Trapped (The Condemned Series #1) - Alison Aimes Page 0,9

few quick, clumsy joinings with barrack mates to scratch an itch. Sure, she’d known them longer than five minutes and none had been criminals, but there’d been no emotional connection.

Today was just more of the same. At least that’s what she tried to tell herself.

When the seal reached its end at her bellybutton, she took a deep breath and let the dirt-covered uniform slide from her arms before pushing it off her hips in one fell swoop. It crumpled to the ground around her feet, leaving her in nothing but her white bra and panties. Her skin prickled at the exposure, her nipples crinkling into tight buds as the cooler air hit her body.

A choked curse had her gaze flying to his.

What she saw made her heart beat even faster. No longer cold, no longer empty, mud man’s dark stare glittered with raw hunger as it roamed her breasts and belly and thighs. The wonder was back, too. The dark blue rim she’d noticed before expanding so wide it nearly swallowed the black.

Her arms instinctively moved to cover herself.

“Take off the rest.” The rough command had her hands dropping back to her sides.

With jerky movements, she kicked off her boots. Then, she unclasped her bra in one efficient move and let it drop to the ground before pushing her panties down her hips and stepping out of those as well. There. She’d done it.

She forced herself to keep her arms by her sides. For survival. For survival. She chanted the words over and over to herself.

Seconds ticked by. Nothing happened. The only sounds in the cave were the rhythmic drip of water and the erratic scrape of her breath sawing in and out.

Her stare flickered to his.

“Beautiful.” His single rasped word surprised her. So, too, did the intensity of his dark gaze.

His hands fisted at his side. More seconds ticked by. Still, he made no move to grab her. Simply stared as if memorizing every inch. Unsure, she shifted on her bare feet, a flush of heat warming her cheeks and her chest. The wonder in his gaze making her throat go tight all over again as it had with their first touch.

“Go into the water.” His voice was deeper than before.

She started, confused. She’d expected him to be on her already.

“You’ve got his blood all over you.” He sounded almost accusatory. “Go.”

She wanted to ask why the hell it mattered, but his hands were already unwinding the cloth at his hips.

Turning fast, she headed to the water, uncaring that the temperature was slightly cooler than expected, barely registering the unfamiliar oily sensation of the water clinging to her skin. Wading toward the deeper middle, she sunk beneath the surface to her shoulders, the transparent film giving her little protection, but somehow calming her just the same.

A splash sounded. Powerful ripples washed against her back like a surging tide. He’d entered the water. He was coming for her.

The coward in her wanted to stay where she was, eyes slammed shut. The officer in her knew she had to turn and face this head on.

She whirled and discovered only small bubbles on the surface of the water. An inky cloud of red and brown streamed in all directions followed by foamy white. Then a dark head broke the surface and he was standing before her, waist high in the water, a mud man no more.

Her mouth opened on a tiny o.

Without the dirt, dark, thick hair shorn close to his scalp was now visible along with olive skin, a wide forehead, low brows, firm lips, and a square jaw. Tiny droplets left his long lashes spikey while rivulets of water tracked over chiseled cheekbones, down his sculpted chest and abdomen, to a small trail of dark hair that snaked from his belly button to disappear into the water. Scars of various length and width tracked across miles of pure, hard muscle.

My God, mud man was a flesh and blood man—an incredibly masculine one. If she’d met him at the Academy or the barracks on Earth, she would have been unable to stop staring. He was that beautiful.

Then his hand shot out and her daze shattered.

With a hiss, she stumbled back a step.

One dark eyebrow rose. “Here.”

She looked down to see a small white bar in his hand.

“It’s soap.” His tone was brusque. “The drones dump trash from Earth. Use it.”

It was another long speech. This one seemed to come easier. Like his vocal chords were warming up. Like he was remembering