Wicked as Lies (Wicked & Devoted #3) - Shayla Black Page 0,15
took up the activity mat so she could set it in the living room while she did dishes.
But when Tessa opened her bedroom door and glanced into the kitchen, she stopped short.
Zy stood at the sink, washing her potato pan. The table had been cleared, the flower arrangement back in the middle, the overhead light off. The stove was spotless. The island, too.
“You didn’t have to do that,” she said, settling Hallie on her hip.
Zy flipped the water off and set the pan on the drying rack. “No sweat. You looked like you could use an extra pair of hands, and I’ve got them, so why not? Besides, if I sit too much, I get itchy.”
“Thanks, but aren’t you supposed to be healing?”
He waved her away. “I’m healed enough. These stitches will be gone soon, and the worst of the soreness is behind me. Clearly, I’m going to live, though there are a couple of Mexican cartel thugs who are bummed about that.”
Someone had tried to kill him, and he joked about it?
Maybe he had to in order to process the day-to-day danger. Or maybe it really didn’t bother him.
“Wow, and I was just wishing I could extend my showers a bit longer. Your trouble makes mine seem silly.”
“Hey, I don’t have to worry about any human but myself, so that makes my job way easier. You have precious cargo there.” He smiled softly and caressed her baby’s cheek with a big finger. “Hi, Hallie. Aren’t you a cutie?”
Tessa’s heart flipped. Sexy, protective, and good with kids?
Or he feels sorry for you and thinks babies are cute. Don’t read too much into it.
A glance down told her that Hallie stared at Zy with huge eyes. The infant didn’t interact with many men. Her pediatrician was female. Same with most of the people who had visited since she’d been born. Well, except the colonel. Was it Zy’s deep voice that had her baby girl so entranced? The flash of his white teeth? Those intense blue eyes?
“Looks like she’s a flirt, too,” Tessa quipped.
Hallie blinked and went right back to staring at Zy as if he were the eighth wonder of the world.
He laughed and stroked her chin. “She’s good at it. Aren’t you, pretty girl?”
Her baby smiled and giggled, batting her wispy lashes at Zy, which made them both laugh.
“I’m going to have to teach you to be a little less transparent about your flirting, sweet pea.” She kissed her daughter’s head. “Really, thank you for doing the dishes.”
“I should be thanking you. I appreciated the meal.”
Tessa didn’t know what to say. A silent moment passed. Neither moved or spoke, and she felt herself falling into his eyes.
Wrong, bad, and so, so stupid.
She cleared her throat. “If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you where to find everything you need for a shower.”
He backed away with a respectful nod and followed her down the hall. Tessa was aware of him, mere steps and breaths behind her. She tried not to let his nearness rattle her, especially since this attraction was surely one-sided.
When she reached the spare bathroom, she pointed to the cabinet above the commode. “Towels and washcloths up here, along with a fresh bar of soap.”
“Thanks.”
She turned back to him with a nod and noticed a few things: First, the spare shower was the size of a postage stamp. She’d never realized how small it was before. Would Zy actually fit in there? Second, he seemed somehow closer and she couldn’t quite breathe. Third, he was blocking the door.
“If you, um…have any trouble with the shower, let me know.”
“Trouble?”
“You’re big and…” Picturing him naked with water sluicing down all those undoubtedly hard, bronzed muscles was derailing her train of thought. She’d known her hormones had been screwed up since giving birth, but having him so close wasn’t helping.
His sexy smirk had her heart kicking up a notch. “I’ll manage.”
“Okay.”
Still, he didn’t move, didn’t speak. Their eyes met.
“I need to, um…” She gestured toward the hall.
“Oh, sure.” He stepped to let her pass.
Once she exited the little bathroom and put space between them, she could breathe again. Her body temperature seemed to drop about ten degrees.
How was she going to prevent making an idiot of herself around him?
“If you’d like to shower up, I’ll look at your wounds and change your bandages afterward.”
“That’s not necessary.”
She gave him a wry smile. “The colonel made me promise I would at least once a day.”