He bobbed his head as he approached me. “Ladies first.”
I ducked past him and entered the bathroom, closing the door. I thought about peeling off my suit and washing it, but in the end, I only kicked off my boots, then stepped into the frigid water fully clothed. However uncomfortable, the fabric would eventually dry. I laid back, letting the mud soften and melt off my long tresses, and then I scrubbed my scalp.
The water turned a muddy yellow. I drained it, rinsed off under fresh water, then stepped out of the bath and ran Remo a new one. I grabbed one of the seashell-stitched towels and frictioned my body and hair, shivering from the cold. Wrapping it around me, I stepped out of the bathroom.
Remo frowned. “You bathed with your clothes on?”
“My suit was filthy, and removing it is a pain.” I stared longingly at my deadened Infinity.
“You’re going to catch cold.”
Catching cold.Such a foreign concept for people made of fire. “It’ll dry faster on my skin. Besides, imagine something happens, and we have to bolt for the train.”
He pursed his lips. I was about to tell him that it wasn’t because of him, but wasn’t it? If there’d been two bedrooms, I might’ve considered stripping.
Before I could say anything more, the bathroom door clicked closed behind him. Unlike me, Remo stayed a long time in the bath. I couldn’t imagine it was out of pleasure—how could one enjoy soaking in icy water?—but the privacy was surely welcome. Neither of us had had much of that in the last day . . . days? How long had we been gone? I was braiding my damp hair, wondering if the cloud cover would ever lift, when he finally came back out, a towel wrapped around his neck and his pants back on, even though his top wasn’t.
“Are the snakes back?” Water dribbled off his hair and streamed into all the nooks and crannies of his chest.
I turned back toward the vista. “Can’t see much of anything through this mist.”
After a solid minute of silence, he said, “I thought you’d be sound asleep already.”
Is that why he’d taken his time? To avoid the awkward moment of discussing sleeping arrangements? Had he been hoping I’d be conked out, and he could just slip under the sheets and reserve the awkwardness for the morning after?
He drew the curtains closed, all the while holding my gaze. “Get into bed. I’ll sleep on the floor.”
His gallantry blew my reservations away. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m sure you’re perfectly capable of keeping your hands to yourself.”
His expression changed slowly. “I am, but are you?”
I rolled my eyes. “It’ll be tough, but I’ll power through my lascivious fae urges.”
He shot me a disarming half-smile.
“Besides, I’m so wet, you’re not going to want to snuggle.”
The smile vanished, and his jaw pinkened. He turned and rubbed the towel over his wet hair. Who would’ve thought snuggling would make Remo Farrow blush?
The boy was such a strange mix of smugness and timidity. I liked him all the more for it, which was a perplexing insight to have before getting into bed—albeit fully clothed—beside someone. Especially since the bed was half the size of mine back home, and Remo was neither short-limbed nor narrow-shouldered.
I hung the towel on the doorknob of the empty closet, then slipped under the covers in my uncomfortably damp suit. I considered removing it for all of a second, but good sense sparked and made me keep it on. A moment later, the mattress dipped.
“I’m sorry about having walked in on you back at the inn, Amara. I honestly thought you’d be dressed.” Remo lay over the sheets, his gaze fixed to the timber ceiling.
“Getting dressed here takes a lot more time. That’s another thing I’m going to do the minute we get back.” I refused to wallow in the possibility that we wouldn’t. “I’m going to change intoallof my outfits just for the fun of it.”
He smiled. “That’ll take you a month.”
“I don’t havethatmany outfits.”
“I’ve never seen you wear the same dress twice.”
“That’s because my aunt is the head designer of Neverra. I get new outfits beamed to my Infinity for every occasion.”Okay, I did have an inordinate amount of outfits.
“Your naked gold dress is my personal favorite.”
I arched an eyebrow. “My naked gold dress?”
