Page 61 of Anywhere

“I be needin’ ta ask… Do ya regret what ya did for Mari and me? Cause yer actin’ like ya do.”

Rook placed his hands on the tiled wall and sighed. “Yes. No. Shit. No, I’m not, but, fuck, I can’t think about it. I can’t even look at you without wanting to punch your face.”

I burst out laughing and earned myself another glare. “Ya tell me about it. Weeks, Rook, fuckin’ weeks. The pain nearly killed me. I had to block ya outta me mind and started markin’ X’s on a cally until da next ritual moon when I could be acceptin’ da rejection. Every goddamn day it be da same pain ova and ova. Ya think one night be bad, try dat on fir size. Yer lucky I didn’t meet ya at the air strip, stab ya with me sword and be sendin’ yer body back ta yer da and trust me, it was temptin’.”

He turned and leaned against the tile, and I couldn’t keep my already travelling eyes from roaming over my chosen. No matter what we thought of the ritual or the spirits and their choices, they did know how to pair.

“If I’d known, I would’ve at least met you first. I’m a fucking piece of shit most of the time, but I’m not that bad.” He ran his hand through his wet hair, and I desperately wanted to be those droplets of water.

“I thought I was going mad last night. Doesn’t help that I’m a bit of the jealous sort, and I don’t like to share what’s mine unless it’s by my design.” He crossed his arms over his chest and looked away from my stare.

I smirked. “A bit of da jealous sort, ya say?”

“Fuck off,” Rook said, but the corner of his mouth tugged up.

I pulled off my shirt and tossed it aside and those magnetic blue eyes, which looked so much like a rippling body of water, locked with my own.

“Do ya know what happened last night?” I asked, kicking off my boots.

“I’m pretty sure I can guess. I don’t need you giving me a blow-by-blow about you and my cousin,” Rook said, making me shake my head.

“Naw, no’ about me and Mari. I mean about me and ya.” My hand went to the buckle on my kilt. His eyes dropped to my hands while his tongue ran over his bottom lip. I let the kilt fall, and the relaxed muscles all flexed. It felt like the room’s temperature had risen a few more degrees.

“No, I don’t know,” Rook said, but his voice was soft, like he hadn’t committed to the words as he stared at my body. I liked that look on his face.

Stepping forward so that we were both under the spray, I stared him in the eyes. “Ya made me tink dat ya jus might be a good number one after all, dat ya be made wit honour even if ya try ta hide it.”

“There is something we should talk about,” Rook said, then groaned as I cupped his face. The connection power raced faster around the small room. Even the water seemed to sizzle as it came into contact with the energy.

“It be important?” I asked.

Our lips brushed, and I softly nipped at his lip. I needed us to take this step forward. The connection magic was intense, and the chemistry was off the charts. I wanted to know if I could genuinely fall in love with him. It was too much to think about, so I would start with him and then our third when we found her.

He licked his lips. “It can wait,” his voice as ragged as I felt.

“Good.”

Rook swallowed hard as I dropped my hands to either side of his body, and the heat seeped into my fingers. We groaned in unison as the connection healed the hurt between us. That was the beautiful and dangerous thing with a fated connection. Some people were truly sadistic and could purposely hurt their other two partners over and over, but the connection would repair the damage with close proximity time and time again.

“Ya know what else?”

“What?” Rook gripped my hips, mirroring my position, and pulled me closer.

“Ya made me think dat there be more layers ta Rook Adair den da self-centred twat who arrived,” I said, making him smirk.

“Fuck, it feels so good to be near you,” Rook closed his eyes. The glittering magic whipped around us faster as it twined us together. “Why didn’t it hurt before I came here?” he asked.

Dropping my head, I nipped at his neck and drew lines along his skin with my tongue, making Rook groan.

“I don’t get it. I don’t fully understand,” Rook said, then sucked in a gasp when I gripped his ass. “Explain it to me.”

With a growl, he pushed me backwards slowly until my back came into contact with the cool stone of the shower wall. I gripped him tighter.

“You’re so fucking distracting,” Rook mumbled as he attacked the spot where he’d already left his mark. “You make it hard for me to think straight.”

I smirked and closed my eyes, soaking in the bond that had been calling to me for weeks. The power that had made me feel like I was somehow drowning in the middle of a desert. There was simply no relief until now.

Lifting his head, Rook gripped my face and forced me to look at him. “Explain to me why it always hurt for you and not for me. Tell me why when I was overseas, you suffered, but the night that I arrived, you had four women, and I never felt a thing? Explain to me why suddenly, with Mari, it was like being kicked in the chest by a donkey while having my heart ripped out?”