Special Forces Saviour

“Then stay upset, at me if you need to. No need to go back to nervous.”

She shrugged. He knew he made her nervous, made her uncomfortable.

Just like he knew the way she looked at him when she thought he couldn’t see. And he cherished it even as he tried to keep himself distant from it.

Her condo wasn’t far from Omega Headquarters and soon he pulled up and into her parking space. She was already opening her door when he came around to help her.

“I’m okay,” she said, and although her voice was soft, it wasn’t shaky. “Thanks for the ride. My purse was in the lab with my keys in it. Let me get the spare.”

He watched as she hunted around her bushes, and saw her pull it out from where she had used electrical tape to attach it to the main branch. Much better than just slipping it under a front doormat.

“Found it!” The small victory had evidently thrilled her.

“May I?” He took the key when she offered it and opened the door for her. “Do you have another set inside?”

“Yes. This is just for true emergencies.”

“Okay, I’ll put it back out for you.” He slipped it into his pocket.

She stood there in the doorway swamped in his jacket, plaster in her hair, smelling like smoke, smiling her slightly awkward smile that always seemed to be uniquely for him.

She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

All the lecturing he’d given himself on the drive here about not dragging her down into his darkness completely vanished.

Molly was alive and he had to taste her.

He slipped one arm around her small waist under his jacket and threaded his other hand through the hair at her scalp underneath her long brown braid. He backed her up against the door frame and brought his lips down to hers.

He heard her soft gasp of surprise and took advantage of it to slip his tongue into her mouth. A knot of need twisted inside him as he drew her closer. He felt her arms wrap around his neck as her tongue dueled with his.

His jacket falling from her shoulders and pooling at their feet brought some sense of reality back to Derek.

This could not happen. As much as he wanted it to.

He dropped both hands to her waist and took a step back. “Molly...”

She blinked up at him, arms still around his neck.

“Molly, this isn’t a good idea.”

“Why?” She leaned forward again.

Hell if he could remember why in this moment. Her lips were almost to his. If he kissed her again he wasn’t sure he would have the strength to stop. “You have plaster in your hair.”

“What?”

“Plaster. It’s all in your hair.”

Her face that had just been so flushed and soft from his kisses became shuttered. Her arms dropped to her sides, before one came up to her head to find the plaster he had mentioned. Why the hell had he said that? He didn’t care about anything being in her hair. He’d just meant that she had been through a trauma and that they shouldn’t do anything she might regret.

Or he might regret. Like break her heart.

“Oh. Yeah. I—I probably need a shower pretty badly.”

The thought of Molly in the shower had everything in Derek’s body tightening, but the slight stutter wasn’t lost on him. He hated that he’d made her uncomfortable around him again. And her eyes were wounded.

Damn it. He had to get out of here just to stop the damage he was inflicting.

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow at nine, okay?” He glanced down at his watch. “Actually, that’s only about four hours from now, so let’s make it ten. You’ll need to give an official report.”

Molly nodded and stepped inside her door. She picked up his jacket and held it out to him, wary, as if she didn’t know what to expect.

Derek didn’t blame her. He couldn’t run more hot and cold if he tried.

He took the blazer from her. “Just get some rest. It’s been a crazy day for all of us.”

He waited until she closed the door—without a word—then turned and walked back to his car.

Damn it.

Chapter Six (#ulink_50e8b207-0642-5cdb-ad5f-fce0b9c99729)

It’s been a crazy day for all of us.

Molly turned on the shower water to let it warm up. She slipped her lab coat off as well as her other clothes, all of which smelled like smoke, and just threw them in the bathtub so they wouldn’t contaminate her clothes in the hamper.

She glanced briefly in the mirror before stepping into her walk-in shower. Yeah, she did have some plaster in her hair.

But let’s face it, Derek could’ve had giant pieces of cement or paint or a dozen more building substances covering his entire head and Molly would’ve kept kissing him.

That was the difference between them.

Derek Waterman was out of her league and she needed to remember that. He was glad she was alive and had kissed her. But tomorrow they’d be back to their same old routine: him acting as if nothing had ever happened between them and her acting like a complete nincompoop around him.

As Molly washed the mess from the explosion off her body and out of her hair, she decided it was time to stop the silly way she’d been acting around him all this time. She was a strong, intelligent woman. She needed to act that way.

She completely ignored that she had made that promise to herself multiple times before. This time she was going to do it.

Plus, she had other things to worry about besides Derek Waterman and his kisses. She got out of the shower and dried off, slipping on a pair of yoga pants and a T-shirt, rebraiding her hair.

The explosion in the lab. She rubbed a hand over her face as she walked downstairs to get something to eat. Even if the explosion wasn’t her fault, the workload resulting from it would be enormous. Sorting through which evidence was completely destroyed, or whether any of it could be salvaged, would be a daunting task.

Without a doubt many Omega cases would be ruined because of what had happened tonight. Crimes would go unsolved, some criminals unpunished. It was frustrating to consider.

Molly made herself a sandwich, poured herself a glass of milk and forced herself to finish both even though she didn’t want to. She was going to need her strength for tomorrow and a full stomach would help her get rest now.

All of the findings for past cases had been backed up on a server in a different building, just in case of a situation like what had happened tonight. But current cases... They would have to be sorted through individually. And almost all findings would now be ineligible in court because they had been contaminated.