“Princess.” Kaz skimmed her cheek and the side of her neck with the backs of his knuckles until he had her attention once more. “I don’t really know whatsiftingmeans, but I know that everything I am is yours. You need me? You need somethingfromme? You take it. We clear?”
Her brows pinched together. “Kaz…”
“No bullshit. No trouble.” He gave her earlobe a playful tug. “Clear?”
He watched her suck her bottom lip between her teeth and bite down. A hot rush of lust compelled him to extract it with his own teeth, but one look at her vulnerable expression forced the urge aside.
“No bullshit,” she whispered, stepping around him.
Kaz shut the door behind her and engaged the lock. Grabbing his go-bag from its place by the back tire, he rested his hand against the small of her back and escorted her the short walk to the bathing facility.
There were only two doors. When he checked behind both, gun aimed and ready, he found two identical rooms complete with open showers, toilets, sinks, and a vending unit that dispensed everything a traveler might need. Like every caravan stop they’d been to, the facility was sparklingly clean — no doubt due to the advanced automated cleaning unit that hosed down and disinfected every surface after guests closed the door.
Content that she would be all right inside while he stood guard, Kaz ushered her in. “Take as long as you need, princess. I’ll make sure you’re safe.”
Atria paused just as her flip flops crossed the tiled threshold. “Aren’t you going to shower?”
“I’m not leaving you alone.”
“But Kaz—”
“No, princess.” He jerked his chin toward the bathroom. “Go on. I’ll be fine.”
He had no desire to stink, particularly now that he shared such close quarters with his mate, but Kaz would trade a couple days without showering for her safety without question.
Atria had other ideas.
A little bit of fire returned to her eyes when she planted her feet and replied, “No.”
Kaz met her unyielding stare with his own. “I’m not leaving you unprotected to do something as frivolous as showering. Deal with it.”
She gave him an exasperated look. “Then comeinwith me.”
Oh.The lust came back, hotter than before, as his gaze traveled from his mate’s stubborn face to the facilities behind her.
There was nothing even remotely sexy about the utilitarian bathing unit and attached toilet, but there wasn’t anything sexy about the back of a stolen SUV, either. He could make it work.
She’s sad and exhausted, asshole.Kaz ground his teeth together as he grasped at the shreds of his restraint.
“Atria, I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to—”
“You said I could have whatever I wanted.” Atria grabbed a fistful of his t-shirt and began to walk backward into the bathroom, her stubborn expression only growing more fierce. “Right now, I want you to shower with me.”
Fuck.
Kaz was an apex predator. He’d trained with the most ruthless, unhinged elves to walk the Earth. He’d blackmailed the powerful and watched men die pitifully. He’d upheld the rule of law from the shadows in his brother’s name, doing the dirty shit no one could ever know about.
His name alone sent men running, and when that didn’t work, his claws and gun did the trick every time.
And yet he found himself powerless to resist one tiny witch when she pulled him inside the bathroom and shut the door behind him. He could only watch her, hungry and admiring, as she stripped out of her clothing without a hint of self-consciousness. He even helped her when she began to tug at his own clothing, a gleam of desperation in her dark eyes.
Clothes off, his holster hung on the clothing hook by the locked door, and his restraint scattered to the wind, Kaz growled, “You make me fucking weak. You know that?”
Atria stepped back to take him in, her eyes gone wide, but he didn’t let her get far. Cupping her waist, he walked her backward into the shower. Her gaze roved over his neck, shoulders, and down to his rapidly hardening cock.
Kaz pressed her back against the cold laminate wall and watched as goosebumps broke out all over her luscious body. There was no fucking way she wasn’t the most perfectly formed woman in the world. Even under the glaring fluorescent lights, she was stunning.
It was one thing to see her,learnher, in the dark of the car. Now Kaz wanted to do it all over again in the light.
