“I’ve got a bead on a half-naked girl just outside the wall pretending to be a mermaid.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Graham roared into his radio.
Zach burst into the command post.
“Ro’s gone. I went to take a leak and she wasn’t in the mess hall when I came back. She’s not in the cabin. She’s not in the bathhouse.”
Graham gripped the desk to keep from throwing his radio across the room.
“G-man, I suggest you get outside the wall right fucking now.”
Graham glared at Zach and shoved to his feet.
“Go get a fucking towel. And get someone to cover my shift.”
“No way in hell, huh?”
Graham didn’t reply as he shoved the door open and headed for the bolt hole.
He reached the stream on the outside of the wall just as Rowan was trying to pull herself out and onto the bank. He stopped next to her bag and watched as she stood, eyes closed, wiping the water from her face. The wet black t-shirt was like a second skin, outlining her generous breasts and the nipples jutting out from the cold water. The fabric stuck to her stomach, and Graham’s fury evaporated as he realized that she was nearly naked, and her movements flashed him a peek at her completely bare pussy. His cock twitched, and it was all he could do to stop himself from dropping to his knees to lick every drop of water from her skin. Instead, he reached for Rowan. She blinked, eyes widening as she caught sight of him, but Graham had her settled over his shoulder before she had a chance to open her mouth.
“Hey! Put me d—” Rowan’s words became a screech as Graham’s heavy hand came down, smacking her on her cold, wet, and very naked ass.
“What—” Another smack connected.
“Stop—” Smack.
Ro gave up on trying to talk and began to struggle instead.
“What did I tell you about following orders, little girl? And what part of ‘You aren’t going anywhere’ did you misunderstand?” she heard Graham say over his shoulder. “Although,” he said, “I can’t say I haven’t wanted you soaking wet and ready for me.”
Speechless at the abrupt change in the direction of Graham’s thoughts, Ro didn’t respond.
Graham’s hand smoothed over her ass and damn near brushed her girly parts.
Before Ro could come up with any type of suitable reply, Graham’s hand stilled and flipped her off his shoulder and re-situated her in his arms. Thankful that her ass was no longer bared to the world, and whoever must have spotted her attempted escape, she stayed silent.
Graham carried her along the wall to the front entrance, which swung open as they approached.
Zach met them with a towel as Ro’s teeth started to chatter.
“She’s going to need more than a towel,” Zach observed.
“Back to the showers, I imagine.”
Zach lifted her foot. “Back to Beau first, I think.”
Rivulets of crimson dripped down the side of Ro’s right foot.
“Goddammit, Ro,” Graham said. “You are going to stay put this time, even if I have to tie you down myself.”
He hefted her higher in his arms and headed toward the clinic, radioing Beau on his way.
Beau had once again okay-ed the shower, leaving her ankle unwrapped and covering her stitches, which had hurt like a mother without local anesthetic. Graham had glowered at her the whole time, squeezing her hand tighter each time she flinched as the needle cut into her skin. At least she had only needed six. Any more and she might have lost a hand. Zach held her other hand, and rather than squeeze, he’d spent the entire time rubbing his thumb back and forth across the back of it and playing with her fingers.
This time both Graham and Zach waited just beyond the shower room for her to finish, holding up the tiled walls like sentinels standing guard. Ro shut off the water and reached for the towel that Zach held out. He didn’t even pretend to look away as he handed it to her. She was pretty sure they’d both taken more than one glance at her during her shower. Just the thought of them watching her had heated her more effectively than the hot water. She didn’t give herself the luxury of enjoying the shower too long, though. She was focused on hiding her hardening nipples and trying not to clench her thighs to assuage the building ache.
“Done?” Graham asked.
Ro nodded, pushing herself from the seat. Before her feet made contact with the floor, she found herself in Zach’s arms, Graham right behind him.
“Forgetting something, doll?” Zach asked.
Ro’s short bark of laughter bounced off the tiled walls. “I guess so.”
Zach sat her on the bench and Graham held out a t-shirt. Gratefully, Ro slipped it over her head and shoved her arms through the sleeves.
Then he crouched at her feet, holding open a pair of gray sweatpants.
“Leg.”
Ro complied, sticking first one leg and then the other into the warm cotton pants. Being dressed like a child was new. And then she realized her lack of panties meant Graham had a front row seat to check out her goodies.