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“Okay,” Jake said, his voice growing tight. “Keep your eyes peeled. And Tierney?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t let history repeat itself.”
Finn hung up, unsure just what history Jake was referring to. Archer’s botched extraction? Or was the warning more personal, regarding Finn’s mistake with his own principal?
Telling himself he was reading more into it than he needed, he waited a handful of minutes, then figured enough time had passed for Lauren to wrap up her shower. Screw Jake’s warning. He wasn’t going to make the same mistake he’d made before. He was just checking to see if she was okay.
He stopped at the bathroom door and listened. The water had been shut off minutes before, but no other sound met his ears. He knocked gently. “Slim?”
“What?”
“Are you okay?”
“Fine. I’ll be done in a minute.”
Her rushed words amped his already strung-tight nerves. He reached for the door handle. “I’m coming in.”
“No, don’t. I—”
He pushed the door open. Bright light flooded his eyes. He blinked twice and found her sitting on the edge of the tub facing the door, her blond hair dripping down her bare shoulders. One foot was propped up on her opposite knee, the towel laid out beneath her.
She jerked, and her foot hit the dirty tile floor as she grabbed the ends of the towel and wrapped them up around her breasts. Around her very naked, perfect breasts. But there was no point in covering herself. The image of her bare and glistening from her shower was now alive in his mind.
She shot him an irritated look. “I said don’t come in.”
He looked from her face to her foot and back again, catching the glint of red in the gem she wore around her neck. The only thing she wore. She didn’t look like a woman about to have a mental breakdown. He saw no signs of tears. In fact, the irritation marring her features drew his brows together. “I thought . . . what are you doing?”
Her lips pressed together. She lifted her foot back to her knee. “Trying to get a damn piece of glass out of my foot.”
“Glass?”
“I must have stepped on something outside on the sidewalk when you put me down. It’s not big, but it hurts like hell. I’d give just about anything for tweezers right now.”
“Let me look.” He crossed the floor and dropped to his knees in front of her. Pushing her hand away, he inspected the bottom of her foot. The skin was red and irritated near her arch.
She ground her teeth, but didn’t fight him. When he ran his finger over the spot to feel for the shard, she sucked in a breath.
He looked up at her face, then reached back for the pocketknife in his pocket. “Okay, hold still. I think I can get it.”
Her eyes grew wide as he pulled out the knife, flipped open the blade. But she didn’t flinch, not even when he put the tip of the knife against the bottom of her foot and applied just enough pressure to work it under the edge of the shard.
“Oh, shit.” She drew out the word as he applied more pressure. Her hands hit the edge of the tub and she grabbed on to steady herself.
“Almost have it.”
Her body tensed, and then the small shard of green glass popped free and hit the dingy tile with a soft tinkle.
“Oh, my God, that hurt,” Lauren breathed.
“Sorry.” Finn clicked the knife closed, set it on the ground and reached for a wad of toilet paper, which he held against the bottom of her foot. It wasn’t bleeding too badly, but considering everything else she’d been through tonight, he didn’t need her passing out from seeing her own blood. He dabbed at the wound. Looked. Dabbed again. Wished they had something to clean it properly.
From the corner of his eye he noticed the towel had dropped to her lap, leaving her beautiful breasts bare in the dim overhead light. His thoughts shifted. Naked with only that red stone against her chest, she looked like a goddess. His throat grew thick. He tried like hell to keep his eyes on her foot. “It should be okay now.”
Lauren let go of the edge of the tub, grasped the towel and pulled it tight again. But he didn’t miss the way her cheeks turned pink as she said, “Thanks. My Givenchys might not have been practical while we were running, but they would have deterred glass.”
“Your Gi-what?”
