“Oh.” It seemed like she’d escaped only minutes ago. “Charlie, that’s my cousin, told me to get to Alex. That you would help me.”
“I will.” No hesitation. “But I’m still not sure how she knew about me.”
She never said anything about you being so attractive though. And why the hell am I thinking about how sexy you are at a time like this?She cleared her throat, doing her best not to notice how incredibly muscular he was, or how handsome.
“She heard your name from Dr. Lang. I don’t think he liked you much.” Kennedy paused. “She also said you were dangerous.”
“I am.”
He said it with a grim smile that for some reason rallied her beast to sit up and take notice. The creature stared at Alex with an affection Kennedy more than sensed. Her body tingled all over, and she could almost feel herself readying to mate with the poor man.God. Tone it down, you hussy of a she-beast.
She’d swear the creature within laughed at her, even as it strove to get closer to Alex.
She glanced to her left to see Alex’s partner, another well-built man, sleeping on the bed. He had tattoos all over both arms showcased by a tight T-shirt, and he looked lethal.
“So the escape. How exactly did you manage that?” Alex asked.
Dragging her gaze back to him, she explained from beginning to end, leaving out the psychic parts he’d no doubt disbelieve anyway, and ran out of breath.
Alex sat, studying her. “And now you’re here, with us.”
“And now I’m here with you,” she said, her voice husky, her body hot and bothered. Literally. Kennedy felt on fire, wide awake, and way too focused on her handsome rescuer. “So, uh, can I get a shower?”
“Sure,” he said to her back as she darted into the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind her. She locked herself inside, leaned back against the door, and tried to get a lock on her libido. Her hormones were going crazy. She wanted sex, right now. And she didn’t want just anyone. She wanted the man who’d stared down at her with confusion, then lust, darkening his gaze.
“Kennedy, are you okay?” he asked through the door.
She jumped away from it, then hugged herself, as if to keep her crazy feelings inside. “Yes. I just need to scrub the horrible memories of the lab away.”
A pause. “Yell if you need us.”
Yes,us. Because while you’re thinking about mounting Alex Palmer, his sleeping roommate is lying not three feet away!No matter how much she chastised her beast, the thing didn’t seem to care.
Kennedy took her time getting clean, and the water felt so good rinsing away her worries. At least, for the moment. Guilt continued to rise up and plague her, that she was relaxing and safe while Charlie and the others no doubt suffered. But she would rally the troops as soon as she could. They’d need time to plan and regroup anyway, because storming inside without an idea of how to deal with the monsters roaming Lang’s lab would do nothing but get them killed. And then who would be left to save Charlie?
She stood under the hot water until she pruned. Then she turned it off and dried herself. She stared at her dirty clothes in dismay, not wanting to put them back on. But she had nothing else to wear.
Kennedy cracked the door open and peered out. Alex’s partner remained asleep, but Alex paced around the room like an angry lion.
“Alex?”
He stopped, his eyes still shining with a preternatural brightness, and speared her with his gaze. “You okay?”
She tugged the towel tighter against her, fighting a blush despite hiding everything but her face behind the door. “I just… The water felt good. Sorry for taking so long.” She hadn’t felt safe enough to take a long shower in months. Not when being naked meant being even more vulnerable in a place where she couldn’t afford to show weakness. “Um, do you have a shirt or anything I could borrow? I hate to put my dirty clothes back on.”
His eyes narrowed, and his nostrils flared…scenting her? He stepped closer, and though she knew she left little but a sliver of her face to be seen, she felt almost naked under his regard.
“We didn’t come prepared either. You can have my shirt if you want.”
Before she could tell him no, that she’d put her own clothes back on, he whipped off his T-shirt.
Treated to a firm, tanned chest, one devoid of body hair and covered in a tribal tattoo she wanted to trace with her tongue, she prayed she didn’t look as if she was ogling him as hard as she was. Good Lord, Alex Palmer wasfine.The definition in his muscles could be attributed to being Circ, but she had a feeling he’d been in shape before being changed.
The fiery need that she’d washed away returned, stronger than ever. He held out his shirt, and she had to pull the door back to take it. Wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around her, she knew she shouldn’t get too close. For all that Alex seemed like a good guy, was Katie’s brother, and a man Dr. Lang had only ever mentioned with anger, she didn’t know him. And she didn’t know what might happen if she tried to listen in on his thoughts. What if he too had some kind of psychic ability? Oh God. What if he could read her thoughts as well?
Good mate. Strong. Fierce protector.
She took a step outside the bathroom. Her beast disagreed that she didn’t know him. It must have communicated itself to Alex, because she saw the creature insidehimstaring at her through his eyes. Oh yeah. Definitely a Circ.
