Page 80 of The Broken Aztec Princesses

“I understand that, but I—”

“Please?”

“I can’t tell anyone?” he asked, looking defeated.

“Only those you can trust.”

“John, Violet and Chris. If you concede to that, I’ll do it.”

“Deal.” I was planning on telling Violet the first chance I got anyway.

“Fuck,” Cade said, and I cocked my head to the side, wondering what was wrong. “I just realized that means I can’t touch you outside our rooms.”

His tortured gaze made me giggle.

“I’m sure you’ll survive.”

“I get to touch you at breakfast, though?”

“Once they know, maybe,” I answered, stepping into the shower.

“I’ll accept these terms for now, Princess,” Cade grumbled, joining me under the water stream, grabbing my loofah, and pouring my shower gel on it. He cleaned my body, and as much as I liked where his hands were going, I turned and glared at him.

“We don’t have time to go where you’re trying to go,” I said, making Cade give me a sheepish grin.

“Can’t blame a guy for trying. I’ll be good now, I promise.”

I rolled my eyes, allowing him to continue cleaning me as he appeared to like doing it.

I got dressed after our shower and was picking up my straightener after drying my hair, when Cade’s hand slid up my arm.

“Why do you straighten your hair?” he asked.

“I—” Why did I keep straightening my hair? I did it because Brandon hated my curly hair. He said it got everywhere, and it made me look childish. “Force of habit?”

“Would you mind just leaving it like this for a few days?” he asked, giving me what I could only call puppy dog eyes.

“You really like my hair curly?” I asked, genuinely curious as I looked at my hair in the mirror. I used to like it too, but I did feel like pack members respected me more after I began straightening it, like maybe Brandon had a point and it made me look more like a luna.

“I do. You have curls a lot of women put so much expensive shit on their head to try to get. Own them. Strut them. Let me see them bounce.”

He grinned at me in the mirror, pulling on one of them and letting it go, so it bounced to prove a point. I rolled my eyes, unable to hide my smile and I unplugged the straightener.

“Just for today,” I warned him.

Cade gave me a sweet kiss on the cheek and smiled widely at me.

“Thank you.”

“Alright, I gotta go.” I tossed over my should as I made my way to the door.

Before I could open it, Cade turned me around and kissed me hard. I felt dazed by the time he pulled back and looked up to see him grinning.

“One to make it last through the day,” he said. I shook my head and laughed. Who would have thought Cade was this cheesy? “I have to talk to you later today about heading South for a couple of days. Lunch in your office, maybe?”

“Sure thing. Bring chocolate if you’re giving me bad news,” I called out as we parted ways at the stairs.

I woke up Adam after helping Charles, who I was happy to see was already marked, prep for breakfast.

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