He emerged much drier, which was a bit of a disappointment from the voyeur standpoint, but made him a lot more comfortable. As we sat and ate cookies, I decided he was sexy regardless of what he was wearing.
The Gryphon inside me grumbled something about Nar rubbing off on me—or maybe just rubbing on me—but I decided if he wasn’t going to speak up, I didn’t have to listen.
Nettie kept up a more or less constant, easy chatter. Or rather, she asked key questions that kept us talking. About the volcanic eruption, and the rescue of Riggs’s family, which we hadn’t talked about at all. Couldn’t, of course.
“Think we’re missing supper,” I pointed out at some point.
Nettie perked right up. “I can solve that.” She practically bounced out of her chair and began rummaging through the fridge and freezer.
Which was how we ended up eating potstickers after an indecent helping of cookies. And playing a ridiculous board game Nettie found in a cupboard. Which she suspiciously won.
“Are you sure you’ve never played this before?” I regarded her with narrowed eyes.
“Define ‘never’,” she said with a grin.
Riggs rubbed a big hand over his leather skull cap and glanced at the clock. “No way Cara’s coming back tonight. And we’ve got that class in just over an hour.”
Night Games. I had no idea what to expect of it. I stared as the rubbing of his head turned into an itching, and he grimaced. “Wish I didn’t have to wear this thing. I’ve shaved my head, but my hair grows like mad.”
“I’ll have a look,” Nettie suggested.
He regarded her cautiously. “Are you going to attack me with a razor blade?”
“Maybe,” she said. “Are you afraid?”
He sighed and pulled the skull cap off.
I hadn’t seen the scar since we’d last healed him, and it surprised me that it was now just a raised red line. Deep within me, Caliel stirred.
It has healed well,he said.
The stubble of fresh new hair covered Riggs’s scalp, and it was thick. No wonder he itched beneath that cap.
“You aren’t using a sharp enough razor,” Nettie stated.
He regarded her with no small amount of alarm.
“I’ll see what I can find.” She rose and disappeared down the hall to the bathroom.
Riggs’s alarm seemed to grow as she re-emerged with a straight razor, a bowl of warm water, and a bar of something that looked like soap.
“I can do it myself.” He leaned away.
“Don’t be a big baby,” Nettie scolded as she worked the bar into a lather.
He stared at her. She stared at him. He sighed, and rose to turn around on the chair, so that his back was to her.
While Nettie happily lathered up his scalp, Riggs rubbed at a patch of half dried dough on his arm. “First I was wet, then I was sticky, now I’m both,” he complained.
She smacked his shoulder. “Just sit still. I used to do this for my brother. He was going bald, and preferred to be shaved rather than stubbly.”
I scritched Grunt behind his damp, shaggy ears as I watched Nettie expertly shave Riggs’s head. His waist-length hair had been beautiful—Dragons tended to have incredible hair—but the shaved look suited him, too.
Once she was done, he replaced the cap, smoothing it over his skull. The pointed metal earcuffs and the skullcap gave him an exotic air.
Even without the sword, he looked dangerous. A thrill shot straight through me, followed by a pulse of pure heat.
Have you taken your powder today?grumped Caliel.
