“I beg your pardon, butwhatkind of boon have you deluded yourself into thinking you’re getting?” I demanded, my cheeks hot.
He grinned. “I’m going to massage your legs. I know, the bed makes things confusing, but it’s not the kind of boonyouwould have wanted to ask for if you’d won.”
I gasped. “I would have never asked for something… somethinguntoward.”
I might have imagined it. For a moment. But it was his fault for planting the thought in my head if I had.
His grin was now a smirk. “I saidwantedto ask, not that you would’ve had the courage to do so.” I was still sputtering when he continued, “Besides, it makes sense. You wanted to see how the horses had to be cared for, right? Rubbed down so their muscles won’t be so sore tomorrow? This is the same thing.”
“So now I’m Alphonse in this scenario?” I grumbled.
He arched a brow. “Actually, Old Molly. A grumpy mare, ready to trample me.”
“Too bad you can’t bribe me with sugar cubes,” I retorted.
“I don’t need to bribe you. You agreed to the bet. I won.” He took a step closer, peering down at me under thick lashes. “Am I going to have to toss you on that bed to collect?”
He was joking, surely? I looked at his eyes again.
No. He wasn’t joking.
I swallowed, my chest bindings suddenly feeling too tight. “I want set parameters. This is all taking place over my breeches.”Even that concession was almost impossible to get out without looking away.
Raphael’s eyes went wide. “I would never suggest something so untoward as pulling your clothing off for this. Is that what you imagined foryourboon?”
I ground my teeth. I wasn’t going to let him weasel out of a real answer. “Agreed?”
“Agreed. Onto the bed.”
I walked over to the bed and sat. “And you stay below the knee.”
That wouldn’t be so bad, right?
“Are your calves the only part of you that’s sore?” he countered.
My thighs and hindquarters were killing me. “Raphael, be reasonable.”
“I’m the picture of reason,” he countered. “You’re drinking animal blood because you insist on it. That means you’ll recover more slowly. You’re learning to ride at an aggressive pace, in uneven terrain. The soreness has had time to settle. The pain will be much worse tomorrow, even with your healing. What’s unreasonable is sitting there with your boots on like you can run out the clock.”
He made it sound sosensible. In that tone of voice, it might’ve seemed entirely rational to strip naked for him.
“Legs only,” I said, even as he stepped close. I had to lift my chin to look at him when he reached the edge of the bed.
“Deal.”
I unlaced and set my boots aside. For whatever reason, my fingers shook undoing the laces. I yanked on the boot, but it caught on my heel. Damn shoe—
Suddenly Raphael knelt before me. He grabbed my calf with one hand and used his long, pale fingers to loosen the cord.
“I can manage on my own,” I said. My hands curled into fists at my side, my chest tight at the sight of Raphael kneeling before me, hand still firm on my thigh as he pulled the boot off.
“Of course you can.” He switched to my other foot and quickly unthreaded the laces.
The boot fell beside the other. Raphael tipped his head up, looking at me. Hand still on me. The sturdy fabric suddenly felt damningly thin.
We’d ridden together for days now. I tried to convince myself this contact was no different, but every part of my body registered the difference. I could imagine what else his steady touch could do.
“On your back now,” Raphael commanded.
