Page 18

The wet fabric plopped on the tile floor.
The mental image of Jessica in a bra and leggings sprang to mind before he could divert his thoughts.
Did the wounds bother her? Was that why her first move was to change?
He lifted a hand to press just below his scar. The cold made his chest ache.
“I’m sorry,” he blurted out.
Fabric rustled softly. “For what?”
“I don’t actually think you’re always wrong, by the way. I often agree with you, but not your methods. And you have zero regard for your own safety. Just look at how you got hurt.”
“I took a bullet for my best friend. You want me to regret that?”
“No! No, that’s not what I’m saying.” He closed his eyes and willed her to understand him. “It’s not you or her, it’s just you. You have no regard for your own safety. If you can’t prioritize that, someone else has to. And right now I’m the only one here.”
Her shoes squelched closer, and she stepped around him, gaping up at his face. Her eyes were wide and her mouth gaped open. He could already hear her outrage. He should have kept his mouth shut.
“I thought you pretty much hated me…”
“What?” He frowned. “No. No, that’s not it at all. That’s not what I’m saying.”
“Yeah, I hear you.”
That was a relief.
Maybe she’d keep listening?
“You take too many risks,” he said with a gentler tone. “There’s only one of you. What happens if you take one risk too many and die? What then? What about your charity? The people you work with? All of your cases? What then?”
Her brown eyes were so wide as she blinked at him.
It was one thing to fight for what you believed in. He got that. But if she died, who else picked up the fight? Where did it go from there?
Thursday. Recovery Facility, Undisclosed.
It felt as though Jessica’s entire world were shifting on its axis just enough to give her a new perspective.
Samuel had always chastised her. It seemed she could do nothing right in his eyes. But listening to him now she had to wonder if they’d ever really tried to talk? To get to know one another?
He had a point. If something happened to her, there was a lot of stuff that would probably slip through the cracks. It wasn’t like she was unaware, but when pursuing a line of investigation it wasn’t like she stopped herself to wonder about the ripple effect.
Her cheeks warmed and she let her gaze slid away from him.
If he knew this much about her, he’d clearly paid attention. This whole time she’d thought he was talking out of his ass, that he didn’t know the first thing. Instead, he’d known.
And he was right.
She had always been reckless.
Probably because she hadn’t heard no enough as a kid.
Samuel turned to face her.
Though she’d changed her shirt, her bra was still soaked and her nipples were rock hard.
“Jessica?”