Page 65 of The King has Fallen

He wasn’t ready to listen aboutanythingto do with that night.

But Melek shook his head against the rim of the bath, his eyes still closed. “Nothing can be done. Nothingshouldbe done. Nothing about this can change. Don’t try.”

I took a deep breath. “But… you don’t deserve his ire. You deserve his admiration.”

Melek’s eyes opened. He blinked at the tent ceiling twice, then lifted his head and looked at me, his expression stunned. “Did you just… compliment me?” he asked incredulously, with a wry twist of lips.

I rolled my eyes, but nodded. “You said to speak truth. I am. I hate seeing him hurt, and… and I hate seeing it hurt you.”

I still had my chin down, but I lifted my eyes to look at him from under my brows, wondering if he would grow angry again and stop speaking.

But he just stared at me, his face blank. Unreadable.

Except… something crackled in the air. Something I didn’t understand. Something I wouldn’t allow myself to think on, because itcould not be.But my breath quickened.

Then he jerked his eyes away, shaking his head like he shook off some kind of fog. Then he pushed himself to sit upright and reached for the soap and the rag he’d left on the other side of the bath. Plunging both into the water, his jaw set and eyes down on his task, he began to wash himself.

And I found myself unable to look away.

His movements were efficient, strong, and confident—the quick, thoughtless movements of a soldier at a task he’d done countless times before.

He stretched high first one hand, then the other, revealing snatches of coarse hair in his armpits, coiled muscle on his arm,and rippling lines down his ribs and sides as he scrubbed. His expression remained troubled as he leaned forward, reaching over his shoulder to scrub the back of his neck and upper back in a move that, for a moment, made him vulnerable if someone were to aim for his chest.

And I found myself imaginingtsking,telling him to give the rag to me. Then plunging it into the water, and adding soap before leaning on that glistening shoulder to reach in and scrub his back… those shoulder blades, that dip that ran the length of his spine, those rippling muscles in his back…

As he twisted and curled his body, contorting to reach difficult places, more and more of him was revealed.

I grew so lost in the vision in my mind of the other ways those muscles might contract and his body might twist, that my throat went dry andmybody began to thrum—deep in my belly, high between my thighs…

My breath grew shallow.

Had there ever been a more masculine, more alluring male form? If so, I had not seen it.

And that was a problem.

That was a very big fucking problem.

22. Torment

SOUNDTRACK:Going to Hellby Bryce Savage

~ MELEK ~

I felt her eyes on me and discovered that I was not the slave to self-discipline I had always striven to be.

Had I ever scrubbed my arms three times before?

No.

Had I ever worked harder to reach the center of my back, or been more assiduous about cleaning my chest?

Never.

But then, I couldn’t remember ever feeling eyes on my skin that blazed like the sun. The heat of her gaze warming me so that I began to sweat.

Which of course meant I would need to wash again.

Then her breathing grew shallow and my body began to tighten.

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