Page 14 of Being Bold (Tactical Operations & Protection (TOP) Security #1)

Selene

As soon as Bo was out of earshot, Yumi pounced. “What’s going on with you two?”

Selene glanced at her friend, then stared after Bo, who’d just disappeared into the bathroom. “What do you mean?”

Okay, she could admit she found him attractive and his wanting to protect her did something funny to her lady parts, but she was still trying to figure him out.

Yumi crossed her arms and cocked out a hip, before whispering, “He went all caveman over you.”

“What? No, he didn’t.” She couldn’t help shaking her head. “I don’t think he even likes me. He just feels obligated to help for some reason.”

Her friend smirked. “Oh, you sweet child.”

Selene rolled her eyes, then tossed, “Shut up,” over her shoulder on her way to help Bo.

Yumi liked to tease her, and Bo was just the latest target. Nothing he’d done gave her any indication he was into her. Yumi was reading into things that weren’t there. Plus, she had bigger problems tha—

O-M-G.

Selene froze in the doorway, momentarily struck dumb at the sight of Bo in nothing but gray sweatpants tugged so low on his hips that she worried— hoped? —they’d slide down his legs.

The sparse patch of hair on his pecs matched his beard. The auburn fuzz tapered into a trail down the center of his chest over more ab muscles than she’d ever seen, leading to a bulge she needed to take her eyes off.

Right now, Selene!

Bo cleared his throat, making her face flame. Her eyes darted to his as he said, “Can you do the antiseptic?”

He’d already washed the dried blood from his skin, though a dark spot had stained the waistband of his pants.

“Uh-huh,” she mumbled and stepped into the bathroom, letting her hair fall to cover her face.

Embarrassment made her clumsy, and she fumbled the bottle, sloshing isopropyl alcohol all over her hands. When the liquid found the cuts and scrapes she’d made shoving branches out of her way during her death-defying hike, she let out an involuntary hiss at the stinging burn.

She’d closed her eyes against the sensation, but they flew open when Bo’s hands landed on hers. He cupped her palms, lifting them toward his mouth. Meeting her wide eyes, he opened his lips and blew. The warm air soothed the sting, or she was just too shocked to notice it anymore.

Selene gulped. His umber eyes held her transfixed. Her legs felt wobbly, and she wondered how hard she’d hit her head in the loft earlier. Surely, the dizziness she felt was from that and not her reading more into a simple gesture than she should.

Stop staring and say something!

“Thanks.”

The word transformed Bo. He dropped her hands and stepped away, giving her as much space as he could in the small bathroom. “Don’t mention it.”

He’d forced that out through clenched teeth, making her wonder why he had such an issue with gratitude. She’d noticed his discomfort with it before.

“Your turn,” she told him softly, letting it go for now.

Blowing out a breath, she stepped closer. She wasn’t squeamish, but the almost two-inch cut along his ribcage twisted her stomach. It looked painful. The skin on either side was raised and angry, mottled with pink and red. Despite that, the wound was shallow enough that it no longer bled.

Grabbing the washcloth he’d laid on the sink and the bottle of antiseptic, Selene met Bo’s eyes and sent a silent apology because pouring antiseptic over the cut would feel way worse than what she’d experienced with the scratches on her hands.

“This is going to sting like crazy.”

He nodded, the muscle flexing in his cheek as his jaw went taut.

Concentrating, she caught her lip with her teeth as she placed the washcloth against his abs, ready to catch any dripping liquid.

When her fingers touched his skin, he sucked in a sharp breath.

“Try to relax,” she murmured, tipping the alcohol over the slice.

He tensed with a growl.

“I’m sorry.”

She stood close enough to hear his teeth grinding together against the pain. Wanting to soothe the burn like he’d done for her, she bent her head and blew air across the wound.

When his palms gripped her head, she stopped, shuddering as excitement flushed through her at his touch. He lifted her with gentle hands until her gaze locked with his. The look in his eyes was anything but calm. They held a need so hot it seared her all the way to her core.

Maybe Yumi was right.

Maybe there was something here.

When his stare fell to her mouth, she leaned in.

Something about him pulled at her, hypnotizing her into a trance.

His mineral scent surrounded her. It had to be the soap he used, wafting from the shower, because Bo didn’t seem the type to wear cologne.

She breathed him in. Rich earth with a hint of citrus and salt, like an orange grove growing on a cliff by the sea.

His head lowered, and Selene closed her eyes, waiting for the tickle of his beard against her chin, then the feel of his lips moving against hers.

