then, she was clinging to his wrists, both eyes closed and her nose working overtime. Ah, she loved the smell of this man’s skin after a shower. Squeaky clean. Slightly spicy. All him.
“You’re perfect, Maddie. Just the way you are. Right now. Right here,” he breathed into her ear. “Tell me what you want.”
“You,” she whispered. “After...” Something. She’d forgotten what, but it was important.
“Okay then. First-aid, then shower, then me. Us. Sound good?”
Oh, yeah. His neck was burned, and she was going to take care of that. She nodded like a dolt, her brain offline, but every other atom in her body was humming and loving the magnetic connection with this gentle man.
Feeling his way across the room to the floor to ceiling cupboard between the counter and shower, he pulled a first-aid kit off the middle shelf and set it beside her thigh. “Might be some burn cream or gel in here. See what we’ve got, Mad Dog. I’m yours to command.” He said that with a flourish and the same soft, sweet smile tweaking his lips, the same smile he’d used on her when she’d nearly run over him coming out of Mark’s office this morning, err, yesterday morning.
“Good grief,” she breathed. “I almost forgot what I was going to do.”
They really were strangers. For now.
Chapter Eighteen
He licked his bottom lip when Maddie slipped off the counter and rifled through the first-aid supplies. She was worried. He could smell it. And still tense. But not afraid of him, more concerned about being with him and breaking TEAM rules. Well, too bad. Rules were made to be broken. Every SEAL knew that.
His blood was thrumming, had been since he’d sensed her standing alone in the hall, probably on her way to bed. Which struck him as damned good timing on his part. He’d purposefully waited until Harley and Eric had gone into their rooms and closed their doors before he’d ventured after Maddie. He’d felt herded tonight from the way Harley had gotten him out of the kitchen and away from her so quickly, leaving her with Eric. Jameson understood. These two guys were protective, and that was good. It was nice to know she had honest-to-goodness badassed warriors on her side. But she wasn’t theirs to protect, was she?
Not anymore. He was here now, and so what if he’d only been here one day? He understood why Harley and Eric stood by Maddie. They’d just met, then gone through one helluva first operation together. But every warrior also knew how twenty-four hours in a firefight could comprise a year’s worth of solid intel about the people fighting at your side. He and Maddie had clicked. He’d felt it the second she’d brushed her fingers over his shirt in Mark’s office, back when she’d plowed into him and nearly knocked him on his ass.
The thought of their first encounter brought a smile to his face. Her. Knocking him on his ass. She’d done precisely that, hadn’t she? And she didn’t even know it. Probably didn’t know she was beautiful, either.
“Ah ha. Found it,” she muttered to herself.
The thing about Maddie was the way she filled his darkness. She glowed with the kind of light only a blind man could see. That otherworldly glow came from her innocence and her kindness. Her heart. Despite the losers in her life, she was still true to the sweet woman she was. Her old man and her ex might’ve hurt her feelings, but they hadn’t irreparably damaged the woman she intrinsically was inside of herself. Maddie was better than either of those lowlifes.
Made Jameson wonder where her mother was, and if she’d ever known her. His mom had always been his anchor, through girlfriends who’d turned into Dear John letters, through dozens of deployments, and ultimately, through convalescence and acceptance. His mom had been his sounding board and his best advocate. Dad, too, though his ways were more philosophical than hands-on. But that was their magic. Where Karen Tenney went to bat at the slightest hint that someone dared cheat her son out of the care he deserved, Jules tended to stay out of Jameson’s way and let him figure things out.
“Can you tip your head down so I can reach your neck better?” Maddie asked.
“Yes, ma’am. That far enough?” He would’ve stood on his head if she’d asked.
“Perfect,” she answered, her breath cool on that burned flesh. Coo,l but warm at the same time. He shivered. This injury wasn’t severe, more