“Three of them.” He tapped the screen again. “Might be the batteries.”
We’d have to check on them in the morning. Probably replace them. “How many spares did we bring?”
“Three, I think.”
I clapped him on the shoulder. “We’ll fix it tomorrow, once the park opens again. You staying up?”
He nodded. “I know the team at home’s monitoring these around the clock, but I don’t feel right just leaving it.”
“Hoping to catch Enzo on screen?”
“Hoping to see him caught in a cave-in.”
If only it were so easy.
Drew laughed. “Although, from what I hear, Declan already tried that. But you saved the asshole’s life?”
It had been the right decision at the time. I grunted, unable to say I’d made a mistake. I hadn’t known what a sadistic prick he was at the time, otherwise, maybe I would have left him there. “I’m heading up.”
We said our goodnights, and I made my way to the staircase. The third floor was quiet. I paused at the top of the stairs, staring at Brooke’s door. I could knock. Tell Scarlett to take my spot in the other room with Malcolm. They wouldn’t mind.
But Brooke wanted to keep our secret.
So instead of picking up where I’d left off with the beautiful scientist, I headed for the room I shared with the man who was going to marry one of my best friends.
Chapter 28
Brooke
I showered quickly,keeping my hair out of the water. There were only two bathrooms for the eight of us, and the hot water was vanishing quickly. Once I was dried off, I slipped into jeans and a high-necked sweater. Some foreign part of me had thought about wearing a T-shirt today, like I did when I was alone.
Rav’s reaction last night must have fried your brain.
The memory of his lips on my skin, tracing my scars without revulsion, sent a pleasant shiver through me. I closed my eyes and imagined his tongue against my clit, like it would have been last night, if we hadn’t been interrupted. Imagined his hands, his fingers, and his lips. His cock buried?—
Calm down, girl.
We’d agreed to keep our distance until the mission was over. I could handle that. I’d spent years walling off my feelings for him. Surely I could manage another forty-eight hours. But when I stepped out of the bathroom, the first challenge of the day stared straight at me.
Rav stood opposite the door, leaning against the wall, looking even sexier than last night. He wore loose cotton pajama pantsand a plain white T-shirt that did little to conceal his muscular frame, which my hands had been all over last night.
His eyes darkened when he spotted me, and something magnetic passed between us.
“Good morning,” I whispered.
“Morning.” He pushed off the wall, tucked his toiletry bag under his arm, and closed the distance between us with deliberate steps. He didn’t stop until I backed against the wall beside the bathroom door. “I dreamed about you last night.”
The low rumble of his voice sent a cascade of sensations through my body.
“Oh?”
He leaned closer, his breath hot against my ear. “Very… graphic.”
My gaze dropped involuntarily, catching the unmistakable outline of his morning wood through the cotton pants. The sight triggered a rush of memories—moments stolen between trips outside the FOB, late-night security checks he claimed were to ensure the lone female on the team was safe, fingers brushing as we passed each other so no one would see.
“You’re supposed to keep this professional,” I reminded him, though my body was begging to bow out from the wall to touch his.
“Professional in front of the team,” he corrected, fingers tracing the edge of my collar, careful not to dip below it. “No one’s around.”
