Stab me in the chest while you’re at it, why don’t you?
Someone knocked on the door, and I opened to let a tall, lean guy about fifteen-years-old carry a big tub inside. He dipped his head toward us both before placing it at the foot of the bed. Leaving, he shut the door behind him.
A flick of Vexxion’s hand, and steam coiled off the water he’d magicked inside.
“Would you like to bathe first?” he said.
“I don’t mind being stinky.” I sounded like a petulant child, but I couldn’t help it.
“Remove your clothing and get into the tub.” This was the voice he’d used when he took someone for a walk.
He’d come back. They wouldn’t.
“I told you I don’t mind if I smell.” I turned to peer out the window again, seeing nothing because the moon had decided to hide behind clouds and my eyes shimmered with tears.
“Tempest,” he warned.
“Vexxion,” I said in the same tone of voice. “Use the tub. I promise I won’t gape at your ass when you step inside.”
I gulped when my clothing disappeared. Slapping my hands over my breasts, I reeled around to face him. “What in all the fates are you doing?”
“Get in the tub.” His lips took on a sardonic twist as his eyes glided down my frame in a heavy caress. “Or stand there if you’d like. I find I enjoy the view.”
“You don’t fuckin’ want me,” I snarled.
I could flit from the room, but something told me to stay where I was. With a lift of my chin, I let my hands drop to mysides. His lingering gaze was a dare I was more than ready to challenge.
Heat only this man could generate spiraled inside me, sinking through my skin, finding my bones and molding them to suit whatever need he might have. My core melted as well, and desire burst inside me like dry tinder teased by flames.
Fuck this.
I flitted into the tub, sinking down until the water sloshed around my shoulders.
“I never said I didn’t want you.” He came around behind me and grabbed the small cloth from a low table nearby. Soap had appeared there in a pretty dish as well, plus a slender vase holding a black rose tipped with silver. How could he know I loved them when nothing else of the man I craved had come back through the ether? “For whatever reason,” he added, “I find I do.”
“Do you remember me yet?”
“No.”
“Then you can’t have me.” Not until he knew who I was, until he loved me once more.
“Are you sure?” He dipped the cloth into the water and lathered it with the soap. “Lean forward.”
“Don’t do this,” I ground out, though I did as he asked.
He ran the cloth slowly down my back. Up again. Then downward, each stroke gliding across my skin in a languid way that made heat burst inside me.
“You like this,” he rasped. “I do too.”
“You’re just helping me with my bath.” My voice came out thready. It was all I could do not to turn around, to shove mybreast into his hand, to put my fingers on his nape and drag his mouth down to my own.
“If you say so.” He guided the cloth around my right shoulder and dipped it down between my breasts. Across the right one, where he paused to rub the nipple.
Tipping my head back, I released a moan I could no easier hold back than I could a storm raging across the sea.
“You’re very responsive,” he whispered by my ear. “IwishI could remember.”
Would he ever, or would we have to build anew from here? I was a fool to snap and snarl at him. He was here with me now. He was still the Vexxion I’d fallen in love with, the one who’d fallen for me.
