“Where?” Nik rose from the chair and strolled near, his face all hard angles and coiled violence. Cognizance prickled through her, the pull of him so intense she hastily dropped her focus to the gray t-shirt he wore, the soft fabric stretching over his muscular chest, revealing his powerful inked arms and strong neck. Did those tatts cover his torso, too?
“Very well.” He stopped a foot from her. “Go on, then. Walk out.”
And that snapped her out of her foolish thoughts. “You’re impossible.”
“You collapsed in my arms, Starshine. So, it’s my call. You stay in bed.”
Frustrated at him taking over her life, Shadow shoved up from the mattress and swayed. Oh, man—
Strong arms swept her off her feet before she face-planted, and she groaned, her achy head not appreciating the sudden movement. Her gaze settled on the snakehead with the macabre smirk inked on his neck when she realized he was walking, with her in his arms. “What are you doing?” she gasped, then gaped as a white door adjacent to the bed magically opened.
“You need the bathroom, and I’m helping you.”
Oh, Lord. Why?Heat seared her face. “No, put me down!”
“You’ve been feverish and asleep for almost eighteen hours. Of course, you do.”
Nik entered a spacious, elegant cream and bottle-green bathroom and lowered her to her feet. She wobbled and grabbed his arm, trying not to inhale his warm, masculine scent that always turned her mind and bones to mush.
When she didn’t feel as if she would collapse at his feet and could stand on her own, she stepped back. He folded his arms over his chest and waited. Really?
Most would doubtless be scared of his hard stare. Her mouth just ran off. “Jeez, I’m not using the darn thing with you watching. Go away.”
“Since you asked sonicely…” He strolled out, shutting the door behind him.
Infuriating immortal.
Rubbing her burning cheeks, Shadow made her way across the marbled floor. Facilities used, she trudged to the sink. Ignoring her woefully uninspiring reflection in the mirror above, because she couldn’t wave a magic wand and get rid of her wan complexion and sunken eyes, she turned on the faucet.
After a quick wash, she wiped her face with a fluffy white towel then stopped short. Her chest ached way less than it had eighteen hours ago… Hastily, she dropped the towel on the counter and lifted the borrowed t-shirt. Someone had patched her up. Carefully, she eased the tape from one side of her gauzed-covered injury and winced at the sight of the slow-healing lesion. A rush of dizziness swept through her, and she grabbed the counter edge.
When her head didn’t feel as if it would spin off her neck, with shaky hands, she retaped the gauze. Frowning, she pressed the bunched-up shirt to her nose. A faint trace of detergent along with a stomach-curling scent of stormy nights, cedar, and a hint of leather teased her senses. Nik.
Did he put his shirt on her?
Heat flooded her face, and she hurriedly blocked her naked breasts with her arm, which was stupid, considering he’d already seen her boobs. Hopefully, he thought the nodes were body jewelry. Most did so anyway if they ever caught a glimpse of them.
A knock sounded. “Shadow?”
“Give me a minute,” she grumbled. But knowing he waited in the bedroom, her tummy flipped. Man, she wished she didn’t feel this knee-jerk reaction to him every time she saw him. Not only was her attraction pointless, considering what she was, but he didn’t appear affected at all by their too-brief, albeit scorching kiss.
You started it, or he would have never kissed you.
Gah, stupid conscience. Well, she could be mature about this. She simply wouldn’t mention the t-shirt. Or that he saw her boobs. There.
She trudged like a snail to the door—wooziness and her trembling body refusing to cooperate with the purposeful saunter she would have given a kidney to accomplish—and opened it.
Nik turned from the window, his stare going down her body to her bare thighs and back up again. And wouldn’t you know it, her faithless body lit up.
On shaky legs that had nothing to do with being hurt, she lurched over to the bed and collapsed onto the mattress like the invalid she was, breaking her fall with her elbows.
He flashed to her side, reaching out to help her up. “You okay?
She glared at his outstretched palm. Touch him when she was already so aware of him? Yeah, no.
She pushed up under her own anemic steam and sat. “You’re gonna give me a heart attack with your Casper impersonation, popping up right in front of me,” she grumbled, brushing away the hand he placed on her brow.
“Casper?”
