“What sign did you put out there?”
“Oh, it’s subtle. Don’t worry.” Her eyes were hot, stinging from more than suds. Ali scrubbed the soap off her face, searched for a distraction to stop the tears. Every damn subject felt razor-edged. “Thanks.”
Finn tipped his chin, accepting the meager show of gratitude. “You’re welcome.”
It was wildly insufficient on her part, and she admitted it. “For everything, I mean. In case I haven’t mentioned it before. You’ve been
… amazing, Finn. Real y.”
Finn nodded again, set the requested t-shirt aside. His face was calm but somber, lips slightly parted and eyes ful of concern. She blinked back tears like crazy, refusing to let them show. As if he was fooled.
Not even a little.
He was no more fooled than embarrassed. “You need to be more careful, Al.”
“I know. I understand.”
“Good. Because you need to give me the opportunity to watch your back. You need to trust me.” And then he turned his back, gave her a chance to shut down the waterworks. What a gentleman. After a moment or so he cleared his throat, giving her warning. “How about you wash my back and I’ll do yours. Deal?”
“How about I clean yours up, and help put on a new bandage. Deal?”
He gave a gruff nod and showed her his back.
The intimacy of it unnerved her. So, she talked. “When I ran into Daniel I had been hiding in a neighbor’s roof for months. No baths.”
“So I’m getting off easy?”
“I was … fragrant, let’s leave it at that. Once upon a time, I never bathed with veritable strangers at al .” The smile felt awkward, strained.
“Small-minded of you. There’s nothing wrong with sharing a shower with new friends.” He flashed her a grin as he glanced back over his shoulder. There and gone in a moment.
“You know, the Japanese have public bath houses, have done for centuries,” he continued on when she failed to pick up the thread of the conversation.
“I don’t believe the men and women actual y mix in those.” Ali rubbed her hand against the slab of soap, working up a lather for round two. “I’l get the dried blood off your back while you tell me sordid tales of your youth.”
“I have two older sisters. My adventures couldn’t even begin to compete.”
“I’m sure you underestimate yourself.”
He flashed his teeth again.
“So you were the baby of the family.” She ran her fingers over his back, aiming for impersonal. She rubbed at the build-up of blood and dirt. Reddish-brown soap bubbles trailed down his spine, soaked into the top of his low-slung jeans. Her throat closed at the sight of the bloody gash in his shoulder. A hand-span lower and the bullet would have killed him. No Finn. The thought of it had her tearing up once more. “You’ve lost a lot of blood.”
“I’m fine.”
“Got some hard evidence to the contrary back here.” Her voice wavered. Damn it.
The look he gave her over his shoulder made no sense but it froze her in place. Finn held her gaze for a long moment. And then turned away. Said nothing.
She had no idea what it meant. Her hands hovered, hesitating, waiting for enlightenment. He kept his face averted. “Finn?”
“We should eat soon.”
“Okay,” she agreed, letting it drop.
He nodded. Mission accomplished apparently, whatever the mission had been.
She couldn’t read him for shit. Then again, she’d always been clueless when it came to the other sex. Men were complicated.
Straightforward one minute and riddles the next. It irked the crap out of her. In the face of her new upfront and open frame of mind, she wasn’t letting it go after all. “Finn, what was that?”
“What?”
“The look.”
“Nothing.” His tone of voice firm and flat.
Okey dokey. Apparently she hadn’t grown enough to chase it down. Awkward feelings flooded her.
“It’s a good thing you had antibiotics,” she said. An innocuous enough topic, surely.
“Got the bag of wonders.”
“Yes.” She offered him a smile. He looked over his shoulder and almost returned it. The corner of his mouth hesitated at the last.
“Your bag of wonders rocks, I must say.”
“Personal preparedness. I was a Scout.” He braced his arms on the edge of the basin and dropped his head forward. She scrubbed at his back and neck, gently pushing her fingers into solid muscle. “Can you do it harder?” he asked.
“Sure.” She dug in, keeping a safe distance from his shoulder, wanting to soothe, not harm. From her, it was the least he deserved.
“Where was your family?”
“Down south. We grew up on one of the Northern Beaches, running wild half the time. I don’t know how Mum put up with us.” The strong column of his neck tensed beneath her fingers. The warmth in his voice when he talked about his family made her heart ache.
They had obviously been close, something she had never quite managed.
“How long have you been with him?” he enquired. “If you don’t mind me asking.”
“No, I don’t mind. Only a couple of days, though it feels longer. Things work differently now, don’t they?”
“Times of war, the rules change.”
“War … I guess that’s one way to put it.” Her eyes bored into the back door. If she stared long and hard enough then magic might happen. Bullshit. Daniel would make it. He would.
And what the hell would he see when he walked in? Her fingers flinched back from Finn, covered in suds. “Wet the towel for me so I can clean you off, please.”
He did as asked.
“So, do I want to know what you saw when you were watching us?”
“I don’t know, Al. Do you?” He watched her over his shoulder, something akin to amusement lighting the pale green of his eyes. The corner of his mouth twitched.
The tease.
“No. No, I don’t. Forget I asked.” Heat swept her face. He handed her a wet cloth, and she washed off his back as careful y as possible, sopping up al of the gray suds. “Can I get to the water, please?”
“Let’s see … You two fight. A lot.” He turned to face her, blocking her way with his arms crossed over his chest. “Opposites attract, I guess.”
“That would be it.”
“Sucked when I dropped the night-vision goggles. Smashed the lenses. I had to go by guesswork after that …”