
Something happened in that instant, and she wasn’t quite sure what it was, but it was a kind of releasing sensation in her midriff, as if some sort of tension had let go.
“I have a critical mind. I automatically compare myself to others, and I usually come out on the bottom. I can never seem to feel equal—someone is always better. I assess people instead of getting to know them, so I can avoid feeling bad about being less than others. I used to think that others had good qualities I was missing.”
Troubled by his words and the fact that he wouldn’t quite meet her gaze, and even more troubled by the vulnerability she sensed in him, Maddy, in that instant, understood fully just how badly she could hurt him, how unsure he was of her, how little he expected for himself. Angry at those who had done this to him, wishing she could make it better, she went to him and took his handsome face between her hands, then stretched up and gave him a soft kiss.
He stopped breathing and went very still. Maddy could feel the need in him, the lonely, lonely need, and she put her heart and soul into that kiss, wordlessly telling him things she couldn’t seem to say aloud just yet. A shudder coursed through him, and he drew a ragged breath, catching her by the back of the head, his jaw flexing beneath her hand as he responded. He moved his mouth slowly against hers, tasting her, savoring her, drawing her breath from her, and leaving her weak.
It went on and on, until Maddy felt as if she were suffocating from the sensations pouring in on her, and she flattened her hand against his chest. Shark tensed and dragged his mouth away from hers. His heart was slamming in his chest, and his breathing was harsh and uneven. “What I’m trying to clumsily say here is that when all this is over, I want to continue seeing you…if you want that.”
Maddy closed her eyes and hugged him hard, moved by his husky admission. “Yes. I want that so much. I was worried that you didn’t?—”
He covered her mouth with his fingers. “Not a chance, babe,” he said huskily.
“Okay, then. That’s settled.” It had cost him a lot to make such an open statement to her, Maddy could see it in his eyes, and it was all she could do to keep from letting her feelings get the upper hand.
She glanced at the TV screen and her blood ran cold. It was the prime minister, and the caption at the bottom of the screen was that the president had been shot. She dove for the remote as Shark looked at her with surprise.
She turned up the volume. “...and we are saddened by this terrible act by Corporal Noah Cassidy. He flew into a jealous rage and killed President Baptiste, then kidnapped our first lady and her son. Their whereabouts are currently unknown. We fear for them at the hands of such a man.”
“Oh, my God,” Maddy said just as there was a knock on the door. She looked at Shark, and he gestured for her to stay behind him, taking no chances. He pulled the pistol at his back and walked to the front door. When he opened it, Maddy’s jaw dropped open and her heart almost stopped.