But it never came.

He cleared his throat, and her eyes popped open. Confusion raced through her body to pour over her face as he tilted her head to the side to examine her head wound.

In a gruff voice, he said, “The bandage is holding, but we’ll need to change it tomorrow.”

Selene didn’t know what to say. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

Hadn’t he been going to kiss me, or did I only imagine it?

Now, he was talking about bandages.

Mentally, she tried to shake the mistake from her mind. She must be letting her attraction to him cloud her judgment if she couldn’t see he wasn’t interested in her that way.

Or this was Yumi’s fault for putting ideas in her head.

Turning away to gather herself, she screwed the lid back on the antiseptic. “Okay.”

Overheated with embarrassment, she needed to escape the bathroom. She was about to exit when he stopped her. His rough palm closed around her wrist. “Selene, wait.”

She kept her head tucked, using her hair to hide the mortification on her face.

A sigh lifted his chest before he pushed out, “I’m sorry.”

The apology surprised her enough to meet his gaze. Guilt and something else she couldn’t quite decipher warred in his eyes.

It made her brave enough to ask, “Why does it bother you when I try to thank you?”

He did a slow blink, then shook his head as if he didn’t want to answer her question.

Fine. He could answer another one, then.

With a huff, she broke her arm free from his grasp. “Sorry about what?”

Remorse swam in his pupils. “I was going to . . .”—another head shake—“I shouldn’t have.”

She crossed her arms. “Tried to kiss me or not kissed me?”

A tortured sound left his throat. “I don’t deserve it—your thanks.” He glanced away as he rasped the rest, “And definitely not to taste you.”

Oh, Bo. That broke her heart. “Why?” When she stepped into his space, he avoided meeting her gaze. Hesitant but determined to get an answer, she reached up and cupped his cheek, coaxing his eyes on her. “Why would you think that?”

She didn’t understand how this man, who’d served his country, had probably saved countless lives before her own, who was even willing to help her when she had no one else, could be anything but deserving.

How could he not see his worth?

He caught her wrist, but she didn’t release his gaze. “I’m not a hero,” he ground out through a tight jaw.

Her voice turned fierce as she said, “You are to me. I could’ve died, but you didn’t let that happen.”

Angry lightning flashed in his stare, but he didn’t jerk his head away.

A growl rumbled from his chest like thunder before the storm brewing in his eyes broke, and he crushed her lips with his own.

The kiss was rough, hungry, and fueled by a mix of guilt and anger.

She knew he meant to scare her, to prove he wasn’t what she thought, but it would take more than that to convince her.

Riding the onslaught of need crashing around her, she gave as good as she got, clinging to him and thrusting her tongue past his lips to take what she wanted. He tasted faintly of the grilled cheese sandwiches they’d eaten. It would’ve made her smile if they weren’t battling each other.

Bo groaned at the intrusion, and his hands moved to her neck, pushing her until her back hit something solid.

The shower partition?

She was too lost in him to care. Sensations fluttered over her, lighting up her nerve endings until she was aroused enough to forget everything but him. Her heart raced to pump blood through her body, but it pooled in her core. Everywhere he touched, she tingled in anticipation.

When his fingers grazed the juncture between her thighs, she moaned into his mouth.

Had anything ever felt as good as Bo owning her?

“Are you two read—”

They sprang apart at Yumi’s interruption. Or tried to. The bathroom didn’t have enough room for all three of them.

Her friend quickly stepped out, though Selene didn’t miss the smirk in her voice when she murmured, “I guess not.”

She waited for embarrassment to come, but instead she only found herself annoyed that they’d been interrupted. “Bo?”

He breathed heavily but refused to look at her. When he spoke, his voice was harsher than she’d yet heard it, “You need to go. Now.”

Hurt weaseled into her chest, forming tears in her eyes that she refused to let fall. Gathering dignity like a coat, she wrapped it around herself, brushing past him without another word.

Something ate at him, and he was using it to push her away. The words he’d said about not being deserving . . . they made her heart ache.

She wanted to help him, but he had to let her.

◆◆◆

Bo

What the fuck?

That’s not how that kiss was supposed to go. Bo leaned against the bathroom sink, gripping the edge hard enough to rip it from the wall. What had he done? He never should’ve kissed her because he couldn’t stop wanting to do it again.

She deserves better.

He’d kissed her with no finesse, intent on scaring her away. He’d expected a slap, and instead she’d come awake in his arms. The sounds she’d made . . . damn! Just thinking about them made him hard.