He wanted badly to hold her, but he was damp and cold and sticky so he shoved his hands into his pockets. “I’m going to get cleaned up.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
He couldn’t take a shower without ruining his new bandage, but he could get the job done with soap and a washcloth. He’d made do with less.
He was done in ten minutes, dressed in boxers and a plain gray T-shirt. He didn’t want to mess with the pajama pants if he was going to take them off again in a few minutes. The apartment was plenty warm. Every room but the master bedroom was dark, and he found Valerie sitting on the bed, legs under the covers, computer on her lap. A small furrow divided her brows and she scowled at the screen.
“Sorry to bother you. I just need to get blankets and a pillow for the couch,” he said in a low voice.
“Don’t.” She cleared her throat. “I mean, you don’t have to.” With a snap, she closed her laptop and set it on the nightstand before meeting his gaze. “We could share the bed.” At his hesitation, she produced a weak smile and said, “I promise not to bite.” Her wide, wary eyes belied her playful words.
“No biting?” His heart thumped as he adopted a mock frown. “In that case, I’m outta here.”
One side of her pretty mouth curled up but quickly dropped. She bit her lip and ran her fingers over the embroidery on the comforter. “I don’t have any…expectations,” she said. “But I’d rather not sleep alone.”
Oorah. He swallowed hard. “Okay. You good there on the left?”
She nodded and scooted closer to the edge of the bed as he approached, her gaze fixed on his face, as if she were actively trying not to look at his scars. Repressing a sigh, he slipped beneath the covers and leaned against the wooden headboard, leaving several inches between them on the firm mattress.
A long breath escaped Valerie’s lips and she hugged her knees to her chest, resting her chin atop them. “It feels weird to stop running, even if just for a few hours. Mostly good, but strange.”
Unable to resist, Scott took her hand and intertwined their fingers. Her hand was small and cool, her touch magnetic.
“Now that we’re here, I can’t figure out how to relax,” she said. “I’m exhausted beyond belief and simultaneously wired. I keep expecting one of Hollowell’s men to break down the door and…” A tremor ran through her.
“Hey,” he said, moving closer and releasing her hand to put his arm around her instead. “We’re safe here. Dan has a top-notch alarm system and only three other people know where we are.” He caressed her shoulder with his thumb. “I trust all of them with my life.”
“I trusted Alan with mine. And yours.”
“If it makes you feel better, we can leave. Go somewhere no one knows about.”
She shook her head. “Thank you for offering.” She reached up and squeezed his hand. “That means a lot, but I don’t think we’ll find a better set-up than this. I trust your friends more than some hotel desk clerk or whatever.”
Relief rode a wave through his veins. He would leave if she asked, but he had no idea where they’d go at this hour.
She shifted slightly, snuggling into his side. His stomach dipped at the contact, and he had to force himself not to lean closer for a kiss. Despite their embrace, her shoulders were still rigid and she chewed on her thumbnail.
“I feel like I should be doing more to help get us out of this.”
He pointed to her laptop. “What’d you find?”
“Nothing yet.” She rubbed her face. “I can’t get access to Duncan’s key files. He must store them off the network or on another computer. I sent bait to several people in the IT department, but they’re well trained. And it’ll be hours before anyone else checks their email.”
“Now that we’re in D.C., we need to come up with a plan of attack,” he said, toying with a strand of her hair. He missed her natural color. “But not tonight.”
“Message received,” she said, looking at him, her amber brown eyes glowing almost gold in the lamplight. “We need to rest.”
“Exactly.” Their noses were only a few inches apart, and the need to kiss her started a war between his brain and his body. “We both know how to push through, but we’ve been running on fumes for days now. If we’re going to bring down Hollowell, we’ll need every advantage.”
She nodded and licked her lips, her gaze flicking to his mouth and then back to his eyes. “Okay,” she whispered.
Fuck it.
He leaned in to kiss her.
She leaned away. “Wait.”
What the hell? He stared at her, watching the blush creep up her neck and across her face.
