I closed my eyes and turned my head away. “I have done far worse things than kill with what I can do.”
Riley let go of her knees and interlocked her fingers. “Everything tells me that we belong together. You and me and Havoc and Marcus. Yet none of you can even touch me. Well, two of you can’t. The third won’t.”
I couldn’t imagine being able to touch her, and not doing so. “Havoc is a fool,” I ground out.
“What none of you seem to get,” she growled, “Is that it ismychoice, not yours. My life, my risk. You are all treating me like a fragile flower that will wilt at first frost.”
It was a valid point, but she didn’t know, not really. “From your perspective, it might seem so. But you don’t really understand what I can do, or what Marcus has lurking inside him.”
“Then tell me,” she pleaded.
Panic blossomed within me. I couldn’t do it. Couldn’t look her in the eye, and tell her what I’d done. Couldn’t watch the horror dawn, and see the death of the dream I needed to preserve for as long as I possibly could.
I backed away. “I can’t,” I gasped out. I escaped around the wall separating the toilet and shower from the bathing chamber, and leaned against it with my pulse thundering and my body aching.
My angst only increased the scent wafting off me in waves. I wanted her that badly. I hoped the perfumes in the bath would disguise it.
She shuffled around, cursing softly under her breath a few times. And then water sloshed as she lowered herself into the tub.
The thought of that lovely body lowering into the bubbles—I almost couldn’t breathe. I pushed myself off the wall and stripped off first the cloak, then the remnants of the tunic. And finally, my breeches, before stepping into the shower stall.
I was so filthy I longed for heat and steam, but with my body aching, I gritted my teeth and turned off the hot water altogether.
It had absolutely zero effect. I shivered as the icy cold water cascaded over me, and my teeth chattered, but I was as rigid as ever. Worse, maybe.
I bent to twist the hot water tap, and glorious heat pulsed over me. I slathered myself in three different kinds of soaps, trying to mask my scent. My hand slid over my slick skin—
Dammit.
Before I’d formed the conscious decision to do so, my hand stroked along my shaft. Riley was so close, lying naked in a fragrant bath—my breath caught, and I started thrusting hard. My fingers twisted over the swollen tip as lightning raced through to the base of my spine, and back again. I was so aroused it took only seconds for my balls to pull up tight, and then I was biting my lip to suppress my shout as the pulsing surges passed through me, splashing heat into the cascade of water.
I stood amid it, and rested my head against the wall. Even the thought of her in that damned tub had me growing hard again. But she was so sick—if she fell asleep in there, she might drown.
The thought had me squeezing the water out of my hair, and stepping out of the stall. I sneaked a peek around the corner—
She had her head back on the small cushion inlaid in the tub wall, and her eyes were closed. Was she asleep?
I slipped into my breeches—but couldn’t stomach the tunic. It was stiff with dirt and sweat, torn, and stained with blood. The cloak was in much better shape, but far too warm to wear inside.
There were robes hanging on the wall just outside the shower area, and I tiptoed around the corner to pull one on. Grabbed another, and approached the bath.
Riley didn’t stir, and as I drew near, I saw that her shivering had stopped. When I dipped my finger in the water, it was already cooling. Should I wake her?
I padded in bare feet out into the hall and found a lavish bedroom. I pulled down the covers and returned to Riley.
“Hey,” I said. “Time to dry off.”
She moaned, and her head moved from side to side, but although her eyelids flickered, they didn’t open. I leaned over and touched her face.
She was burning hot. The fever was worse.
Now concerned, I leaned over, sliding my arm around her torso and the back of her legs. She moaned again, and her eyes opened. But by the glazed look in them, I wasn’t sure if she really saw me.
I lifted her out of the water, and her teeth immediately started to chatter again. I sat her on the tub’s edge and took a step away to pull a towel off the rack.
That she was not fully aware became obvious when she swayed. I snagged the towel and lunged back to catch her, just before she slumped to the ground.
Her wet skin gleamed beneath the lights, and I hurried to rub her dry, trying—and not succeeding—to avoid looking at the softness so appealingly displayed. But the heat coming off her was not a healthy thing, and I sensed how far she’d slipped in the half an hour she’d been in the tub.
