Page 49 of Artemysia
“I…absolutely want to,” Olivier says, swallowing down a voice higher than before.
His supple lips move as if he wants to say more, but he’s run out of words. The bloom of embarrassment and arousal has reached a deadly fever-red in his ears.
The three of them eventually move off to the second bedroom, joking and laughing. Riev and I are left in the kitchen in silence.
“You’re stuck with me tonight.” Riev doesn’t look up from drying the dishes.
“Roommates, then. Just…stay on your side of the bed, unless you want a dagger in your back too.”
He snorts. “I’ve already shown you I can wrestle a dagger away from you.”
“There will be no wrestling in bed.” I try not to recall the heat in thealleyway that first night; I shouldn’t think about how our legs locked when we grappled, or how his muscles flinched when I gripped him. Or how I liked it when he pinned me to the wall. What starts as a hollowing in my low belly shudders up my back, engulfing my entire body in warmth. Despite all else I’ve seen from him, my mind keeps returning to that first arousing fight.
“With all that stew gravy on your face, you’re not that hard to resist right now.” He moves to wipe my face with a rag, only for me to slap his hand away with a growl.
“Maybe you’d rather I join the others?” I retort.
His nostrils flare. “You’re a troublesome woman.”
I grin, victorious, but it doesn’t last.
“Get to bed. You need the rest. I’ll meet you in our bedroom. Almost done cleaning here.”
Our bedroom. There’s no mistaking how my stomach somersaults just from the insinuation of those two simple words. They shouldn’t have such an effect, because it doesn’t mean anything. I’ve shared beds and tents with squad members. It’s no big deal.
But Riev…one smallish bed…for an entire night.
Godsdamn.
“Could be dangerous to share a bed with me.” - Riev
Riev stalks into the bedroom a little while after me. We ignore the sounds of the trio’s lovemaking, thoughloveisn’t the word I’d use to describe the noises breaching the walls. Ivy’s delighted squeals are joined by low, guttural voices and the rhythmic shifting of furniture. Everyone is having a good time, so I afford them some leniency.
Why stop them from a little stress relief as we head toward death tomorrow morning?
My attention shifts as Riev begins to undress for the night. He steps his long, muscled legs out of his pants. His legs are as tanned as his arms. No tan lines. When does he have time to run around in shorts…or nothing at all? Or is his skin just that beautiful tone everywhere? He strips off his holster and his collared shirt, but leaves his undershirt on. Everything gets neatly folded and arranged on the side table.
I flip down the quilt and sit on the bed.
Riev tracks me with his gaze. “You know how this is going to go. You have the bed. I’ll take the chair like I did last night.”
“You slept in the chair?” It takes a second for that to register.He stayed with me the entire night?
“Could be dangerous to share a bed with me,” he offers gruffly. “Just leave me alone if you think I’m dreaming,” he mutters as an afterthought.
My hands go to my hips. “Have you attacked others before? On missions, you’ve slept in a tight space like a tent or an outpost, right?”
“It’s happened before, but never like that. Usually I snap out of it and wake up sooner.”
“Do you remember your dreams?”
“It’s always the same one.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t want to say.”
“I could say you owe me, but…” I offer a crooked grin.
