A slow smile spread across his face, transforming him. He looked younger when he smiled like that. Happier. "You're damn right."
He lowered her carefully, making sure her legs would hold her before letting go completely, then reached for the body wash, and they actually cleaned up this time, quickly, efficiently, though his hands lingered on her more than strictly necessary.
When they stepped out, Rachel caught sight of their reflections in the fogged mirror. Her lips were swollen from kissing, her hair a wet mess, her skin flushed pink. She looked thoroughly ravaged.
She looked happy.
Ghost handed her a towel and grabbed one for himself. They dried off quickly, both of them hyperaware that his team would be arriving any minute.
As Rachel wrapped the towel around herself, she caught him watching her in the mirror. Their eyes met, and something passed between them. Something warm and significant that neither of them had words for yet.
"Come on," he said, his voice gentle now. "Let's get dressed before they break down the door."
41
Ghost and Rachel stepped out of the bedroom, both dressed in clean clothes, hair still damp from the shower. Rachel had thrown on jeans and one of the Ghost’s shirts, and she was acutely aware that she probably looked exactly like what she was: a woman who'd just been thoroughly fucked.
Her heart was already racing before they even reached the hallway.
She could hear voices from the living room. Male voices. Lots of them. Laughing, talking over each other, that easy banter of men who’d been through hell together and lived to joke about it.
Ghost's hand found the small of her back as they moved down the hall. The touch was casual but grounding.
When they rounded the corner into the living room, Rachel stopped dead.
The entire team was already there, spread throughout Ghost's house like they owned the place.
Predator leaned against the fridge, sipping from a travel mug. He noticed them first, and his eyebrows rose.
The couch had been completely claimed by Brick, Reaper, and Bear. Brick sat on one end, taking up more than his fair share of space. Reaper occupied the middle, his leg bouncing restlessly. Bear anchored the other end. They were watching some sports recap on Ghost's TV, but all three heads swiveled toward the hallway when Rachel appeared.
Torch stood at the kitchen island, halfway through a protein bar. Next to him, Rogue was thumbing through a manila folder, his expression giving nothing away until he glanced up and smirked.
At the dining table, Echo had set up what looked like a mobile command center, laptop surrounded by cables and three different external hard drives, his fingers already flying across the keyboard.
And Frost looked way too comfortable in one of Ghost's armchairs near the window, coffee in hand, boots kicked off like he lived here.
Eight men. Ghost's entire team. All of them here, all of them looking at her with varying degrees of amusement.
The room smelled like coffee, protein bars, and that particular scent of men who worked out regularly, clean sweat and deodorant and testosterone.
They all looked up when she and Ghost appeared, and the grins started immediately.
Rachel felt her face heat.
"Well, good morning," Predator drawled, his voice smooth and amused. He took a slow sip of his coffee, eyes dancing with mischief.
"Didn't mean to interrupt anything," Reaper added, and he definitely didn't sound sorry. His leg stopped bouncing and he leaned forward, elbows on his knees, grinning like a kid at Christmas.
Brick's smirk was absolutely wicked. "You always make that much noise, Parker?"
Rachel stopped cold in the doorway, her face going from warm to burning. Oh God. They'd heard. Of course they'd heard. The shower had echoed like a damn amphitheater and she hadn't exactly been quiet and,
Ghost kept walking like nothing was wrong, heading straight for the coffee maker. "If you heard anything, you were eavesdropping."
"Didn't need to eavesdrop," Rogue muttered behind his coffee cup, but she could see his shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter. "Half of San Diego heard it."
Frost raised one dark eyebrow. "Hell, I thought you were remodeling in there. Sounded like you were knocking down walls."
