Page 21 of Guard

It didn’t matter, he told himself. No matter how much he wished it, he was not her husband. Myrria was still married. It was all a game to keep him alive and them safe. It was not real, even if what he felt for her was so intense it sent sharp claws into his heart.

“If this is a party, I need to put on my fancy dress.” Zala spun on her heel and rushed to the ladder, practically hoisting herself up to the loft.

Myrria’s bright smile returned. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her this happy.” She pivoted to him. “Thank you.”

“You do not need to—“

She cut him off. “I do. You have made my daughter happy. You have made me…” She paused as their gazes fused, and theworld seemed to stop spinning, then she glanced at the sewing machine. “You have made our lives better.”

Rixx’s face flamed. “I have done nothing that any honorable male would not have done.”

“Maybe on your planet, but not on this one.” Myrria’s soft voice hardened. “I am grateful that you have shown my daughter what a good man looks like.”

“But I am not a man,” Rixx reminded her with a grin.

She drew in a quick breath as her gaze roamed his face. “No, you are not.” Then she squared her shoulders and pinned him with a sharp gaze. “I know you have already done so much for us, but I need to ask you for something else.”

“Anything.” Rixx rasped as they stood facing each other, his pulse jangling.

“I need to return to my bed.”

Embarrassment flooded him. Of course, the woman wanted her bed back. He should have thought to vacate it earlier. Rixx nodded. “I will move to the floor.”

She shook her head, her gaze falling to the floor before she lifted it to his again. “I need you to share the bed with me.”

Chapter

Twenty-One

“Can I try a sip?” Zala asked as Myrria started to clear the plates from dinner.

Her daughter had been eyeing her and Rixx’s glasses of cherry red Verrilion wine all evening, and now the bottle was almost empty. Maybe it was the way the wine spread warmth throughout her body or the fact that she could no longer feel her fingertips, but Myrria twitched one shoulder. “If you wish, but I doubt you’ll like it.”

“Dothvek children drink wine from an early age.” Rixx poured the last of the bottle into Zala’s empty water glass. “But that is because water is not plentiful.” He winked at the girl. “And wine is far from the harshest thing on the sands.”

Zala’s eyes were wide as she lifted the glass to her lips, eagerly taking a gulp and then making a grim face as she swallowed. “I thought it would be sweet.”

Myrria and Rixx both laughed at her stricken expression and the slightly green tint of her cheeks.

Zala gave the bottle a sideways glance, as if the shiny glass had betrayed her. “It looks like it should taste like candy.”

“Compared the Dothvek wine, it does,” Rixx told her, his voice a low rumble.

Rixx stood and carried the rest of the dishes to the sink where he helped Myrria rinse them off while Zala kept her hand pressed to her stomach.

“You should go to bed,” Myrria finally told her daughter. “You look like you’ve had enough celebrating for one night.”

Zala nodded, mumbled goodnight, gathered the skirt of her fancy blue dress, and made her way to the ladder. Myrria didn’t tell her that she would not be joining her in the loft bed as she had since they’d taken in Rixx. She didn’t want to field questions or for her daughter to think that her sharing a bed with him was anything but a strategic move in case Donya made a visit early in the morning.

She still hadn’t explained her reasoning to Rixx, but he had not questioned her. He had agreed as soon as she’d asked, which made her wonder what he might think of her. Myrria knew that she was safe with him. Although it made no sense—he was significantly bigger and stronger than her—she knew in her bones that he would never force himself on her.

When Zala was upstairs and had stopped rustling around enough to convince Myrria that she was in bed, she dropped her voice. “I do not want my landlady to make a surprise visit in the morning and find me sleeping with my daughter and not my newly returned husband.”

“She can come in at any time?”

Myrria released a strained sigh. “It is her property, and she likes to remind me of it. She does not allow a dead bolt because she claims it’s a fire hazard. I think she likes to creep in when we’re out.”

Rixx grunted as he wiped the last plate dry. “You should leave this place.”

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