Dey was aroused.
I racked my brain for any information about what had happened between us, but only came up with a black wall. I remembered the throne room. I remembered the panic attack. And I remembered begging Dey to help me. After that… there was nothing. How could there be nothing?
I grabbed the edge of the quilt and lifted it to look beneath, letting out a sigh of relief when I realized that I was still dressed. Well, mostly. Someone had put me in a thin burgundy nightgown.
Dey shifted again, this time pressing his hips closer, and that was all the confirmation I needed. Dey and I didnothave sex last night, because if the hard length pressing into my ass had ever been between my legs, I would definitely be feeling sore.
I rolled onto my other side so I was facing him and noted that I had been wrong about one thing—he was not actually awake. Naked and aroused, yes, but his eyes were shuttered, and his face displayed a soft, easy relaxation that only came with sleep.
As much as I knew I shouldn’t, I reached out and ran my fingers along his jaw, caressing the spot near his mouth where I knew the dimple would pop up when he smiled. There were no lines on his face. No scars or imperfections to mar his smooth sun-kissed skin. He appeared almost inhuman. Angeliceven. The more I contemplated his face, the more I felt… sad. Imperfections were what made us unique and told the stories of our lives. His dimple when he smiled was dazzling, sure, but right now, with his face completely relaxed, he was just this blank canvas waiting for someone to paint the story of his life.
I let my gaze wander a little lower, to the tattoos that adorned his arms. The swirling design started at his wrists and ran all the way up both arms to brush the very edges of his clavicles. I resisted the strong urge to trace the pattern with my fingers. Touching his face was one thing, but running my hands over those muscles was a bad idea. Especially since rolling over had lined up the hardest parts of him with some very soft parts of me. Parts that were beginning to pulse with heat as I allowed my eyes to drop a bit lower to take a peek at…
“Rain?”
Every muscle in my body tensed at the sound of his voice. Painfully, I dragged my eyes away from where our bodies were pressed together and forced myself to meet his eyes.
He was definitely awake now.
“Yes, Dey?” I asked, trying to sound casual.
His eyes filled with amusement and a hint of male satisfaction. “What are you doing?”
“I was, um, about to wake you up.”
“I see.” His knowing smile spread a little wider. “And now that I am awake, was there something you wanted to… do?”
My mind went to a disturbingly smutty place, and another wave of heat thrummed through me as my treacherous eyes started to wander south again, taking in the hard plane of his chest, the definitive ridges of his abs, the dusting of golden hair just below his navel…
“Princess, I need you to tell me exactly what you are thinking right now.”
Something about the word princess hit me like a cold shower. A reminder of exactly where I was and what I had been through. The rational part of my brain woke up, and I adjusted my body backward slightly.
“I was thinking,” I began, confident that my libido was now on the backburner, “that it would be great if you could answer some questions for me. Specifically, where are your clothes, where are my clothes, and where the hell am I?”
Dey sighed, seemingly realizing that his chances of things progressing more physically had ended. Rolling onto his back, he stretched like a giant cat, then adjusted himself to face me.
“I can assure you, Rain, nothing inappropriate happened last night.”
I narrowed my eyes on him. “We might have somewhat different definitions of the word inappropriate. I can promise you I’ve never woken up with a naked man and thought, 'my what a chaste evening we just had.' I’m going to need a few more details.”
“Allow me to assuage your fears then,” he said gallantly. “You had another episode in the throne room yesterday.”
“Yeah, I remember that. Can we skip ahead to the part where you’re naked?”
“Well, after you fell asleep, the King had me bring you here to rest. He was very concerned for you, Princess.”
I grimaced. Great first impression, Rain.
“We both felt it would be best after your ordeal that you got some good sleep,” he continued. “I remained here with you in case my abilities were needed again. You must have been very exhausted because you did not stir once throughout the night.”
“Yeah, it’s not every day you get abducted to a different dimension. Tends to take a lot out of a girl. Now, about my clothes?” I glanced down pointedly at the nightgown.
“The servants took them to be washed. They also dressed you as I thought you might not appreciate if I were the one to do so.”
He was right about that. “And your clothes?”
Dey gave me a sly grin. “It was very warm last night.”
