“We’re running.”
“I can see that.” I can also see more disapproving faces staring out at us from under the safety of the tents, but I find it hard to care this time. This is heaven for me. But for Monty…he’s not normally playful like this. His play tends more toward words and jests. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so much as canter. “We could wait it out.”
“We could, but you wanted to run, didn’t you?” His curls have uncoiled into damp strands that cling to his face as he turns a wild smile to me. “You love the rain.”
My pulse kicks up, and I can’t take my eyes off his face as he continues to pull me on. I’m so moved I could cry. He knows I love the rain. He heard me say so when no one else did. He could tell I wanted to frolic and play.
I utter a yelp as my foot slips in the slick grass, but my shout quickly dissolves into another strain of laughter. “We might fall.”
“We might,” he says. “That’s why I’m holding on to you. I can take you down with me.”
“So we can fall together.”
“Something like that.”
We’re nearing the park’s entrance now, where a line of coaches await. Soon our jog will be at an end, and I wish with all my heart it would last.
I’m stillbreathless as our hansom cab pulls up outside my apartment building, and my fingers are chilled to the bone. The rain has only let up slightly and the temperature has dropped. That’s Earthen Court spring for you.
A giddy smile curves my mouth as we dart from the cab through a light sheet of rain. We race up the steps to my building’s entrance and catch our breath all over again.
“That was probably the most fun I’ve had in this body,” I say, facing Monty on the top step.
I expect some quip about how I clearly need to do more interesting things with my body, but it doesn’t come. Instead, Monty gives a shaky nod. “I’m glad,” he says through mildly chattering teeth.
I frown, taking in his pallor contrasting the pink in his cheeks and nose. “Are you all right? You’re pale but your cheeks are flushed.” I lift a hand to his cheek. His eyes widen at my touch, but he doesn’t pull away. “You’re burning up.”
“I’m a little sensitive to rain.”
“You’re sensitive to rain?” I echo with a scolding look. “Torain? The stuff we just ran through and soaked ourselves with? And why the hell are you sensitive to it?” A ripple of panic moves through me. I’ve heard some humans with weak constitutions are prone to suffer during rain and cold weather, but Monty has never seemed anything but fit.
“I’ll be fine.” He tries to give me a reassuring grin, but its effect is negated by the hunch of his shoulders and the way he crosses his bare forearms over his chest in an attempt to warm up.
“And you gave me your jacket! Monty, you fool. Come on. I don’t care if you were already planning on coming up or not, because you are now.”
“I really will be fine, Daph. I was merely walking you to your door like a gentleman, but I’ll be on my way.”
My heart clenches at how much weaker his voice sounds than usual. I glance out at the street where the hansom cab has already departed. “No, you’re coming inside.” When he opens his mouth to argue, I say, “Come inside or I’ll bite you. I’m incapable of lying, which means I must follow through. Now do what I say, or Iwillbite you. Hard.”
A corner of his mouth quirks up. “That’s just a recipe for a good time.”
“There he is,” I say with a roll of my eyes.
I open the door to my building and am gratified when he follows me inside. I wince with every step we take upstairs, knowing we’re leaving soggy footprints and probably mud behind us. I’ll make it up to my landlady later and clean the stairs myself.
Once inside my apartment, I close the door behind us and order, “Clothes off. Now.”
“Daph—”
“Don’t argue. Just do it. We already made enough of a mess on the stairs. I won’t have my rugs soaked out of misplaced modesty.”
With a resigned grumble, he turns away and begins to strip. I tug off my shoes and stockings, then reach for the tiny pearl buttons at the back of my dress. With them so slick and my fingers so cold, I can hardly gain purchase on a single button. My landlady employs a maid in the building for times like this, but I’d rather not ring for her and draw her attention to the soaked stairs. Instead, I turn my back to Monty.
“Will you loosen my buttons?”
His only answer is a sharp intake of breath.
I glance at him over my shoulder, but now it’s my turn to inhale. He’s dressed down to his underpants, his musculature coated in a sheen of moisture, his hair dripping rivulets over his face. I’ve seen him shirtless twice now, but never out of his trousers. Fresh bruises mar his ribs, proof of his most recent fight at the club. It never occurred to me to go last night, but now I wish I had, just to know how he got each contusion. I’m struck with a sudden realization of how much of his life I’m not a part of. It’s been so easy to fall back into a friendship. To converse like no time at all has passed. Like he didn’t hurt me with his dismissive goodbye all those months ago. But now I’m aware that timehaspassed and Monty has a life outside of work and our arrangement. He has a past I know very little about. He has hobbies I was only vaguely aware of before. He has a sensitivity to rain that I’ve only discovered today. What else is there to know about him?
