Page 49 of Lust
She held her palms out. “I’m oozing toxin! I’m panicking. I can’t… just stay back. You should go.”
Shit. She couldn’t even touch a button without leaving a poisonous residue.
“Liza,” he said, voice eerily calm. “Your hands look normal. There are no yellow stains.”
She blinked. “What?”
“Take a deep breath and look again.” He touched her shoulder.
Inhale. Exhale. Look down.Gone. He was right.
“I could have sworn…” Her heart thumped in her chest. “It was there. I felt it.”
His eyes turned stark. “I know that look. Seen it in the mirror too many times to forget. You’re replaying the crime scene, seeing the bodies. Try not to see them. Think of something else.”
Liza hugged herself. She should be better at this, but Parker was right. She was rusty. The years she spent training to master her emotions was a distant memory.
“How do you do it?” she asked.
“How do I think of something else?”
“Violent Crimes, right? I mean, you worked in that department for a while. You must have seen some shit. I’ve never been like this before. I’ve seen a frickin’ murderous plant, but this... How do you block it out?”
His eyes skated to the instrument panel and pointed. “Luxury building like this has a pool on the roof, right?”
She nodded.
“Good.” He punched the button for the roof, and then he met her eyes. “I swim.”
Her first reaction was to shake her head. She’d already worked out and wasn’t in the mood. But he was right. A swim might be good.
The Shaolin Monks had taught her to run her body ragged so that when they fought, there would be no emotion or anger causing mistakes. Sometimes they’d wake at dawn, do chores at the abbey, and then practice martial arts until dinner time. And then there would be more chores, and then meditation before bed. The quiet in Liza’s mind during that year had been incredible.
The doors opened on Liza’s level. She hit the “close” button and stayed in the lift.
“A swim would also dilute my toxin in the water until I have it under control.” Meeting his eyes, she added, “Thank you. For understanding.”
He shrugged. “I just want to talk. Makes no difference if it’s on a couch or the poolside. And for the record, I think you’re doing just fine.”
The honey warming her chest was a shock to her system. A compliment from Joe. She felt like a damned schoolgirl, and completely out of her comfort zone. Any time a guy complimented her, she was usually ready to beat him back with snark to avoid the punch of lust to her gut. She fidgeted with the baseball in her pocket.
It would be so different with Joe.
The elevator opened to the roof and Liza stepped out. The sun was getting low, and the sky darkened with impending rain, but the Olympic sized lap pool was heated. A wide oak deck surrounded the pool, and a glass fence provided a barrier to the Cardinal City skyline. The boys used a broken pane as a launching spot for base jumping in their wingsuits at night. She’d never worn her suit, so hadn’t tried the wing function. They kept telling her it was the easiest way to move around the city.
Vines crawled up pergola columns that surrounding the pool and provided privacy from the neighboring city buildings. Wooden tables with chairs tipped over showed a lack of use. Next to the pool area, a vacant helipad stretched over the rest of the roof. No one was up here. They wouldn’t be brave enough in this weather. The air had a bite to it, and when the rain eventually came, it would cut like blades.
But Liza needed this. She kicked off her sweat pants and was folding them when she caught Joe’s attention and froze under the weight of his gaze. She’d never censured herself around him before. In her mind, he’d never been someone she had to worry about. He’d never leered. He’d never propositioned her. And she’d never worried about propriety but, now, seeing the smokey heat in that gaze, it hit her. All those times she’d stripped down to her underwear in the locker room, or when they used to go to the lake as teenagers, or… God, she’d even teased him for being a prude when he’d excused himself to dress in private.
Her entire view of their relationship shifted.
Had he hidden from her because he’d been aroused?
It was too much to contemplate. Tearing her gaze from his, she dove into the water. Warmth embraced her like a hug. Sound dissolved. The world ebbed away. It was so calming. So peaceful. The turquoise mosaic tiles glinted and sparkled with the waning daylight. Soon the clouds would take it away, and it would be a dark, gaping abyss. Would it be as peaceful then?
Just like her brothers, Liza had trained with military units around the world. Part of their education required them to remain underwater for extended periods, both with a breathing apparatus and without. A SEAL could hold their breath for two to three minutes. Liza and her genetically modified family could hold for up to five.
It was the advantage she took now. She needed a moment to collect herself, for when she surfaced, Joe would want to talk, and she wasn’t sure she was ready for that. His very presence threw her mind and body into a tailspin. The right way up was now upside down.
