Page 34 of Lethal Game

Something wound tight inside his chest relaxed a little. He wanted to hold her for as long as it took to get that lost expression off her face.

He made himself turn away to inspect at her quarters.

Her room was a bit bigger than his, but not by much. Where his was OCD neat, hers looked like a tornado had hit it. A tornado full of books.

Textbooks, biographies, romance novels, even some graphic novels were stacked all over the room. There had to be a fewhundredbooks lying around.

“Sorry about the mess,” she said with a dismayed look on her face. “I tend to forget to tidy things.”

“You really hate reading, don’t you?”

She snorted, but controlled her response almost immediately. “Well, yeah. I guess I really, really hate reading. I mean, almost as much as you must hate martial arts.”

“Touché.” He looked down at the pile closest to him and discovered a biography of General Pershing on top and below it one about Erwin Rommel. Was she studying military tactics and strategy? He’d never really understood how smart could be sexy until Sophia. “You’ll like the book on Rommel. He was another person who didn’t like boxes.”

“He seems interesting, not like most of Hitler’s generals.”

“I think Hitler disgusted him.”

“Do I disgust you?” she asked in a small voice.

Con’s head turned to look at her so fast whiplash might be a concern. “What?”

Her eyes and mouth drooped, but she wasn’t looking at him, she was staring at the floor again. “I didn’t do anything but stand there like a frightened little girl. They were going to take me somewhere and probably hurt me, but did I fight back? No, I froze.” She glanced at him finally, her lips pressing into a tight white line. “I promise to do better next time.”

“Whoa, stop with the self-flagellation.” She thought he was unhappy withher? “I’m disgusted with security at this place and with Max for not making sure you were properly trained insomeself-defense before now, but I’m not disgusted with you.”

She frowned. “Why not me?”

“Because youdiddo something. You bit that guy and gave yourself a chance to yell for help.” He moved some books out of the way and sat on the edge of her bed. She sat next to him, then leaned her head on his shoulder.

Not exactly his normal method of helping a teammate decompress—usually that had involved throwing darts with Wayne or boxing with Patterson—but he could handle this. When he put his arm around her, she sighed happily and nuzzled a little closer. Her breast brushed his side and his dick started to take notice.Asshole.He hadn’t been interested in sex for months, and now he was perving on his vulnerable partner.

He cleared his throat, gave her what he hoped was a friendly nudge. It was time to get off the bed and put a little space between them before he did something to fuck this up. “I’m really proud of what you did today. You took the training I gave you and used it exactly the way you were supposed to. You’re a good soldier, Doc.”

He stood, trying to inconspicuously adjust his pants as he took a few steps away from her. There. Crisis averted. No inappropriate reactions here.

“I want to have sex with you.”

He couldn’t have heard that right. His dick was trying to convince his brain of something that wasn’t possible. “What?”

She stood and stepped up close. Way too close. “I want to have sex with you.”

He sucked in a breath as heat flashed through him like a lightning strike, and suddenly the room wasn’t near big enough. “Come on, we’re going to the hospital.”

“Why?” she asked as he took her by the arm.

“Because you obviously hit your head or something.”

She resisted, trying to twist out of his hold. “I’m fine. A request for sex does not equal diminished mental capacity. Besides, I decided I wanted sex with you earlier today.”

He let go of her arm and stared at her, his brain unable to connect any fucking dots. “Why?” He couldn’t think of a thing he’d done to inspire this good girl to ask him to get dirty with her.

“Your sexual advice to Eugene sounded really good.” She blushed and stared at his mouth.

A groan came out of him at the knowledge she’d been listening in.

“Look, I’m not some kind of sex guru, I’m your teammate. We can’t...do that.”

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