Page 30 of Dangerous Mission
He looks down at the spot where we were lying as if he’s looking for a chalk outline like a coroner would make around a corpse in old movies.
But there’s hardly any evidence.
His hat is on the ground. The taser too. My discarded, wet boots are a few feet away. They leaked so much they made a ring on the carpet.
Beyond that, there’s nothing.
But I know the experience might as well have left a crater for the effect it has on him.
Feeling awkward, I take a few steps toward the hallway. “I’ll just go change.”
“What did I do?”
I raise my gaze to his face again. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Did I pull away when you touched me?” His body flinches as he searches my face. “Did I…look like I was in distress?”
Frown deepening, I twist my hands together. “No. You sighed. Then you dropped into a hard sleep. Didn’t move until those people woke us up.”
His pale blue gaze drops to the side. The cords of his throat work as he swallows.
He’s in so much distress, the tension around him could cause the floor to collapse with its weight.
“What is it, Scout?”
For a rough few seconds, he works through some emotion. Shallow breaths make his chest pump. His hands open and close.
My heart hurts for him. But hugging him is clearly off the table.
Finally, he rasps out a reply. “I don’t like to be touched.”
There it is.
Not the root, but the ugly vine that came from whatever experience he had.
An ache spreads in my throat, making my voice soft and strained. “I’m sorry, if I’d have known that, I would never have touched you. Truthfully, not that I’m making this about me, but I don’t like to be touched either.”
The silence that follows makes a cold chill run down my spine.
I step past him, heading for the bathroom at the back of the terminal where my clothes are hanging over the stall door. But something stops me—a resolute feeling blooms in my gut.
When I turn back, he’s frozen in place, staring at the floor. His hands are wrapped around the back of his neck.
“I take that back, Scout. If you’re ever in danger again, I’d touch you. I’d do whatever it took to make sure you were safe, and then I’d deal with your emotions after. I won’t apologize for taking care of you again, but I’ll be there for whatever wreckage is left afterwards.”
Chapter Fifteen
I’m hanging by a thread when I shove open the door and stride out into the weak morning light.
Aria took care of me.
What the living hell?
I barely notice the rain has stopped for the fog in my head. When I glance up, it’s clear this break in the weather is only a small reprieve. Soon we’re going to have more rain filling flooded caves that we need to search for the missing woman.
That’s what I need to be focused on. Not the fact that Aria slept next to me. Touched me. Cared that I was safe.
Fuming, I jerk open the driver’s door of the truck.