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Max had run to grab the guard with the key the instant after the first screa in pity The would-be assassin’s face was contorted, blood leaking out of his ears, and there, in those final h the bars, she gripped the hand that flailed toward her "Hold on, help is colove

And he touched one finger to the skin bared at her wrist

A screa agonies

Someone--Max--wrenched back her hand "Sophia!"

She blinked, desperately trying to control the ugly roiling in her stoh

Max shook his head, his eyes soleaze, she saw another Enforcement officer inside with the prisoner, his head bowed in defeat The Psy

Nikita was adamant she hadn’t killed thewhat he knew," she said when they confronted her "If I had taken his mind, ripped away his secrets, I’d have no more use for you and Ms Russo, Detective--and I’d make sure you knew it"

Sophia watched Max hold that chilling gaze "Now that, I believe"

"This wouldn’t have happened if I’d been notified at the start"

It was true Because she’d have done the job herself

But she hadn’t

And right then, Sophia was too nu further She felt battered and bruised by the tihtest protest when Max ushered her into his apartment rather than her own "Go take a hot shower," he ordered, nudging her toward the bedroom and the bathroo to eat"

She felt her lower lip tree sensation that she stared at hientle tone as he walked her into the bedroom and turned her in the direction of the bathroom door with his hands on her shoulders, careful to keep his fingers away froht, her shocked state leaving her without defenses of any kind "You’re the first person who’s ever taken care of me" Even before her parents had rejected her, she’d been nothing but a practical responsibility

Max went very, very still behind her Then, releasing a long breath, he leaned in close enough that their breaths uess that ed at her arms until she lowered them from around her waist Then he pulled off her jacket "Baby, if I strip you, I’ noble"

So snapped awake inside of her, electrified at the idea of Max seeing her naked "I’ll be all right"

Shifting back, Max took out so from the closet "You can put this on after"

It was, she saw, one of his shirts She could’ve as easily asked hio into her apart, but she took the shirttook the scent of Max into her hands "Thank you"

"There’s a spare towel on the rail Leave the door open," he said "I’ll be in the living room--I want to be sure I hear you if you call out"

She couldn’t find the words she wanted to say, so she forced her feet forward and into the bathroo the door ajar, she listened to the sounds of Max ed By the ti and stepped into the shower, she no longer felt so close to breaking Still, there was a new fragility inside of her, a new fracture in her innerht to herself, obdurate in her anger, her need, not yet I haven’t lived yet

Turning off the shower only after her skin was pink froot out and used the spare towel to dry herself, then picked up Max’s shirt and brought it up to her nose It had been laundered, but she could sense echoes of Max’s innate scent beneath the freshness of the detergent

It slipped easily over her body, hanging to h that she didn’t have to worry about her lack of underwear being ely obvious Not that Max wouldn’t already be aware that she was naked beneath his shirt Feeling her cheeks color, she put her dirty clothes--and gloves--in a neat pile to the side, then stepped out into the bedroom

It was e to the dresser A plain black co with a wallet and a keycard The austere nature of it suited hiht, because for all histhe comb, she lifted it up to her hair It felt wonderfully intiined what it would be like to have hiers of his instead

"Sophie"

Startled, she dropped the coainst the doorjaed into faded blue jeans and a plain black T-shirt that caressed his lithe fra," she said With his hair sliding over his forehead and his expression outwardly relaxed, he could’ve been a college kidbut there was too " With that, he pushed away from the doorjamb and closed the distance between theood in ed at the cuffs she’d rolled up to her wrists, nervous in a way she couldn’t explain "Max, I--" The words stuck in her throat, hard, jagged