I didn’t fight or flee.
I fuckingfroze.
He hadn’t seen me yet, but I managed to yank my gaze away before I saweverything,and—ohfuck.
The mirror wasn’t foggy yet.
And now Ihadseen him. All of him.
Every cut, dip, valley, and….
Adair reached blindly toward the towel bar outside the shower, long fingers flexing as he missed it completely. He grunted in frustration—and then in pain?—as his hurt ankle took some weight, and he swayed.
Oh God,I couldn’t leave. He was a fall risk.
I rushed by him and yanked the towel off the bar, thrusting it into his chest.
“Here!”
He screamed in fright, but caught the towel and held it hot dog style, shielding all of his…. all of….
All of it.
I took a step back toward the door, but he still wasn’t out of the shower or stable, so I hesitated.
“Ireland?!” He yelled over the sound of the shower, his eyes more hazel than green as he squinted at me.
Then he gasped, clutching the towel closer to him.
“Sorry!” I tried to yell, but it was like the room, which was filling with steam now, swallowed it up.
“What?” I thought he said back, but I could hardly hear him.
With a growl of annoyance, discomfort, mortification—you name it, I probably felt it—I charged forward and reached into the shower to turn the porcelain handle, stopping the water.
I retreated as quickly as I’d entered, my arm and shoulder soaked and a few pieces of hair dripping water.
Adair finally stepped out of the shower, the long line of his side exposed from shoulder to ankle as he continued to hold the towel in front of himself longways.
“Ireland, I—oh God.Why?”His voice was raspy and seemed too loud in the suddenly quiet space.
I tore my eyes from his exposed hip and whirled around, giving him my back.
Why didn’t I just walk out?! The door was right there. And… closed? Why had I closed it when I stormed in here like a half-baked fucking creeper?
I squeezed my eyes shut so they wouldn’t wander to the mirror. “I heard you yell.”
Silence hung in the air as thick as the steam before I heard some shuffling and a grunt of pain—so quiet I could’ve imagined it.
But no. He was in pain. And this was the same guy who’d brought me soup and given me the best hug of my life, so I owed it to him to make sure he didn’t hurt himself.
Or so I told myself.
“Are you okay?” I asked, folding my arms around myself and squeezing.
“The showerhead tried to take one or both of my eyes, and I wasn’t thinking and stepped on my bad foot.”
A hand gripped my shoulder and turned me around, but I kept my eyes shut.
