Page 14 of Viral Justice

How was she going to get him to tell her?

Chapter Four

Max stepped out ofthe shower and toweled dry, hissing as the abused muscles of his back burned with every movement. He glanced in the mirror over his bathroom sink and winced at the bruises on his shoulders. Ali hadn’t pulled her punches. She’d tossed him all over the place and every time she came at him he wanted to surrender, spread his arms wide.

She thought he was weak.

He’d chosen to be a doctor because he wanted to heal people and take away pain whenever he could. He’d joined the army to stop biological weapons. Human beings were very good at killing each other with weapons, from knives to artillery. Adding microscopic organisms that could easily spread outside the combat zone and kill off civilian populations was unacceptable.

Unfortunately, there were plenty of psychopaths out there with Akbar’s skills, backed by money from extremist groups. If the human race wasn’t very careful, biological weapons were going to wipe them out.

He pulled on a pair of briefs and crawled onto his bed. He didn’t bother with the sheet or blanket, just lay down on his stomach and stuffed the pillow halfway under his torso. No doubt Ali would have an entire day of painful training prepared for him tomorrow. The woman was relentless.

He didn’t want to fight her.Couldn’tfight her.

He respected her, respected her skills, but that didn’t change how his hindbrain reacted to her.

Fuck, he’d known this was going to be difficult, retaining his objectivity where she was concerned, but the reality was even harder than expected. She was tougher than any of the male instructors who’d attempted to teach him the basics of self-defense.

He liked how she interacted with his staff. He liked her —more than he should. The physical attraction was part of it. Her size, her shape, her soft gold skin. The force of her personality was tangible and she never agreed to something unless she was all in. She was highly intelligent and had a sarcastic sense of humor that made him laugh.

Not that he was laughing tonight. Too many bruises for that.

He was afraid, terribly afraid she’d see his attraction to her. Nothing could come of it anyway. He’d tried the marriage thing. It had been a disaster from the start.

* * *

Click. Scratch. Scratch.

Max glanced at his clock. 0100. He hadn’t been asleep longer than an hour.

Someone was outside his door doing something illegal.

Another kidnapping attempt? Akbar had tried to get Dr. Perry a few months ago.

Click. Click.

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