Page 78 of Reckless
I nod, knowing she can’t see it. Knowing exactly what she means. Knowing that apologizing for what I’ve done to her only makes me more human. Makes it harder for her to hate me.
The door creaks open as she steps through it. The loose shirt hangs off her shoulder, growing damp from the tangle of wet hair falling down her back. With a frayed towel in hand, she steps back into the bedroom to dry her sopping pants.
After thoroughly wringing out her clothing, she wraps herself in the towel and plops down in the doorframe. “Your turn.”
CHAPTER 30Paedyn
I’m braiding my hair when he walks out of the bathroom.
Walks out of the bathroom, shirtless.
A strand of hair slips from between my fingers. I scramble to my feet, looking anywhere but at the tanned chest and damp pants hanging low on his hips. Beads of water are dripping from his hair to roll down his shoulders, trailing toward the body beneath. Not that I noticed.
“Do you ever have a shirt on?” I say casually, eyes on the braid I’m fumbling with.
“I washed it, so it needs to dry.” Gray eyes flick up to mine. “If I’m distracting you, by all means, let me know.”
I scoff as though that isn’t exactly what he’s doing. As I head across the room, he’s forced to follow until I plop down onto the thin mattress. He towers over me, illuminated only by the moonlight streaming through the window, aggressively tousling his wet hair with a towel.
“You’re dripping water on my bed,” I say, scooting farther across the mattress.
He looks up at me from under the towel. “I’m sorry,yourbed?”
“Yes,mybed.”
“No, I heard you,” he says simply. “I’m just trying to understand why you’re saying that.”
“Because I’m not sleeping with you.” He gives me a look, to which I quickly rephrase, “I’m not sleeping in this bed with you.”
He’s making no effort to hide how humorous he finds this. “And why is that? It’s not as though we haven’t shared a bed before.”
“So you keep reminding me.” I turn my attention back to the neglected braid. “Yes,before.”
Before every bit of betrayal that was brought between us.
“Well, you don’t have much of a choice.” He nods to the chain hanging limply between us.
“You could hang your head off the other side of the bed,” I say sweetly.
“Why don’t you, seeing that you’re the one who’s so desperate to get away from me?” He takes a step closer to the bed, his knees brushing the quilt. “I have no problem sleeping beside you.”
I shake my head in annoyance, shifting to the other side of the bed that is suddenly too narrow for my liking. The mattress sinks when he sits beside me. Ignoring him, I take my time untucking the thin quilt and slipping beneath it to burrow in the covers.
It’s freezing, the frigid air tempting my teeth to chatter. I’m not sure when it suddenly got so cold, but the damp hair sticking to my neck certainly isn’t helping. I pull the quilt over my chin before shoving my icy hands beneath each thigh.
“You’re shaking the bed,” he says quietly.
“And you’re more than welcome to roll off if it’s bothering you so much.”
I can hear the smile in his voice. “You’ve been shivering since your bath.”
“You say that as though you care for my well-being.” The chain clanks loudly when I shift onto my side and peer into the darkness.
“No, but I care for my well-being. And I’d rather not be kept up all night by you shivering.”
“Spoken like a true gentleman,” I scoff.
We fall silent, nothing but the faint chattering of my teeth to fill the space. He stills beside me, so much so that I assume he’s fallen asleep. That is, until the mattress sinks behind my back, and I practically roll into him.
