The door of her room opened, the sound reaching her through the cracked opening of the bathing chamber.
Thalia craned her head to find Cassius in the bedroom. She sank back in the tub, scowling.
Cassius didn’t seem to realize she was in there, because he shuffled about the room before slinging off his tunic as he aimed for the bathing chamber. His hands went to the buckle of his belt, snapping it off as he pushed open the door and froze.
Thalia raised a brow as he slowly took her in. “Were you going to take a bath?” she asked, smirking.
Cassius jerked his eyes to hers. “No.”
Thalia shrugged, her fingertips trailing in the water. “Shame. It’s been a tense last few twenty-four hours. I was going to suggest you join me.”
The muscle in Cassius’s jaw flickered, then he caught the gleam in her eye and he quickly relaxed, leaning against the doorframe. He crossed his arms over his chest. “Shall I add this to the list of things to not tell the prince when he returns?”
“If you like.” Thalia met his gaze, and he seemed to take extra care to stare at her face. “Oh please, Cassius. It’s not like you’ve never seen me naked before.”
“That was different.”
“How?”
“You weren’t married to someone else.”
“That thought didn’t seem to stop you last night.”
Cassius raised a brow in challenge. Then he slowly looked her over, the little bits of suds left in the tub doing nothing to hide her body. Each sweep of his heated gaze set her skin on fire, and she was grateful for the steam gathering along the mirror—that her face was already flushed because of it.
“I suppose old habits die hard,” he finally said, meeting her gaze once more.
Thalia’s anger spiked. “Is that what I am to you? An old habit?”
“Am I not yours?”
Thalia barked out a laugh, standing. Water sloshed off her body and Cassius straightened. She ignored him as she grabbed her silk dressing robe. But she didn’t put it on as she got out of the tub. She walked toward him, dressing gown in hand, leaving a trail of water in her wake. “Do you want to know why I kissed you last night?” she asked low, stopping before him.
Cassius didn’t move, his eyes once more glued on hers. Every hard line of his body was taut, a bow threatening to snap. “Why?” he got out.
Thalia trailed her fingers up his arm, leaving droplets of water along his hot skin. “I had an itch that needed to be scratched.”
“Clearly.”
Thalia smirked, her fingers drawing down across his pectorals to the line of his stomach. She flicked her gaze up, finding his attention on her hand as it traveled lower.
“But frankly, I would have done that with anyone. You just happened to be the only person in the room.”
Cassius slowly raised his gaze to hers. “Is that so?”
“Mm-hmm,” Thalia hummed, her nails scratching lightly against the skin of his lower abs. “But that itch has been dealt with, so no need to worry about adding more incidents to your list.”
Cassius’s eyes flared. “By who?”
Thalia’s grin stretched, delight spearing through her at his sudden interest. She pressed closer, the tips of her breasts nearly brushing against his chest. “Wouldn’t it kill you to know?”
Cassius’s jaw flickered, once, then twice. “You should get dressed. You’ll catch cold.” He brushed past her, aiming for the sink. “And I’d be careful of your shoulder; you wouldn’t want to further injure yourself.”
Thalia nearly crowed in triumph as his back stiffened. But she kept her lips sealed moving into the bedroom and didn’t bother to get dressed.
Cassius didn’t come to bed that night.
He didn’t even sleep on the settee, and Thalia slept poorly because of it. When morning came, there was no indication that he’d even be there at all.
