Aurelia huffs and slams the worn paperback closed. I’ve read it. It’s not bad, so I can understand her irritation at being drawn away from it, though I doubt that’s the only reason she’s glaring daggers at Thorin. As if there is an invisible leash tethering me to her, I stand when she does, and it draws her gaze over her shoulder. The moment our eyes meet, her chin wobbles from the rejection she thinks she knows is coming, and she turns away again. “Fine.”
Khalil walks over to the kitchen island and starts shoving a few of the snacks he got for her into her pack before moving to the sink and filling her canteen with water. Thorin hands Aurelia the yellow bathing suit he’s holding, and for the first time, Aurelia notices we’re all in swimming trunks.
“Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.”
Aurelia’s frown deepens, and then she attempts to sidestep Thorin to enter his bedroom. He quickly blocks her path.
“What the hell, Thor? I thought you wanted me to change?”
“Change here.”
“Why?”
“I don’t trust you not to lock yourself in the bathroom again.”
“Sure. That’s why.” Aurelia turns away and tosses over her shoulder, “Pervert.”
She misses Thorin’s eye roll as she pulls her dress over her head and drops it on the floor. I suck in a breath at the sight of her naked body, so I notice too late that Aurelia’s watching me with a glint in her eyes that spells trouble.
I guess I’m up to receive her ire.
She saunters over to me, bathing suit in hand and completely secure in her nakedness, and I decide in that moment to match her energy. I stay where the fuck I am even though she’s expecting me to run. They all are. Thorin and Khalil are already tense from the explosion they see coming a mile away. When Aurelia stands in front of me—so close our bare toes nearly touch—I inch a little closer and watch the way her pulse quickens.
“Something you want to say to me?”
She visibly swallows past the nerves that are warning her I won’t be the easy adversary she mistook me for. “Bathing suits are complicated,” she says despite the simple one-piece that Thorin procured for her. “Will you help me?”
My gaze flicks to Thorin and Khalil who are both scowling at their girlfriend. And me, like I’m poaching on their territory. Technically, she’s not mine, so it does sort of feel as if I’m stepping over some line.
And just like that, I’m hard again.
Fuck it. If there’s any hope of Aurelia telling me what happened between her and Seth that fateful day, then maybe it starts here. By earning her trust. Still, I feel the need to warn her.
“You’re playing with fire, princess.”
“What can I say, Ezekiel? Maybe I like the burn.”
I take the bathing suit from Aurelia and crouch, which puts her pretty pussy level with my face. I want to kiss it so bad that my hold on the suit tightens and I come dangerously close to ripping the material in half. Instead, I stretch the neck wide so that she can step inside. Aurelia braces her hands on my shoulders, and I feel her fingers flex curiously at the bunched muscles there before she sticks one foot through the hole followed by the other, bringing her even closer to my mouth.
Her scent is a goddamn drug.
I lick my lips and then quickly wrestle the snug material up her curvy body until I’m standing again. Aurelia works her arms through the straps and then adjusts the square-neck bodice over her breasts.
“Thank you.”
I nod and walk away without a word because I don’t trust what will come out if I do.
I go into the kitchen to fill my own canteen, and when I return, Aurelia is wearing denim overalls over her bathing suit and her tan hiking boots with purple laces. She has her pack on and is studiously ignoring whatever Khalil is whispering to her as he hands Aurelia her bow and quiver.
When she doesn’t respond, he sighs and takes her hand. Aurelia doesn’t snatch her hand back, but that could easily be explained by the tight grip Khalil has on her hand. I frown at it and feel my teeth clench with the effort to feign indifference before Khalil glances my way and nearly catches me. “You ready?”
I nod and grab my pack and the crossbow from where they’re waiting by the stairs. “Yeah.”
“Wait,” Aurelia says when we all take a step toward the door. “I have to do something before we go.” She wrangles her hand free from Khalil’s and then disappears downstairs.
The three of us exchange a look, but I’m the only one who knows what she’s really doing—radioing the sheriff. I can feel Thorin and Khalil’s impatience and confusion but none of us say a word when she returns. Khalil just reclaims her hand and we leave.
