Page 105 of Beautiful Prey

Buttoning his pants, he immediately scooped me up and carried me, taking me down to the basement.

I was surprised when he took me into Uncle Pete’s old room instead of my cousin’s. Then I learned why as he brought me into the bathroom.

I’d only been in it a handful of times and had forgotten how much bigger and nicer it was compared to my cousin’s. There was a deep Jacuzzi tub to one side next to the sink. The whole back wall was a large shower, able to fit more than one, even more than two, people.

After setting me down, he started the water as I wrapped my robe around me, feeling suddenly vulnerable.

“I’ll be right, back,” he said, closing the door behind him.

I stared at the door, feeling my heart still pounding, but beginning to slow. I let the robe fall from me and flipped my hair back before getting into the shower, leaving the glass door open.

The water felt incredible, the temperature hot enough to relax my muscles, washing away the tension in my limbs.

I sighed as I leaned against the cool wall, rubbing a hand across me. Emery returned, placing my soap and shampoo in the shower. His gaze fell across my breasts and down to my thighs, and he gripped the door hard.

“I’ll just be in the other room,” he said quietly. He didn’t move, however, as he said it. “If I can even peel my damn eyes off you first.”

I opened my leg a little, arching the small of my back.

“That’s not helping,” he chastised.

I smirked, letting the water run between my breasts, letting him watch me. I chewed at my lip, curious, then said, “Join me.”

He seemed to think it over, his free hand clenching and unclenching.

“Please?” I asked.

He unlatched his other hand from the door. He took off his shoes and set them aside then pulled off his pants. He stood naked before me and was about to step inside when I stopped him.

“The mask too.”

He stood there as if uncertain at first. Then, cautiously, he drew a hand up. He lifted the mask from his face, over his head, then off completely. Dropping it.

I stared at his face, unable to look away. He was so beautiful. Even the scars couldn’t hide that.

He stared at me as if waiting to see some bad reaction. When I didn’t react, he carefully stepped inside and closed the distance between us. He kept his head bowed as if the exposure made himuncomfortable, looking away from me as if he found it suddenly hard to meet my gaze.

His hands clenched and unclenched and I saw his jaw set as if he were in pain but he didn’t turn from me. Instead, he let the stream wash over him, trailing his fingers through his auburn hair. As he raised his one arm, I saw the bandage there.

I gasped, and he glanced at me. “I look like dogshit, I know.”

I laughed a little. This time, it was my turn to be mesmerized as I saw his lips move, saw his expressions fully for the first time. “No, it’s not that,” I said. “I forgot you got hurt.” I raised my hand to the bandage. I hadn’t taken notice of it in the dark but now I saw he had wrapped the wound from the bullet that had grazed him back at Lena’s.

“Ah, that.” He watched my hand on his arm, somehow still surprised I would touch him. “Yeah, it wasn’t that bad. ’Tis but a scratch.”

“Ugh, not a Monty Python quote, seriously?”

He grinned and he might as well have put a knife in my heart. It psychically pained me to see his gorgeous smile, marred by the scars. “Didn’t like that, huh?”

“I think I just shriveled up inside.” I laughed. “If I had known you were this big of a nerd, I don’t know if I could have exposed how much I liked you to everyone.”

His grin became an amused little smirk as he placed an arm on either side of me, his body trapping me against the wall. “You mean love me?” he said. “’Cause you know you do, sweetheart. And you know what?” He leaned in closer. “You knew what that quote was from too.”

“Everyone knows what that’s from.”

“Do they?” He lifted his brows, and I loved seeing it.

“Maybe not.”

---