She kept her eyes closed to prevent seeing if Fury stared at her body. His hands were gentle when he tugged her pants the rest of the way down and hooked her panties with his thumbs to remove those too. She lifted one leg and then the other to help him when she realized he wanted them totally off her body until she stood naked. Fury turned the water back on and dumped water over her body with cupped hands. When every inch of her from the neck down dripped with water, he used wet paper towels to softly scrub at her skin while Ellie held unnaturally still.

“That’s the best I can do,” Fury said in a deep, tight voice. “You’ll need a shower but I can’t see any more blood. You managed not to get it in your hair from what I can see and smell.”

Ellie opened her eyes finally when he didn’t touch her in any way again. Her gaze instantly found his image reflected on the mirror and her mouth opened in shock. Fury had his back to her while he removed his vest and unbuttoned his shirt to peel it from his broad shoulders.

“What are you doing?” Surprise sounded in her voice and she hated it.

“You need something dry and clean to wear. I thought I’d give you my shirt and briefs.” He glanced over his shoulder and met her gaze in the mirror. “Do you want to leave this bathroom naked?” Dark eyes narrowed. “I won’t allow it so don’t even think about it. If you’d told me to send in another male to help you get undressed that wouldn’t have happened either.”

She shook her head and crossed her arms over her br**sts to hide them from his view. “Please lend me the shirt and your briefs. I’d appreciate it.”

He turned his head away. “You don’t have to watch me strip.”

Ellie realized she stared as he unbuttoned his shirt and removed it to expose a tan, muscular back. She squeezed her eyes closed, her only choice since she faced a mirror and turning around would just be facing him in the flesh. She listened as he undressed and it seemed like forever before he finished and spoke.

“I’m decent. Here.”

Ellie opened her eyes to find Fury closer, nearly touching her back. He faced away and held his shirt and a pair of blue boxer briefs over his shoulder toward her. Ellie turned and reached up to take them from him. She noticed again how much taller he stood than her.

“Thank you.”

“I owed you.” He growled the words.

Anger flared over his gruff taunt about their strained relationship. She clenched her teeth to avoid snapping out a rude response. She didn’t need to be reminded of that now. She dressed quickly instead. The boxer briefs were soft cotton, still warm from his body, and hung baggy, low on her hips. I have a fly now. She smirked at that thought while she put on his shirt. It smelled of him, held his warmth, and she was happy to be covered up again.

“You can turn around now.” She finished buttoning the borrowed shirt.

He slowly faced her. He looked sexy with just the vest on with his form-fitting pants. His arms were totally exposed, big, thick muscles showcased by the tight vest that looked too small for his impressive frame. She tore her gaze away from those biceps and rolled up the sleeves of the shirt until they didn’t fall past her hands. Fury stepped forward to help her by brushing away her fingers to do the task. She stared at his vest where NSO had been printed in large letters across it.

“I didn’t know you guys had your own security team.”

He inhaled deeply. “Yeah, well, we can’t trust humans to totally protect us. We’ve been training in secret and none of your people knew until now. Look what an incompetent job they did today. Mercile gave us strength, reflexes, and the ability to take a beating but remain fighting beyond normal endurance. The ones of us with any skills are teaching the others. We’re fast learners.”

“Why do it in secret? It’s your Homeland. You can do whatever you want.”

“Tell that to your people.” He hesitated. “They denied our requests when we asked for a space to train just for such a purpose or to have their instructors train our males in fighting skills. Now we do it ourselves in the men’s dorm out of their sight. We have removed all cameras inside. We tore them out when security refused to comply.”

She frowned. “Mike doesn’t tell on you to the director?”

“The dorm father?” Fury shook his head. “He drinks smelly alcohol every evening. After nine, a bomb could go off inside his apartment and he wouldn’t move. He has no idea what we do at night.”

“I’m sorry you have to do that.” She didn’t know what else to say. “If your women want to train here, I won’t tell on them. They won’t have to hide it from me.”

He shrugged. “We work around the roadblocks they throw in our path but thank you for the offer to the women. I’ll pass it along. One way or another, we’re going to become self-sufficient.”

“I know you will.”

He reached up but then froze midair, his fingers inches from her face.

Ellie couldn’t resist inching closer until the tips of his fingers brushed her check. Fingers curled around the curve of her face, slid into her hair, and she pressed her face against his palm. His touch soothed her. She wouldn’t say it aloud but she’d been happy to see him even under horrific circumstances.

Ellie raised her gaze to his. “Thank you for saving me.”

His dark eyes were beautiful and some unknown emotion flickered inside them for a heartbeat. “I told you I don’t want you dead anymore.” He caressed her face. “I was worried about you.”