“What the hell are you doing?” Ashlyn asked, only to frown as she watched the muscle in his jaw clench as he released a pained grunt and managed to move closer to her.
“Start talking,” Shayne said as he glared down at her.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Ashlyn said, reaching up to push him away only to have him ignore her and somehow managed to move even closer.
“Ye left without a word and decided ta go after a fucking serial killer and ye don’t think there’s something ta talk about?” he demanded.
“Not when it comes to my job,” Ashlyn said, meeting his glare with one of her own.
“Ye were hired ta find a missing woman, not put a target on yer back for a fucking serial killer,” Shayne snapped.
“Things change,” Ashlyn said, shrugging it off as she watched his beautiful green eyes narrow on her and-
“Ye weren’t ever planning on seeing me again, were ye, lass?” Shayne asked as he searched her gaze for something that wasn’t there.
“No, I wasn’t,” she said, refusing to lie to him.
She watched Shayne slowly nod as he stepped back just as the elevator reached their floor. Without a word, he grabbed his bag off the floor before reaching over and taking her by surprise when he took her hand in his and entwined their fingers. When she tried to pull her hand away, he tightened his grip, and moved, leaving her with no choice but to follow him as they made their way to their room.
As soon as they reached it, Shayne released her hand, unlocked the door and gestured for her to go inside. She made her way inside and took in the large living room. She dropped her bag by the door as she quickly took in the brick fireplace, thecouch, and the balcony overlooking the lake as she made her way into the bedroom and absently noted the king-sized bed before focusing on the complimentary champagne on ice along with a tray of chocolate-dipped strawberries.
She helped herself to a strawberry as she made her way into the bathroom and took in the foot claw bathtub and the shower big enough to fit ten people before she turned around to find Shayne standing in the doorway only to frown when she saw it.
A drop of blood on the freshly polished tiled floor.
Before she could wonder about that, she watched as another drop of blood joined it, drawing her attention to the man standing only a few inches away. Frowning, she slowly looked up, taking in his black pants, white dress shirt and-
“What the hell happened?” Ashlyn demanded, tossing the strawberry stem in the trash and quickly made her way across the room. She watched as he frowned down at the blood soaking into his sleeve.
“It’s fine,” Shayne said, shrugging it off as he moved to step away.
“Are you kidding me? You’re bleeding,” Ashlyn said, shaking her head in disgust as she reached for the buttons on his shirt only to have him step out of her reach.
“I said it was fine, lass,” Shayne said, shifting his arm so that he could get a better look at it, but she was in no mood to play this game right now.
“Take your shirt off,” Ashlyn said as she made her way back into the living room, grabbed her bag and searched for her first-aid kit, muttering about stubborn assholes the entire time before she made her way back into the bathroom in time to watch as he pulled his shirt off and tossed it aside.
“What the hell happened?” Ashlyn asked as she took in the fresh cuts slicing through the one that Tristan gave himyesterday. There were four of them, deeper and a hell of a lot angrier looking than the one that Tristan gave him.
“Must have happened yesterday,” Shayne said, shrugging it off as he moved to leave only to mutter a curse when she grabbed his hand and dragged him over to the bathroom sink.
“Those weren’t there yesterday,” Ashlyn said as she released his hand so that she could go search through her first-aid kit. “You’re going to need stitches.”
“It’s fine, lass. Just leave it be,” Shayne said as she snatched the bottle of antiseptic out of the kit with more force than necessary and angrily poured it onto a cotton pad before she slapped it against the biggest cut, tearing a pained hiss from his lips as he was forced to grab onto the edge of the bathroom sink.
For several minutes, he didn’t say anything as she took her time cleaning his cuts. By the time she finished cleaning the last cut, the first one had stopped bleeding and somehow looked smaller than before. She-
“I’m hiring ye for this case,” Shayne said, making her bite back a sigh as she grabbed a bandage and placed it on his bicep only to drop it in the trash and look for a bigger one when she realized that it wouldn’t fit.
“You can’t afford me,” Ashlyn said absently, grabbing the biggest bandage that she could find and carefully applied it to his arm.
“Try me.”
“Two hundred dollars an hour,” Ashlyn said as she gathered up the trash.
“Done,” Shayne said with absolutely no hesitation, taking her by surprise.
“Just like that?” she asked, throwing him a questioning look as she threw everything in the trash.
