Page 25 of Harbor (The Wanderers 3)

Keanu chuckled, but he didn’t leave. The man removed his shirt in the same graceful fashion as Dario had, tossing it absently behind him. Now she had yet another sexy male chest to ogle. This one was dark-skinned. He was just as muscular, but not as broad. Keanu was slender.

“Happy?” he asked.

“I’m not sad,” she responded, not hiding her satisfaction.

Dario folded up another towel and set it behind her on the edge of the tub. “Lean back, sweetheart. This will go under your neck.”

“Maybe you could just hand me the soap, and I could wash quickly and get back out.”

“I don’t think quick is in your vocabulary this week, Maya,” Keanu pointed out. “Nor is sitting for any length of time. Lean back,” he demanded.

She sighed, her arms nearly losing their grip as she lowered her body backward.

Dario helped her. She hated that she was panting by the time her neck was against the folded towel. Most of the panting was from exertion. Some of it was from unwanted sexual arousal.

Dario dropped another towel onto the floor next to her and kneeled on it before he grabbed a washcloth, wet it, and rubbed it with soap. He gently took her arm and started washing her.

She closed her eyes and tried not to think about the two of them staring at her boobs while Dario bathed her. So many emotions were running through her head. She was conflicted.

She had a nice body, and she knew it, so she felt good about the appreciative stares. On the other hand, she wasn’t fond of people looking at her for any reason. Under most circumstances, she would put them in their place either with a glare or by punching them in the nose.

There was something different about these men, something that made her soften to them. She wanted to be pissed, but she couldn’t muster the will. They weren’t random assholes who wanted to get in her pants. They were kind and gentle and loving. They liked her.

It felt nice to be appreciated. It also felt strange, and she needed to make it clear she wasn’t available because she wasn’t available to anyone and never would be. Her reaction to being exposed to them when Dario spread her legs open was proof to remind her she’d never be able to spread her legs for any man. Never again.

Most of the time, she could put what happened to her in the back of her mind and ignore it. She had a running pep talk with herself that she pulled out whenever she was feeling down. She would remind herself she was a fucking badass. People counted on her. She rescued people and saved lives.

Her mission in life was so important she didn’t have the right to check out just because some motherfuckers took something from her that didn’t belong to them. Or they tried.

They almost succeeded, too. If Stuart would have let her kill herself that day, she wouldn’t have hesitated. But he’d forced her to live, and he’d been her rock, keeping her sane during the darkest days of her life.

There had been times when she’d asked herself why she wasn’t sexually attracted to him. He was a gorgeous man. Kind and generous too. But she’d never felt that way about him.

She’d never felt that way about anyone since.

Before she’d come to live with The Wanderers, she’d had sexual partners. A few. Not many. Mostly so she could see what all the hype was about. She hadn’t been impressed, and she gave up the quest over seven years ago when she joined The Wanderers.

Until this week. Until these three men got under her skin. Maybe she was in a vulnerable place emotionally and it was making her sappy. She wasn’t sure, but she knew for certain it couldn’t grow into anything, so she needed to nip it in the bud.

Dario moved from her arms to her good leg and then her other thigh, careful not to get the bandage wet. He even managed to wash her foot without splashing onto the gauze.

He slid his hand around to her back and then her belly before finishing by quickly stroking over her breasts.

She held her breath while the cloth rubbed her nipples, willing them not to react and losing that battle.

She had her lips pursed when she glanced at him to find him holding out the washcloth. He’d rubbed more soap on it. “You want to do the rest?”

She swallowed.

He handed her the cloth and turned away.

Keanu hadn’t moved from his spot in the doorway, but he too turned to face the hallway.

Maya nearly cried at their consideration. She was trembling as she shifted the towel away from her pussy and quickly washed the final part of her no one had touched.

When she was done, she pulled the small towel back over her private parts and sighed. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Dario eased back around. He turned on the water, checking to make sure it was warm again. “I’ll add a bit more hot water so you can soak for a minute, yeah?”

“That would be nice.” She bit her bottom lip as she closed her eyes again. No one was staring at her chest, but it felt weird being exposed like this, and it was easier if she didn’t watch where their eyes tracked. She’d tried to make light of the situation by insisting they take off their shirts, and they’d complied good-naturedly, but she was kidding herself if she thought for a moment the gesture made them equal.

Maya flinched when something stroked her nipples again, and she opened her eyes to find Dario easing another small towel into the water, pressing it around her chest. “There.”

“Thank you,” she whispered again. She hated being weak. She hated appearing to be weak. Not physically or emotionally. She was both right now. Physically unable to stand or sit up on her own. Emotionally shattering because these men could see her naked chest.

The fact that they knew she was in turmoil made things even worse. She was grateful no one said a word.

Keanu wasn’t in the doorway anymore. She wasn’t sure when he’d left, but he was gone. Dario rose and sat on the toilet seat. He leaned forward and set his forehead on his palms, his elbows on his knees. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. “For whatever happened to you.”

She didn’t respond. What could she say?

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