“Everything, Nina. I leave you alone for a week and you’ve got a deep, infected cut in your hand, you nearly broke your arm when you fell off the chair, and you almost froze to death...or drowned, I’m not sure what would have happened first.”

“I know. You have every right to be mad.”

“Mad? I’ve made myself believe that when the time came, I would be better at making you happy than anyone else…and look at you. I’ve made your life worse. You’re worried I’m angry with you? You should hate me for what I’ve done.”

I ran my aching fingers through his wavy, wet hair. He closed his eyes and sighed.

“I’ve missed you,” I whispered.

His expression crumbled at my words. “I’ve been going crazy. When you found the mic, Claire had to restrain me. It’s one thing to know you’re hurting; it’s another to know I’m causing it.”

I offered a weak grin. “You’re going to have to find a new place to hide the microphone. It didn’t take me long to figure it out. I totally outsmarted you. Twice.”

“Outsmarted me? You don’t even have the sense to get in out of the rain.”

“At least I have enough sense to know that we shouldn’t be apart.”

Jared’s eyes tightened in anguish.

I leaned up and pulled his face close, pressing my lips to his cheek. The water poured over us as he pulled me to him, my light kiss making his blue eyes burn with intensity. He kissed me as if I was the air he’d gone without for five days. Neither of us held back, the agony we had experienced apart fueled every movement. Our lips parted, and he pressed me against the tile wall of the shower. I clutched the back of his shirt in each of my fists and pulled him against me, but I couldn’t get close enough. Jared’s hands gripped each side of my face as he tasted the inside of my mouth.

I reached down and pulled his shirt over his head, exposing the perfection of his bare chest. His wet shirt fell to the shower floor with a slap. I slid my hands down his back and he moaned in response. His mouth grew impatient, then, and he reached down to grab my knee. He lifted my leg and pulled me against him, and I pressed my fingers into the flesh of his back. I braced myself as the intensity in the small space soared to a new level; but his lips slowed down, became gentle, and then he pulled away from me after a few soft kisses.

“It’s been a long night, Nina. You need to rest.”

“I don’t think I can,” I said, pressing my forehead against his chest.

Jared kissed my wet hair. “Try.”