Page 7 of An Unending Claim

As I made my way to the bedroom, I felt another surge of aggravation over Peyton’s actions.I almost laid into her right then, but held my tongue, not only wanting to make sure she was taken care of first, but also feeling the fragile state of her emotions. It was a little unnerving when I examined my thought processes. Perhaps Peyton would succeed in teaching an old dog new tricks after all. Not that I wasn’t still intending to have it out with her over ditching her bodyguards, but I’d listen to her explanation—thenI’d spank her pretty ass and lock her in our room because I couldn’t see a scenario where her actions were justified.

After setting Peyton on the bathroom counter, I dropped to my knees and cradled her calf so I could inspect her injured foot. While I was glad to see the muscles already mending, I was worried about the wound healing with the dirt and grime from the forest. She could end up with a nasty infection, and the treatment for that would hurt a fuck of a lot more than taking care of it now.

“I’m going to have to clean it up before it heals any further,” I told her regretfully. I looked up into her tired eyes and was slightly alarmed at the emptiness in the emerald depths. It appeared like she’d checked out. “Peyton?” I tapped her cheek. “Baby, look at me.”

A bit of awareness crept into her emerald orbs, and they settled on my face. “What?”

“I need to clean your wound. It’s going to hurt.”

She shrugged, then frowned at me. “Have you ever seen me be squeamish about a little pain?” Her tone had a tinge of indignation, and I almost smiled at the glimpse of the fire.

“There’s a first time for everything,” I teased.

“Wanna bet?”

I held my hands up in surrender and shook my head. “I know when I’m beat, baby.”

“Just so we’re clear.”

Chuckling, I stood and rotated her so her leg was propped on the counter in front of her. “You’re too damn stubborn for me to have a hope of winning.”

She didn’t respond, and when I glanced at her, she just shrugged in acceptance.

Peyton was fascinating, and it distracted me from the day’s events for a few minutes. I cleaned her injury without hearing a peep from her, and when I finished, she raised an eyebrow as if to say,I told you so.

Smiling, I put away the items I’d collected for my task. Then I walked to the shower, my bare feet slapping on the travertine tiles, and turned on the water.

Since we were already naked, I waited a few minutes for the water to heat up before carrying Peyton into the space I’d built to look like it was an alcove of a waterfall, with rock walls and water gliding down one side. I set her on her feet but kept her wrapped up in my arms. For a few minutes, I simply let the spray from the head above us sluice down our bodies, washing away some of the dirt.

Peyton relaxed against me, and I gave in to the urge to kiss the top of her head before reaching into a little nook carved into the rock and retrieving a bottle of shampoo. I tenderly—a word I would never have used to describe myself before meeting Peyton—washed her from head to toe. There was nothing sexual in my touch, only a desire to care for my mate. The carnal hunger that plagued me all the time had subsided, and I wondered if it had anything to do with the unfamiliar feelings I was developing for Peyton.

I washed myself and then shut off the water. Grabbing a towel from the rack next to the shower entrance, I wrapped it around her before another around my hips. After guiding her out of the alcove, I used her towel to dry her off.

“Why aren’t you yelling?” she blurted when I turned away from her to toss the bath sheet in the hamper. “Why aren’t you interrogating me and acting like an asshole?”

I faced her and crossed my arms over my chest, keeping my face neutral and putting up a mental wall between us. “Should I be?”

“Well…” She shuffled from side to side, her eyebrows drawn down in confusion.

“Do you deserve it, Peyton?”

She wrinkled her nose and squinted at me like it would help her see my motive clearly. “No.”

“Really?”Doubtful. Although she must have believed it because there hadn’t been any dancing around her reply, and she didn’t lie. “In answer to your question, I promised to try not to jump to conclusions and let you explain. Also, I needed time to calm down so I didn’t say something I would have regretted.”

“Oh.” She gaped at me, her mouth still open in the shape of an O.

“As satisfying as it is to see you at a loss for words, I think it’s time to have a conversation.”

CHAPTERFOUR

PEYTON

From Nathan’s determined expression, I knew there was no avoiding this.

I’d opened up to him a hell of a lot more than anyone else in my life, including Sam, Linette, and Savannah. There were parts of me that each of them knew while the others didn’t, but no one knew all of me. And even in sharing events, like I had with Savannah, I’d mostly just relayed facts amongst a steady stream of snark.

But Nathan had been slowly collecting pieces of me, and he wouldn’t stop until he’d sussed out every single piece of the puzzle.

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