Page 18 of Lethal Threat

She squeezes her eyes shut and she chuckles, but the sound quickly dies. Sierra struggles as I try to accept that this woman is a shell of the woman I knew.

Shit.I want to hold her—need to hold her. My chest feels hollowed out. She used to fill me up with sunshine.

Sierra clenches her fists. “Oh god. This is ridiculous. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I need to just look at you.”

“Don’t beat yourself up. We’ve got time. It’s a few hours before our flight.”

That knot inside my chest tightens more until I can’t draw in any oxygen. I’ll be the one needing the crash cart soon.

I brace when she says, “Alright. Here goes nothing.”

Her smokey blue eyes hit me like a sledgehammer. Her inhale is audible.

Bam! All at once, there’s a crashing sound and cold water hits me in the face. I jolt and blink.“What?—”

Sierra’s eyes flare as her hand covers her mouth.

Is that humor in her eyes?

“Oh my god. I’m so sorry. I didn’t throw that on you. I accidentally dropped my cup.”

I wipe my face. There’s a puddle between us and little shards of hospital ice cover my boots and the tile floor.

She stares at the spreading water for a second before looking back up at me. “I’m sooo sorry. I short circuited for a second.”

I grab the box of tissues from the rolling table and drop down to wipe up the spill.

“Could have been worse. I would have had a lot more on me if you did throw it in my face.”

Sierra’s soft laugh rocks me as she tries to take the box from me, but our heads bump.

I grab her arm to keep her from tipping over backwards.

Her bare skin is scorching hot beneath my fingertips. I pull my hand back, trying to make it look casual, but my fingertips are buzzing.

Sighing, Sierra shakes her head. “I’m such a klutz. First, I douse you, then I try to knock you out.”

“No, it’s okay. It wasn’t all you. My head was involved too. Take it easy. I’ll get this.”

Her face blushes pink before she stands up. And for the thousandth time since the day we met, her beauty kicks me in the gut.

I love her eyes. Big luminous pools surrounded by long, dark lashes that brush her cheeks.

It’s also the delicate line of her nose and it’s definitely the cupid’s bow. Her pale pink lips are pure perfection.

Stop...

Jesus. She’s got amnesia, you dick.Now is not the time to be lusting after her.

When I’ve wrangled the ice back into the cup and wiped up most of the water, I stand to find her watching me. Her gaze is filled with uncertainty.

I brush a wisp of hair back over her shoulder. “Banging heads is bad for your concussion.”

She stares up into my face.

I can’t stop tracing my eyes over her. Just like the first time I saw Sierra. It was a deployment briefing. I couldn’t hear a damned thing anyone said for a solid ten minutes.

I had to have her.