Page 23 of Duty Bound

She held up her hand. “Don’t. Just don’t.”

His dark blue eyes turned smokey. “You kissed me, and I?—”

“I know.” She remembered that part, thank you very much. Heat flamed her cheeks. God, how could she have been so stupid. “I thought you were Joe.”

“I’m not.”

No shit.

She scooted away from him, shaking her head. Thank God it was dark in the cabin, and he couldn’t see her scorching cheeks.

“I shouldn’t have responded. It was a mistake.”

“Damn right it was a mistake. What were you thinking? Didn’t you know I was dreaming?”

“You were pretty insistent.”

Unfortunately, she remembered every vivid detail of her erotic “dream.” His hard body next to hers… His manly scent… His stubble…

Her muddled, traitorous brain had thought it was Joe. She'd wanted to believe it, wanted it to be him so badly that she'd practically sexually assaulted the guy. Only when he'd started kissing her back did she realize it wasn't Joe.

Joe’s kisses had been soft and gentle, filled with tenderness. He’d kissed her like he was afraid she’d break if he was too rough.

Blade had no such qualms.

That’s when she knew.

“Okay, stop. I’m sorry. There, I said it.” She huffed and folded her arms across her chest.

“It’s okay. Really. Don’t sweat it. I’m sorry too.” His eyes flickered, and she could have sworn his lips threatened to turn up at the sides.

“Are you finding this funny?”

He sat up and pulled the blanket over his lap. It was then she realized he had a honking big hard-on, not that he seemed fazed by it. There was amusement in his dark blue eyes. This was more like the Blade Wilson she remembered.

“You have to admit, it’s a unique situation. Before I fell asleep, I didn't think I'd be woken in hostile territory in such a friendly fashion.”

She gave him a blistering look. “It’s not funny.”

It was mortifying, that's what it was.

And disturbing.

“I know. How about we put this behind us and move on?” Except his molten lava gaze said he wanted to do the complete opposite.

“Okay, fine.” She gave a stiff nod.

It would help if she couldn’t still smell him on her skin and taste him on her tongue. Her body tingled where he’d touched her. “Is there somewhere I can freshen up?”

“There's a bucket of water in the corner.” He nodded towards the back of the cabin.

She got up, relieved to turn her back on him.

“I left some food out for you, so once you’ve washed up, you can have something to eat.” He hesitated. “Then we need to talk.”

“Talk?” She spun around. What was there to talk about?

He got to his feet and began folding up the blankets. “Yeah, about our next steps. The evacuation helicopter has gone, but we have a few other options.”

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