She was shivering.
I pushed the window closed again and sat down by her feet. “Here, put on your clothes. It will help.”
“I just need to warm up. That shower was pathetic.” But her teeth chattered all the way through the sentence.
I clenched my jaw. “Sit up.”
She clutched the blankets to her as she did so. I sifted through the small pile of clothes and extracted what I thought was the upper body undergarment. “Here. Put this on.”
Her eyes met mine, and I couldn’t begin to interpret the emotions that flitted through them. Then her chin lifted, and she dropped the blanket pinned to her chest to snatch the silky bit from my fingers.
As I had noted before, her breasts were perfect. It was like being punched in the gut—all the breath left my body in a single, violent exhalation.
Her eyes never left me as she lifted her arms and pulled the undergarment over her head. But slowly, her breasts giving little jiggles as she squirmed inch by inch, until the black silk finally slipped over them to hide them from view.
But not from my imagination. I opened my mouth, but I couldn’t speak. Instead, I picked her tee shirt up with fingers that ached to touch her skin, and handed it to her.
As she took it from me, her eyes drifted down my body, and I shifted a bit away from her. Not even the dim light in the room could hide her effect on me, and when her eyes returned to mine, they gleamed.
“There are better ways to warm up,” she said.
I swallowed, and gave her the truth. “You don’t want me, Riley. It’s my Satyr calling to you—and it would devour you in an instant. If you knew the things I’ve done, you wouldn’t want to be in the same room as me.”
Riley tilted her head to regard me. “That was Isobel, not you.”
She was only hoping that was true. She didn’t know, not really. With a breaking heart, bracing for the condemnation I knew would come, I said, “Not always.”
I watched her gaze darken. Was she remembering the man I’d killed in the alley? I hoped so. It would help her to recognize the demons I hid inside.
Her hand shook like she had the plague. I longed to fold my arms around her and give her my body heat. But that wouldn’t be all that I would give her if I touched her.
Finally, she sighed and slipped the tee shirt on. I reached for the remaining clothes, and lifted what were clearly her panties.
As she took them from me, our fingertips brushed, and a shudder ran straight through me. She froze with her fingers still in contact, looking straight into my eyes.
My scent surged wildly.
The door lock turned, followed by a soft rapping. “It’s me, Lucas.”
Riley actually cursed. The fact that we could have been going at it like animals upon Lucas’s return didn’t seem to enter the equation.
I stood up, rather stiffly, and made my way over to the door. Rustling behind me indicated Riley was climbing into the rest of her clothes.
“You decent?” I asked, without turning around.
“Fuck.” More rustling, followed by a, “Yeah.”
I undid the chain, and Lucas came in. He carried an armload of cloth and a pack he hadn’t left with, and lifted his head to sniff.
“Effing hell,” he exclaimed, eyes widening. “Is that all from you?”
It must be strong, to be noticeable by a male, too.
Lucas handed the pack to Riley. “Got us some food,” he said. Then he strode to the window and pushed it open.
“She’s cold,” I pointed out.
“Better now.” Riley did appear to have stopped shivering.
