Solid Steel (Unseen Enemy Book 6) by Marysol James Page B

the precious thing that he was offering.
    “Yes,” she said.
    He hesitated, still not sure if she was fully aware of what was happening between them. “Yes?”
    “Yes.” She let go of the top, put both of her smaller hands on top of his huge one. “You can look at me.”
    “You brave, beautiful girl,” he said, that hard face so impossibly tender. “Are you sure? Totally sure?”
    “Yes.”
    And with that, she lifted her hands off his and rested them on his muscled chest. He felt an explosion of heat at her touch and without a second thought, he lowered his head and took her mouth. He kissed her gently, his tongue tracing the curve of her lips, and it was the hottest, sweetest kiss she’d ever experienced. He pulled back, just a bit, and whispered against her mouth.
    “Ready?”
    She nodded.
    Luke lowered the pyjama top, revealing her upper body an inch at a time. He watched her face the whole time, looking for any sign that she was uncertain or embarrassed, but he saw none. She was looking up at him, so open and calm, so sure that he wasn’t going to hurt her or reject her. She believed in him, he saw it all over her face and his heart squeezed at the enormity of the gift she’d just bestowed upon him.
    The pyjama top fell to the floor. Selena took a deep breath. Luke dropped his eyes, saw the thick bandage covering the entire left side of her chest, gazed at the exposed right side.
    She was totally flat; nothing of her breast remained at all and Luke assumed it was the same on the other side. The dark scar was thick, far thicker than he’d thought it would be. It started near the center of her body and curved up and under her armpit. It looked like the letter ‘c’ turned over on its back; it looked like an open palm.
    He stared down at her, seeing nothing but a survivor in front of him. Luke knew a thing or two about battle scars: he had some of his own, for damn sure, and his fellow former team members were covered in them, too. He’d seen hundreds of injured soldiers in Afghanistan, seen thousands of scars, all shapes and sizes. Some had been heartbreaking, some had been inspiring – but Selena’s were something else again.
    “Oh, babe,” he said. “You’re so beautiful. You just don’t know.”
    “With you, I think I do,” she said quietly. “The way you look at me, Luke… I feel beautiful.”
    He smiled, then saw that she was very pale and shivering a bit. He didn’t know if it was from cold or delayed shock, but he did know that he didn’t like it.
    “Come on, beautiful.” In his mouth, the adjective sounded like her name. “Put on my shirt before you catch your death of cold.”
    Without any hesitation now, she raised her right arm. He slipped his t-shirt over her head, over her right arm, then gently, carefully, he worked her left arm through the sleeve. She winced and he stopped.
    “Hurts?” he asked.
    “Yeah.” She winced again as she got her arm in a bit farther. “It pulls and burns.”
    “Damn stitches.”
    She gave him a smile. “Yeah. Getting stabbed by a psycho sucks, huh?”
    “No kidding.” He pulled her hand towards him and the material slid down over her entire body. “OK, there you go.”
    “Thanks.” She glanced down at her arm. “I guess I have to figure out how to do stuff one-handed for a while, huh?”
    He grinned at her. “I can give you a few pointers.”
    She looked at him, suddenly realizing what had just come out of her mouth.
    Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why do you keep doing this with him?
    “Oh, God, Luke.” Selena was beyond horrified. “I can’t believe I just said that to you. I’m sorry.”
    He shook his head, not the slightest bit offended. “Why do you keep acting like the fact that I’m missing my left hand is news to me? I know it’s not there, babe.”
    “I know. I just feel like I could be way more sensitive about it.” She paused. “But the weird thing is that I keep forgetting about it. Is that dumb?”
    “Nah,” he said.