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Chapter 16
Maria busied herself in the kitchen, taking a full inventory of their food supplies and then prepping a tossed salad. The security system was armed, giving her enough peace of mind to allow her imagination to wander while she worked.
Her close proximity to Teag had done strange things to her insides. She couldn’t help but notice the chiseled muscles of his arms and chest and the smooth ripple of his abs. Colorful ink adorned most of that real estate, completing her assessment that his body truly was a work of art, despite the damage from the bullet wound.
For a brief moment, he’d been turned on, and his arousal, however brief, had spiked her own. She wanted to run her hands over every square inch of his skin and trace her fingers over his ink. Now that she’d freely, if reluctantly, admitted her feelings for him, it was like a spigot had been turned on, and her emotions flowed from it unchecked.
Her physical attraction to him was stronger than anything she’d ever experienced, but it was the fact that she genuinely liked him that had her in a tailspin. Her heart had already galloped ahead, letting her know in no uncertain terms that this promised to be more than a quick and dirty affair. The idea of pursuing something more with Teag both excited and terrified her.
The house had an open floor plan, allowing Maria to look over the kitchen island at the object of her musings, who lay sprawled unconscious on the sofa. Teag’s chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, and to her relief, the color had returned to his face. Seeing him in pain had gutted her. She hadn’t realized she had a truly nurturing side until there was someone who she urgently felt the need to nurture.
When they’d left the hospital, pretending to be new parents, a pain she thought had long since healed blindsided her. Maria had to lock down the emotions that tried to spill from that old wound to her heart. She’d stuffed those feelings down so far and for so long, she almost didn’t recognize them, and unexpectedly, behind the pain of loss also came the stir of longing. To her own great surprise, she’d wished they hadn’t been play-acting.
Before she allowed her thoughts to drift too far in that direction, she busied herself checking emails, sending a quick report to Cam, and running a test on the security system for good measure. A couple hours later, when Teag began to stir, she boiled water for a simple pasta dish and heated a jar of marinara.
“Now there’s a sight,” Teag said, his voice hoarse from sleep. “The badass Marine domesticated.”
“Don’t get used to it,” Maria said, laughing and waving a wooden spoon at him.
“Of course not, and don’t worry, your secret is safe.”
He maneuvered himself to a seated position. Maria gave the sauce a stir and went to his side. “How are you feeling?”
“Better. Less pain.”
“Good. I’ll take the IV out. You can have pain pills now when you need them.”
She removed the line, coiled up the tubing, and tossed the setup into a plastic bag. “Do you feel steady enough to sit at the kitchen table, or do you want to eat in here?”
“The table. We can pretend I’ve taken you on a fabulous date to an Italian restaurant on the North End,” he said, a smile on his face and the teasing sparkle back in his eye.
Teag’s flirtatious nature, which had previously put Maria on edge, now made her respond with a smile of her own. She found she very much liked being the object of his attention.
“I wish I had a nicer outfit for our date,” she said, glancing down at herself. She hadn’t bothered to change out of the oversized t-shirt and yoga pants. They were comfortable and functional. Now, though, she was only half-kidding. She wanted to dress up for Teag. She wanted to look sexy and appealing for him. She wanted to be the only woman he looked at with that devastating smile, and no one was more surprised by all this than she was.
“I’ll definitely take a rain check on the outfit and the date, because I sure as hell want to see you dressed to kill. But Maria, never doubt that I think you look beautiful just like this.”
The honesty in his tone and the intensity of his gaze made her pulse race. A flush crept into her cheeks. He meant what he said, and that fact bewildered her.
“Really, Teag, you can have any woman you want. Why me?”
Maria wasn’t insecure. She knew she was attractive. She kept her body trim and fit. She had dark, glossy hair, which she’d allowed to grow longer after leaving the military, and she knew she had great skin, due in part to good genetics but also the result of an expensive exfoliator and moisturizer. But there were boatloads of attractive women who literally threw themselves at Teag on the regular, and she simply couldn’t fathom why he’d singled her out.
Teag opened his mouth to speak, but something over her shoulder caught his attention.
“You’ve got a minor eruption going on over there,” he said, pointing toward the pot on the stovetop.
“Shit!” Maria shouted, leaping from the couch. Water from the pasta pan boiled over, hissing as it hit the burner. Once she adjusted the heat, the bubbles calmed down and stayed in their container. As she busied herself attending to dinner, she felt slightly overheated herself, as if her insides wanted to boil over too.
Teag gingerly made his way to the kitchen table and lowered his lanky body slowly onto a chair.
“Sorry I’m not more helpful,” he said, wincing and rubbing a hand over his chest.
“Don’t worry, I’ll take a raincheck,” she answered with a teasing voice but an assessing glance. Just the move from the sofa to the table had left him pale and winded.
Maria’s lips flattened into a thin line. They’d signed Teag out of the hospital too soon. Although it had been the best course of action to keep him safe, it hadn’t been a great choice medically. Uncertainly clawed at Maria’s gut. She’d have to pay careful attention because Teag was a guy who definitely made light of things. She suspected he used his wicked sense of humor to cover his deeper feelings, both mental and physical, and, like most men she knew, he would underplay his pain.
As he settled in at the table, a little color came back to his face. Maria breathed a small sigh of relief and continued on with the dinner prep.
