Page 64 of Daddy’s Fortitude

And now here he was in her bathroom, pulling her to safety, and she was . . .

Stark freaking naked.

With a squeal, she covered herself as best she could with her arms. He carried her away from the bath and set her down before grabbing a towel. She snatched it out of his hands and wrapped it around herself.

“Are you all right? Did you hurt yourself?” he asked. “Is anything broken, bruised?”

He ran his hands all over her, and for a moment, she wished she hadn’t wrapped the towel around herself. Then she might be able to feel his skin against hers.

No, no, that was a crazy idea. She couldn’t be thinking like that. He didn’t want her that way, and now she was utterly humiliated that he’d had to lift her out of the bath while she was naked.

Thank God she’d shaved before the water had turned cold.

“Aimee, answer me,” he said.

“No, I’m fine, j-just embarrassed and in sh-shock, I guess. T-the tap c-came off the shower, and t-the head fell off, a-and the water was freezing c-cold.” Her teeth were chattering as she spoke, and he grabbed another towel, wrapping it around her wet hair.

Then, to her shock, he lifted her onto the counter next to the sink. “Stay there.”

He turned back to the shower and managed to get the handle back on and turned off the water. It stopped spraying everywhere immediately.

Oh, thank God.

“Thank you,” she told him.

“I’ll reattach the shower head in a moment,” he said.

“Um, sorry. I think that I used up all the hot water, so you might have to wait for a while to take a shower.”

She noticed he was only wearing a pair of shorts and a now-wet, sleeveless T-shirt. Had he been out for a run? He seemed to be slightly sweaty.

Delicious.

Oh Lord, had she really just thought of his sweaty body as delicious? What was wrong with her?

And then he stripped off the T-shirt. Dear Lord. She’d seen his bare chest before, of course, but she wasn’t sure she could ever grow tired of the sight of a half-naked Ammo.

Thank God she was already sitting down, because her legs felt decidedly weak.

“This is why you need me here,” he stated.

“No, this was just some sort of freak accident.”

“You fell over. If I hadn’t been here, you might still be on the bottom of the tub, freezing cold, and unable to get up.”

“Pretty sure I could have gotten up. It’s not like I broke a hip or anything.”

He eyed her for a long moment as if he wasn’t sure that she was actually telling him the truth.

“We should take you to the doctor just in case.”

“No, no way. I’m not going to the doctor. I’m fine.”

He stepped between her legs, placing his hands on the counter on either side of her.

“Perhaps I better check you over then.”

Her breath caught in her throat. Was he flirting with her? He couldn’t be flirting with her, right?