Amelia smoothed her skirts and looked straight ahead. “No. I’m nervous.”
He didn’t believe her, but he owed her his trust anyway. Accusing her of lying would do him no favors.
Once outside his—their—rooms, he opened the door and stood aside.
Amelia walked past him and surveyed the rooms with child-like wonder, leaving whatever worries she had in the hallway. “This is incredible,” she breathed, floating between the sitting room, bedroom, dressing room, and bathroom.
“Are these mine?”
“Ours,” he corrected.
She turned slowly. “Ours?”
He took measured steps toward her, clasping his handsbehind his back to keep from touching her. “If you’d rather not share a bed, I will have another prepared for you.”Please stay.
She rubbed her chest mindlessly, deep in thought. Nervousness was not an emotion Rennick felt often, but his own overcame him now.
Her brows furrowed before she dropped her arm and moved her pretty eyes to his. “Is it safe?”
Every muscle in his body tensed. “You don’t feel safe with me?”
Her eyes flared. “I do, but you said no one knows who I am to you, and you told Ora I was a friend.” She motioned around her. “Staying in your rooms might raise red flags.”
“Only a select few of the staff are allowed in the royal rooms, and before we left, they were informed I would have a guest returning with me. They needn’t know anything else.”
“Okay.” Her smile was small but seemed genuine. “I’ll stay.”
Rennick couldn’t stop his own smile from spreading across his face. “I’ll show you where your things are.” With his hand on her lower back, he led her to their dressing room. “Would you like to take a bath before dinner?”
She sighed happily, like he’d offered her a mosquito net in the middle of the Tropical Kingdom. “Yes, please.”
He leaned down and kissed her lips, unable to go another second without her affections. “I’ll run your water.”
Amelia grabbed clean undergarments to put on after her bath and forcefully pushed down the jealousy trying to bubble to the surface since the damned bond would alert Rennick if she couldn’t get herself under control.
The way Ora sneered the wordfriendafter he introduced them made Amelia feel like shit, and the way he’d called that vile womanprincessmade her feel worse. One thing she learnedtoday was that Ora would be a problem, and if Amelia had to fight dirty for her mate, she would.
She didn’t doubt his loyalty now that they were together, but Ora seemed the type to sabotage their relationship any way she could.
Dismissing all thoughts of Ora, Amelia squared her shoulders, determined to seduce her mate today. She’d waited for years after stacks of letters. She would fuck him tonight if it was the last thing she did. What better time than in the bath? He’d run her water, and now he stood in the bathroom, waiting for her.
“Do you need help, love?” he called through the door.
With a steadying breath, she stepped into the bathroom with what she hoped was a seductive smile. “I’m ready.”
Rennick held his hand under the water, adjusted one of the knobs, and pointed to a ceramic tray holding various soaps. “This is for your face, body, and hair,” he said, tapping each bar. “I made them myself.”
He made them himself?She didn’t have time to dwell on the surprising information right now.
You can do this, she told herself,just ask him.If he said no, she would run away and start a new life somewhere warm. “Would you like to bathe with me?” She spoke fast, and the words ran together in the most unattractive way possible. Her nerves made no sense after last night, but meeting Ora had shaken her.
Rennick had been halfway through the door and halted mid-step. He turned and their eyes met, his darkening by the second. “More than anything.”
As he prowled across the room, he removed his shirt with quick, graceful movements. After toeing off his boots, he stood in front of her in nothing but his pants, and his large hand wasted no time trailing from her cheek to the top of her breasts. “Is this your favorite dress?”
She looked down at her clothes. “No?”
“Good,” he all but growled, grabbing the front with both hands and ripping it down the middle. He wet his lips and trailed his eyes over every inch of her exposed skin.
