Some part of my brain recognized the fact that he looked shocked. Like I’d really surprised the hell out of him. But the rest of my brain didn’t understand what the fuck he was yelling over.
I’d thought… I’d thought…
“I thought that maybe they’d poisoned you! Or you were choking! Your lips were blue,” I grumbled back, a ball forming in my throat almost instantly. Even my eyes got watery all over again as I took him in, on his side, massaging his throat as a pool of clear vomit lay beside him.
“What the hell would I be choking on? I was resting!” The Defender gave me the ugliest fucking look I’d ever seen.
But I couldn’t even find it in me to care.
Mostly because he was fine. He wasn’t dying. Why’d he have to scare the shit out of me like that?
“Your lips were blue,” I explained, hearing how funny my voice sounded and not sure how to stop it. Slowly, I got up, numb. “I thought you were dying,” I managed to whisper, each word softer than the last as I made my way to the sink and rinsed my hand off. “Your heart was beating even slower than before, and you were cold, and your lips were blue…”
Tears pooled over my eyes and down my cheeks, and I didn’t even bother wiping them off as I let more water stream over my fingers and palm. When it was as good as it was going to get, I shook the water from my hand and finally turned to glare at him. Getting angry all over again. “Why the fuck would you do that? Why didn’t you open your eyes when I came in? I tried talking to you,” I cried. “I thought you were dying, and I thought it was my fault, and…” Slapping a hand over the center of my chest, I shook my head.
I’d felt like I was about to have a heart attack there.
“You scared the shit out of me,” I croaked as even more tears came over my eyes. “You never did that before.” I sniffled and wiped at my eyes. “Fuck you, dammit.”
His eyes almost bulged out. “Fuck me?”
I nodded, ignoring my poor bruised brain. “Yeah.” Fuck him. “Fuck you,” I repeated so there was no misunderstanding what I said.
He narrowed his eyes as he watched me, and I was pretty sure I saw some muscle in his face relax a little bit. “Were you… crying for me?” he asked almost warily.
Why did he sound so surprised? “Yeah, and?” I winced, palming my chest. I’d forgotten about my shirt. About being in a sports bra in the first place. But I couldn’t muster up half a shit. Mostly because even more tears poured out of my eyes from relief. “Why were you like that?”
He narrowed his eyes even more as he switched languages. “I was in deep rest.”
“You didn’t look like a corpse when you were in deep rest before,” I answered him right back in Korean. Legs weak, I eased to the ground.
“That wasn’t a deep rest; that was a normal rest. I knew they weren’t going to come back until they brought you, and I knew they weren’t going to kill you or do anything to me yet. I took advantage of the time.” A little growl formed in his throat. “I didn’t think you were going to stick your whole hand down my damn throat.”
The hand I didn’t have against my chest, the one he’d thrown up on, I set on the ground so I wouldn’t be tempted to use it. “How the hell was I supposed to know?” I wiped at my face again. “You scared the shit out of me. That’s what you get for ignoring me.” And that was what I got for jumping to conclusions.
Son of a bitch.
He gave me a terrible glare before his eyes finally flicked down, as if noticing that I wasn’t wearing a shirt.
Or maybe he was finally noticing that I had boobs.
The Defender’s gaze moved back up toward my face.
He stared at me.
I stared back.
Then he grunted something under his breath before slowly sitting up, wincing as he did. But once he was in a seated position, his gaze was steady on mine as his hands went to his hoodie and he unzipped it.
Part of me expected him to hand it over once he’d peeled it off, but he set it aside and let his hands drop back toward his waist.
And that’s when he pulled the shirt up over his head and tossed it.
It hit me in the face.
By the time I pulled it off, he was pulling the hoodie back on, zipping it up over his abs, then the rest of him.
Even with my head on the verge of bursting, I’d gotten a good look at everything.
Including his chest.
The chest.
The chest to end all chests.
I’d noticed it was a nice one before, but I hadn’t appreciated just how magnificent it really was.
His shoulders were just as broad as they looked in the unforgivable suit that I had a feeling he’d completely eviscerated since there hadn’t even been ashes anywhere after he’d taken it off. The amount of muscle mass—all defined and impressive—shouldn’t have been surprising. Because again, the suit hugged everything. But it still caught me off guard. He was shredded. Striations lined his shoulders, his biceps were a work of art, even his forearms deserved a symphony for how perfectly they were covered with hair.
There were also his pectorals and thick, solid abs, which were also covered with a sprinkling of dark hair.
He glared at me for about the millionth time. “Would you close your mouth?”
I closed it and glared right back. “Nobody told you to strip, Magic Mike, and I didn’t say anything when you were looking at my boobs a second ago. You could’ve just given me the hoodie instead of getting naked.”
He finished raising the zipper as high as it would go, right between the notches of his collarbones, giving me a long, long look as he did it. “It’s easier for me to hide my eyes with the hoodie, if I have to,” he grumbled in Portuguese.
Oh.
That made sense.
He switched back to English. “Are you done crying now?”
I shrugged.
“You done fingering my throat?”
My face burned. “You can only blame yourself for that. I was trying to save your life.”
His snort shocked me.
“You should have woken up, and I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. We’re both idiots, all right?” I tried to compromise.
“Speak for yourself.” Those purple eyes narrowed even as he pushed himself back against the wall, watching me the whole time.
I shivered just as another throb came from my head, reminding me of just how bad I felt. My arms were clumsy as I pulled the shirt on slowly, careful not to jostle my shoulder or the other million body parts that were achy. It wasn’t warm, but it was a hell of a lot better than nothing. I would rather have the hoodie, but fine. He needed to hide his eyes.
And why was I so dizzy all of a sudden?
Breathing in deeply through my nose even though it triggered that pain from my ribs, I pushed backward until my back touched the opposite wall and I groaned. I tipped my head to rest against it too. Then I watched as The Defender eyed my every move.
My vision went blurry again, this time without the help of water being poured into my eyeballs, and I swallowed hard, scrubbing at the back of my neck with my clean hand.
I wanted to ask him what his deep rest meant and just how much better he was feeling, but my head…
“What is it?” the grumpy voice asked, reminding me he was observant even if he was mad.