Water pounds across my shoulders and runs over the old scars covering one side of my back as I brace both hands against the tile and lower my head.
It does nothing.
I still see her.
The collar slipping toward one shoulder, the shirt hanging against her thighs, the blush rising across her face when she caught me looking.
Then the way she thanked me.
For pulling me out and saving my life.
My jaw locks, and I turn the water colder.
She is asleep in my bed because her home burned tonight. Everything she owns is gone or close to it, and I am standing under a freezing shower with my cock hard because I saw her legs.
I stay there until my skin is numb and my body finally remembers I am supposed to have some control.
When I step out, I dry off, pull on clean sweatpants, and leave the bathroom without looking toward the bedroom door.
The couch waits for me. I have slept in worse places.
I sit down with my phone in my hand.
Three messages wait.
The first is from Gabriel.
Fire is out. Structure is a total loss.
My thumb stills.
The second came four minutes later.
We checked what we could safely reach. Nothing salvageable so far.
I look toward the hallway.
Kaia had carried four months of her new life into that house. Paintings. Plants she named. Boxes she packed when she left whatever came before Whispering Pines. Every little thing she chose because it was hers.
Gone.
My chest tightens.
The third message is shorter.
Cause team will look in daylight. Get some sleep, Chief.
I almost laugh.
Gabriel knows better.
I type back.
Any change, call me.
His reply comes quickly.
I will. She okay?
