What took so long? She’d been trying to work up the courage to face him again, number one. And number two, he hadn’t exactly provided her with adequate clothing to wear. She shrugged, “I like to take longshowers.”
King crossed his arms, drawing her attention once more to his muscles. “Did you enjoyit?”
“Yes,” she answeredautomatically.
“Good,” he tilted his head toward the bed. “Want tosit?”
Laura swallowed. There was no way she was going anywhere close to that bed especially with him on it. “I’ll stand,thanks.”
“You can sit there.” He pointed to the low bench he’d just abandoned, pushed up against thebed.
As if that were any better. The wicked reel of scenarios flashed through her mind all of them involving him and her in compromising positions. “I’m good.” No way in hell was she going to trust herself rightnow.
His gaze raked her, and her already hard nipples tightened painfully. Her fisted hands tightened in response, and she checked the urge to cross her arms again, knowing that would only draw moreattention.
King shoved off from the bedpost, and paced away from her. As soon as his back was turned she sucked in a deepbreath.
He stopped a few feet away, dropped his head into his hands and rubbed his temples. His shoulders drooped, and she realized he had to be as exhausted as she was. She took a timid step forward, her naturally nurturing self seeking to make this a little easier on them both. “King—”
“I don’t think I can talk to you like this,” he said softly, cutting heroff.
She stopped mid stride. “What do youmean?”
He gestured blindly over her shoulder, refusing to face her. “Can’t you put on a shirt orsomething?”
The small wave of heat creeping up her chest turned into a full-blown tsunami. She could feel herself flushing all the way from her roots to her toes. “No, I can’t,” she bit out through clenched teeth. “This is the only clothes you’veprovided.”
King groaned as if in pain and strode back across the room, crossing in front of her without even glancing her way. He went to open a heavy wooden door in the far wall and a second later came out holding up a very large black T-shirt. He tossed it her way. “Put thison.”
She let it pool at her feet, not even attempting to pick it up. “Why don’t you put iton?”
He’d been walking around shirtless all day. And he had a choice—shehadn’t.
Apparently, he had not wanted to hear that. He squared off with her, and she stood her ground. Her embarrassment was gone, in its place slow simmering anger. He opened his mouth to speak, but she held up her hand, stopping him before he could utter a sound. “Look, I’m tired. You’re tired. You owe me an explanation, it doesn’t matter if I’m sitting or standing or what I’m wearing, just tell me and I’llgo.”
His lips pressed into a firm line. “Your brother has lost control. He needs to be brought in before he hurtssomeone.”
“My brother’s fine, you are the only one around here not in control,” shecountered.
“You think that, because he’s your brother, but you don’t know what he’s been through. He’s not the same, Laura. They changed him.” His words got quieter, trailing off at the end so that she had to lean forward to hear the lastbit.
“Who are they? What are you talkingabout?”
“I don’t want to tell you, but you need to know.” King walked over to the edge of the bed and dropped down resting his elbows on his knees. He stared straight ahead at thewall.
Curious, half filled with dread, she edged toward him. “Please tellme.”
“The government came to us with this new project, it was an experiment that was meant to help enhance our abilities as a unit. You should know, we were probably one of the best units in the Special Forces, but we wanted to be better.” He wasn’t looking at anyone or anything, but the haunted look on his face drewher.
King continued, “The experiment promised to make us stronger, faster and smarter than any other team. It was super-secret, beyond classified—or so we thought. It wasn’t until after we found out that our government-sanctioned experiment wasn’t exactlysanctioned.”
Forgetting her wounds earlier, Laura eased herself down on the mattress sitting beside him, close enough to feel the heat from his body without touching. “What do youmean?”
“What I mean is our commander betrayed us. He was trying to create some kind of super soldier with an experiment privately funded by terrorist organizations. The government had nothing to do with it. And the serum they used had sideeffects.”
King turned his head then, staring at her, his faceempty.
A tightness crept across her chest. “Sideeffects?”
