Free Elite (Eagle Elite) by Rachel Van Dyken Page B

yourself?”
    My legs did feel shaky, but it was embarrassing enough standing there in nothing but my underwear. “No, um, I can do it.”
    He breathed into my neck, was he smelling me? Didn’t I smell like egg still? “You sure? I wouldn’t want anything to happen to—”
    I slugged him. Laughing, he stepped back. “Towels are in the cupboard under the sink. We have everything you need next to the tub. Just… don’t drown, okay?”
    “Why would I drown?”
    He sighed heavily. “Just…” He slammed his fist against the counter. Holy crap, what did I do? “Just, don’t make me worry, okay? I hate worrying.”
    Didn’t everyone? “Fine.” I nodded. “I’ll try really hard to keep myself from mermaiding it, deal?”
    Without looking at me, he nodded his head and walked out of the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.
    Geez, that boy had more mood swings than grandma when she went through menopause.
    I quickly stripped off the rest of my clothes and leaned over to feel the water. It scalded my hands. Perfect.
    It was tricky lowering myself into that Jacuzzi tub. Finally I was immersed except for my knee. The scrape was still bleeding, and I knew it would hurt like hell the minute it went underwater.
    I just didn’t know how bad.
    “Ow, ow, ow! Crap!” I blew on my knee and waved my hands in the air.
    The door to the bathroom burst open. “What happened?”
    I looked at Nixon. A shirtless Nixon. Was he planning to join me too?
    Then his eyes locked with mine and lower. I didn’t cover up this time. I think I was in shock or something. Warmth spread through my body, and it had nothing to do with the bath water as his eyes darkened.
    He took a step toward me and then another.
    “Nixon! Are you in here? Is she okay?” It was Chase.
    With a curse he backed out of the bathroom and slammed the door. My heart beat wildly in my chest. What just happened?
    Confused and exhausted, I decided to be quick about the bath. I ducked my head under the water. Peace and quiet. It was so nice. My stomach grumbled underwater. Of course it did. I was losing weight on this whole vegan kick, mainly because I was eating Cheerios and granola bars like they were going out of style.
    After fifteen minutes, my hair was washed and I was squeaky clean. But I didn’t have any clothes to change into. I paced the bathroom for a few minutes and tried to even my breathing. I didn’t want to barge out of the bathroom in all my naked glory asking for clothes. What if other people were in there?
    “You can do this, Trace, just ask for some clothes.” I gave myself a pep talk, nodded my head once, and reached for the door. The minute my fingers touched the knob it jerked open and I fell directly into Nixon’s shirtless, muscled, and tattooed arms.
    We both froze. His fingers dug into my shoulders. My face smooshed against his chest. He was breathing heavily, and I was trying to remember not to faint.
    “You need something?” he whispered into my ear. Lord, how did his whisper even sound sexy? Shouldn’t there be laws against guys crazy as sin being sexy?
    “I need…” My voice cracked. Great. “Um, I need something to wear.”
    “Hmm…” He gently pushed me away and looked down at my towel. “Are you sure about that?”
    My knees seriously began knocking together. Why did he have to be so beautiful? And why did his touch make me want to sell my soul?
    I licked my lips and broke eye contact.
    Nixon released me and immediately I felt so cold I shivered. “I’ll find you something. Give me a few minutes.”
    He jogged off. Giving me a beautiful view of a tattoo on his back. It was huge, almost taking up the entire thing. It was the picture of a cross, and then in some weird language, maybe Italian, I couldn’t tell, it said Familia and a few other things.
    My eyes scanned the rest of the room. It basically looked like a bachelor pad. Or a hangout. The room was large and each chair had a game console hooked up to it as well as a