Page 81 of Too Guarded to Love

Olivia trembled under the warm water streaming from the showerhead. Joe’s sister had insisted she use the shower in her office to clean up and regroup before Harlee’s long surgery.

After the short ride to the hospital, she’d been whisked away by Dr. Morgan. As the orthopedic surgeon on call brought her up to speed on Harlee’s condition, Olivia forced herself to focus on a surgical plan. Now the clinical side of her brain relaxed as every other part of it screamed for answers she hadn’t had time to get on the ride over here.

Closing her eyes, she rested her head against the wall. Her temples throbbed, but there was one thing she didn’t question.

Her soul-deep need to see Nic. To feel his strong arms wrap around her and settle her nerves. To hear him demanding she stop questioning herself. To believe the truth in his kiss.

In his breath.

In the way he called her sirena when she drove him to madness.

As if fate knew what she needed, the shower curtain whooshed open.

Nic stood there in his uniform—minus the jacket— in all his super-soldier glory.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she grabbed him like he was a decadent dark roast, and she hadn’t consumed caffeine in days.

He nipped at her lower lip as he sighed into her mouth. “Miss me?”

“Yes.”

He pulled back and held her at arm’s length. “Are you okay?”

“No.” She grazed her finger along his steel knuckles as water sprayed onto her shoulders. Goose bumps peppered her skin from the chilly air and the heat in his gaze. “I don’t know if I can do this surgery. I mean, I can. Harlee’s injuries aren’t nearly as bad as when I met her. This fall has actually simplified the surgery I’d planned to do in Atlanta, but…”

She held out her hand. It shook like the helicopter’s blades. “Am I stupid to think I can do this right now?”

He caught her chin in his steel hand and joined her in the shower. Water soaked his clothes as he pressed her against the wall. “You aren’t stupid. You’re loyal and badass.”

“I know.” Despite his encouraging words, doubt still prevailed. “But you won’t be in the operating room with me to save the day if something goes wrong.”

She ran her hand through her wet hair. “Christ, Nic, the two of you just looked at the second batch of bad guys and they fell to the ground.” She slapped the wall behind her. “Fell. To. The. Ground.”

“They did, and I enjoyed every minute of making those fuckers pay for scaring you.” He reached around her waist and slapped her on the ass.

She yelped. “What was that for?”

“For not listening. I told you to stay all the way down in the helicopter, but I saw you peeking through the window. That wasn’t all the way down, baby.”

“Thank God I didn’t listen because I would have missed the show.” Heart racing, she somehow knew if he shared what she was about to ask, there was no going back to the peaceful life she’d led in Atlanta. “What did I see back there, Nic?”

He sighed, as if giving in to something he knew was inevitable. “The tech running through us lets us fire a Taser-laser hybrid called a V-Strike with just our thoughts. We think about where we want to hit our target, and at what intensity, and the V-Strike finds its mark.”

Her mouth dropped open. “That’s…” She slipped her fingers to his wrist. “I have so many words, yet none of them seem sufficient. I’m sure once the surgery is over, I’ll have a hundred things to say and a thousand questions to ask, but right now I wish I had a superpower like that. Not to strike, but to repair.”

“You don’t need my superpower.” He traced the curve of her breast. “You have all you need in here.”

Her heart beat a wild rhythm under his hand as her nipples hardened. “Normally I don’t, but tonight I need some of yours.” Dropping her hand between their bodies, she cupped his cock. “Can you laser some into me, soldier?”

Like the snake tattooed on his body, he struck so fast she didn’t have time to breathe as his lips crashed onto hers. Pressing her hands to his chest, she shoved him back. “Naked. Now.”

He pulled his clothes and shoes off and tossed them out of the shower.

Spinning her to face the wall, he dipped his head into the crook of her neck. “I have dreams about you like this, all wet and dripping like you gave up your life in the ocean because you knew you’d find me.”

God, she had known. Somehow, some way, with or without Gran’s soulmate sense guiding her, she’d known she’d find the man she didn’t want to live without.

Fear stole her breath. If his God-given leg had been hit earlier and the bullet had pierced his femoral artery…