I tilted my head back and laughed in earnest, my soul soaking up the levity. But my body stopped it short, and I winced, amusement abandoning me.
“You’re right,” I said. “It would be stupid to go in clothed.” I’d spent enough time in the wild to know the implications of such a decision, summertime or no. Besides, snow still hung to the mountaintops here, meaning the evening air would be biting.
“Okay, then. Put me down,” I said, and Tarrin gently released me to the rocky ground just beyond the water’s reach.
Even sitting took more out of me than I’d expected, and I toppled over as I moved to pull off my shirt, Tarrin’s firm hands stopping me from taking a face full of rocks.
I let out a resolved sigh, knowing there was no way around it. “I need your help,” I admitted, finding his gaze.
“Undressing you?”
“No, hiking that mountain,” I quipped, nodding to the highest peak.
His full lips pulled into a narrow line.
“Tarrin, you’ve seen me naked before. I don’t understand what the problem is.”
“It’s improper for us to be alone, for me to help, you for…”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Stars, you guys really show your age sometimes.”
He scowled but relented.
As my adrenaline wore off, every small movement stabbed me. Gently, as if Tarrin were stroking the tip of a butterfly’s wing, he unzipped my top and helped pull it off. My breath caught at the brief pain before I silently thanked the stars that I was wearing undergarments today—Thaddeus had learned firsthand it wasn’t always my preference.
Tarrin took my top and laid it on a large boulder behind him, then turned back.
“Gods, Nyleeria,” he said as he took me in.
I glanced down to find deep-purple bruising splattered across my torso.
“It still looks better than I feel,” I said dryly.
Tarrin shook his head and let out a long, deep sigh—although he couldn’t help but smirk. It was the most Tarrin thing I’d seen from him in a while, and somehow it settled something within me, like the initial comforting touch of a salve.
With my mobility impaired, freeing me of my skirt was an awkward endeavor at best, and it didn’t help that Tarrin blushed fiercely at the sight of my legs, then whipped his head to the side, averting his gaze.
Turning back to the boulder, Tarrin lifted my shirt and laid my skirt down on the rock, then carefully placed my shirt back on top. My heart softened at the kind consideration he’d shown, not just now but in general. He proceeded to undress himself, then rolled his clothes in a haphazard ball and tossed them in a pile to the side. I quirked my head to the side, wondering what logic had just gone through his mind. Male logic, most likely. I shook my head and smiled.
He was more careful with his weapons, leaning his daggers against the large rock. Thank the stars he was armed. The blades would come in handy in procuring food and making a fire.
Although I was exhausted and beaten down, I could appreciate Tarrin’s figure, thicker than his counterparts and well-proportioned.
Now in just his undergarments, he faced me, and something like shame stared back at me as his hands covered his privates, even though he wasn’t fully naked.
Tarrin cast his glance down to the pebbles as he said, “I’m sorry. It doesn’t mean anything. I can’t help it. You’re very attractive… I’m a man, and…” It took me a few heartbeats to realize what he was apologizing for—helping me undress had aroused him.
I resisted the urge to laugh and had to swallow the cackle that wanted to come loose, knowing it would’ve hurt both of us.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “The water will take care of it for you.”
He shook his head in amusement, both of us knowing all too well the effect freezing water had on a man.
Tarrin continued to cup himself with both hands as he awkwardly half waddled, half shuffled toward me. There wasn’t even a phantom of the swagger I’d grown accustomed to, and it made him look vulnerable in a way I hadn’t thought possible.
Removing his hands to lift me, I averted my gaze, making sure to look up at him out of respect, knowing this wasn’t easy for him.
The evidence of his arousal did, in fact, dissipate as the water deepened. I noticed then that he was perfectly clean and didn’t need to wash himself in the frigid, crystal-clear water. He was doing it for me.
