Page 56 of Griffin Undone
“I think you need a break.”
The laugh that left my mouth was ragged. “Well, if you think it, it must be so.”
I hadn’t realized I was rubbing my aching forehead until Arik’s hand closed around my wrist, dragging it down as he tilted my chin up. I refused to step back from his touch; he already knew how much he affected me anyway. What was a little more humiliation tonight?
“You’ve worked hard, Kitty Kat. You’re trying; I know that.” His thumb stroked back and forth across the curve of my chin, keeping needs I didn’t want to think about alive. The glow had left his eyes, leaving them soft and somehow…concerned, maybe? “You’re overwhelmed, tired, confused. I know I’m pushing you, maybe too hard. And this”—he waved a hand between us—“doesn’t help. I get it. So let’s take a break.”
I wasn’t touching that last observation. A glance around, looking for anything to distract me, only served as a reminder of why Arik had been pushing. “But—”
Warmth hit my neck as Arik leaned in. I stiffened, as much from his closeness as the sharp nip that stung my earlobe. “Break. Let’s go.”
He didn’t wait for my agreement; he turned me around and landed a heavy smack on my layer-protected rear. “Home.”
It took a couple of deep breaths before I could think straight, a couple more before my jelly-filled legs actually moved. Arik’s comment about the amount of energy required for psych skills came back to me on the return journey to the lair, but with every step I was forced to admit that I was shaky for more than one reason: partly lack of energy and partly the remembered feel of Arik’s hand burning on my left butt cheek.
I just had to make it to my bedroom without embarrassing myself. Just a few minutes more and I could retreat.
Okay,hide.
Arik’s words as we entered the lair nixed that idea.
“How about you take a bath while I cook? We could watch a movie after.”
“A movie?” I hadn’t seen the first bit of entertainment in the bunker except the widescreen TV, which currently only got local channels. Not that I’d had much time to enjoy even that. “We have movies?”
Arik’s chuckle shivered down my spine. “That’s what Netflix is for.”
Anger sparked in my tired brain. I hadn’t been able to afford a smartphone, hadn’t had one on me when we arrived, so there’d been no way for me to check for a signal of any kind. Had never seen a box or stick allowing the TV to connect to the Internet. I’d certainly never seen a computer anywhere around the lair, though I had seen some locked doors. “We have Wi-Fi?”
Arik knelt at my feet, nimble fingers untying my boots far faster than I could have managed. “Duh.”
I smacked the side of his shaved head with the flat of my hand, then froze. Had I really done that?
On second thought, yeah, I had.
And he’d deserved it.
Arik seemed to take it in stride. “Watch it, Kitty Kat. Keep that up and there’ll be no popcorn for you.”
“We have popcorn?”
Arik stood, shaking his head. “I’ve definitely worked you too hard if you’re this out of it. Go. Bath.” He turned away.
I huffed my opinion of that as I toed out of my boots, leaving them by the outer door. On the way to my room, I passed Arik heading into the kitchen, and stuck my tongue out at his back.
“I saw that,” he taunted.
“Good.” But I scuttled down the hall before he could retaliate.
ChapterTwenty-Four
Kat
“Underworld?Really?”
“What can I say? I’m a sucker for a woman in leather.”
I just bet he was. Too bad all I had were workout clothes and the camis and pajama pants I wore to sleep in. Not that I wanted him to be a sucker for me; I didn’t.
