Page 45 of Bride of Choice

It wasn’t a proper bath, per se, but it would do.

There wasn’t a soul in sight as I had this weird moment, bathing in the small private hot spring situated behind the enormous hut he’d taken me to and toted me out back behind to wash up.

Glancing at my clothes, I grimaced.

“I don’t suppose your mate has any clothes she might be alright with me borrowing?” I asked, ignoring the snow threatening to freeze the top of my head as my lower half basked in the comfortable heat of the water. Biting my lip, I mumbled, “Maybe you should go tell her where you are, you know, what’s going on and everything… so she doesn’t worry or get upset?”

“She know,” he said simply, like that settled that.

He was half a snowman as he stood there, eyes closed, facing away from me, pointed tipped ears swiveling this way and that as if trying to catch wind of something.

“You bullshittin’ me?” I paused to glance his way once more, unconvinced.

All he did was grunt, tap his ear, turn his head enough for me to see and then tap his nose. Whatever that fucking meant. But then I wondered… “Is she a Lo denaii?” Some of them had insane hearing. Hopefully she heard all the parts about me saying don’t be all flirty with me, Mr. Purrypants, you’re hitched.

“She… different,” he offered.

“Like Bum-bum?” I blurted before I’d thought of it. If Bum-bum was like Fuck N Run, and this guy’s mate was like them, maybe they knew my Fuck N Run personally?

Damn… Had I just given Bum-bum away? Did this guy even know he was different? Shit. I needed to learn to keep my fat mouth shut.

And did I really think just because a bunch of people sported horns sometimes that meant they all must know one another? Gee, that’s stupid. Duh, Joans.

“Different enough, obviously, that unlike me she isn’t the type to get jealous easily, I’d wager,” I mumbled, mostly to myself. Louder, I asked, “So… what’s she like?” to realize the male that had just been standing there had vanished. Poof. Just gone.

Frowning, staring into the darkness, it hit me, how vulnerable I was right now. I was all alone in the backyard ‘cuzzi of some as of yet known to me Yeti’s place, hot tubbing it up for a quick wash in the middle of a wild snow storm.

Damn. I’d scared him off. Now what? I can’t see two inches in front of my face, can barely walk… what now?!

The sound of footsteps fast approaching, out of nowhere, had me dipping down until the water was just below my nose.

Shit. Shit! What the fuck am I supposed to-

Taking a deep breath, I dipped under the water.

That’s awesome, I’ll just drown myself while someone walks by. Smart. Really smart.

When I couldn’t hold my breath any longer, I broke the surface as quietly as possible.

My gaze darted about, desperate to spy any interloper stumbling across me. A small lantern sat beside the water, a soft but eery green glow casting across the snow. It was situated next to a pile of material sat atop a box. I gaped at it for a full minute before snapping the hell out of it.

Inching my way cautiously towards the items, my gaze darted around.

Assuming my beast rescuer had helped a gal out and offered me a moment, I lifted up enough to start going through the pile offered to find two of the woven cloths they used to dry off with, their version of bath towels and whatnot, a hand-made dress and pants that looked about my size, and a thicker woven bit of material I planned to use like a shawl. Lucky me.

Slipping from the water, I had to be quick or freeze my tits off, quite literally. My teeth were chattering something awful as I hurried out, using one bit of cloth to sit on, the other to quickly dab down my body and hair, my legs still resting in the water.

A soft exhalation had my gaze shooting up, meeting that of my furry helper as he nearly dropped the large object in his hands he was carrying closer.

“S-s-scurr-reen,” he haltingly spluttered out, a soft stutter making itself known as he hurried to get the word out.

Grabbing the dress to slap it to my chest, praying for decency, I barked when he just stood there, gripping the divider until it started to creak ominously, “Don’t just stare at me! Turn around!”

With a grunt, he whipped around, hastily set up the screen, and then walked behind it.

Rushing to redress, I was just plaiting my hair when he called out from the other side of the screen, “Deed-sent?”

“You have a very uncaring or super patient mate,” I mutteringly told him. “If I had a mate and heard about this nonsense, I’d be a big old sass-hole about it.” Taking a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves, I took one more before I called out, “Okay. You’re good.”

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