Page 26 of Zorro

Zorro cursed under his breath and followed. “Hey,” he said, voice low, when he reached her. “I’m sorry. That came out wrong. I was trying to give you space. Breathing room. Not drown you.”

She turned, still breathing hard, eyes wild, hair wet and curling.

“In case it’s not clear to you, Everly, I fucking like you, dammit. Not in the brotherly way either. So yeah, I get it. You’ve got some shit to deal with. Who doesn’t?”

She stared at him. Blinked. “How could I be so blind about you and your team?” she whispered.

“Grief does that,” he said softly. “I can take it, Everly. Whatever you need to throw at me. Just don’t lie to me about how you feel.”

She looked down. Shook her head. “I can’t seem to let it go. I’m sorry if that hurts, but it’s the truth.”

“We got along pretty well considering your bedside manner was worse than shrapnel.”

She laughed, a real one this time. Bubbly, unguarded. “Are you always this fucking charming?”

He slipped in closer, a few inches from her face. The water lapped at his chest. Her fingers floated in the space between them.

“I’d have to check my charm meter for the last couple days,” he murmured. “But yeah. Twenty-five percent nice guy, fifty percent badass, and twenty-five percent and climbing for the charm.”

She sighed, eyes soft. “Math in motion,” she whispered. Then reached up. Touched his jaw. Her fingers slid along the stubble like it soothed her. “You’re killing me by degrees,” she whispered.

Zorro leaned in, lips just brushing hers. “Feeling’s mutual, corazón.”

She smiled. Then dunked him.

He came up sputtering just in time to hear Gator holler from the deep end, “Dr. Sunshine, one! Z, a big fat zero!”

Zorro swam toward her, grinning like a man who had already won.

She was laughing again.

He knew this was how it started.

Not the kiss. Not the sex.

The healing.

5

That collision in the hall must’ve knocked something loose. Temporary insanity, maybe. Except…no. A voice whispered from somewhere deeper. It’s him, honey, and it was never temporary.

She had her back against her door and he was leaning in, and she was wondering how she was going to sleep without his warmth. That grin flared as they stared at each other and then they laughed just from the sheer joy of being this close to each other.

Her heart jumped along with her stomach. She couldn’t imagine Rob ever doing that. Stare at her like she was his next breath.

“If I didn’t have early BOPE in the morning, I’d take you to breakfast.”

She wanted to drag him into her room and make that a reality—breakfast in bed. But she had no intentions of bedding this man until she figured stuff out. Jumping over their obstacles wasn’t going to work, and she knew it.

“Joker is such a slave driver,” she whispered.

“You have no idea. I swear the man’s a Terminator underneath all that skin and muscle. Believe me, he doesn’t have to say, ‘I’ll be back.’ He never leaves.”

She laughed hard at his spot-on Arnold impersonation, and the joke, and just because she wanted to, she set her hand against his chest, her palm tingling, remembering the swell of muscle, and that hard, flat disk beneath her fingers. She bit her lip to keep her mind on the conversation. “You’re so bad.” Leaning in, she looked up and down the hall, her voice lowered conspiratorially. “But, do you see a flash of red behind his eyes?”

Zorro threw back his head and laughed. “Only in the dark and when he’s completely pissed off.”

“Which is often,” Joker said. “Good evening, Dr. Quinn.” Then seconds later, a growl. “It’s lights out now, Martinez.”