Page 68 of Ruthless Scoundrel
Something is definitely different now.
“I don’t see any,” I say, though I’m hardly seeing anything with my eyes since the vision of her coming undone under the stars is looping on repeat in my brain.
“How about a scrub brush? I need to get the blood off,” she says.
I turn my hands over and see her blood, and the blood of the Men that tried to take her from me, caked under my fingernails. My eyes graze along the blood up to the fresh pink skin around my knuckles. I trace one of the long scars and remember that I’m only a few moments away from being on the other end of her magic. Except these days I’ve been on the other end of her healing magic a lot more.
“Jasper,” she says in an annoyed, singsong way that makes me smirk.
“I don’t see anything like that, either. However…” I reach into one of my pouches and remove the sea sponge I’d kept for cleaning myself. I toss the little yellow creature over my shoulder, and it lands in the bath with a splash.
“Oh, what’s this?”
“It’s called a sponge. I use it to scrub my skin off. Never thought it could peel so much. Very strange. Especially after too much sun exposure.”
I hear the water move and I’m acutely aware of her grabbing the sponge, something that I’ve used to “scrape my skin off,” and suddenly I feel quite disgusted with myself for offering it to her.
“Will you, um, help?” she asks.
“Help with what?” I ask, trying to deflect, or at least get her to second-guess what she’s asking for.
“Scrub me?”
Gods damn it.
I want to,somuch. I want to run my hands over her bare skin and show her that my touch can be gentle, and affectionate. Thedrive to prove to her that I can be a good mate is so strong, so overwhelming, I know I have to say no. It’s not my better sense telling me to caress her skin and clean her thoroughly. It’s not her better sense making her ask for it, either.
It’s my Heat.
And if I stay in this room another second, I will break.
“I can’t,” I say, and turn for the door.
“Wait, please,” she calls after me, the water sloshing around her body as she stands.
I stop, my hand still on the knob, ready to flee if the temptation is too great.
“I…” She huffs out a long sigh. “Thank you for the sponge.”
Good girl. Came to her senses, at last.
“You’re welcome.”
I open the door and close it swiftly. The roar of the tavern below is loud, but it doesn’t do anything to numb the sensations spiraling through me. Lust, greed, and an ache at the core of my heart that I can’t put a name to. I lean against the door and slide down until I’m sitting with my elbows on my knees and my face in my hands.
This Heat better end quickly, or I just might rethink using Reina as bait.
Chapter twenty
Reina
Jasper slept in front of the door of the Captain’s room all night. Blocking it from intruders, he said. But he’d warded the doorway and the window after we’d bathed, so I know that wasn’t the reason. He’s trying to distance himself from me.
It was the first night in a week that I didn’t sleep with my back curled against his chest. The bed felt too big, too cold, and I felt like a stupid, petulant child missing her favorite toy. Except he’s more than just a toy, or a security blanket.
But I’m not going to examine that thought right now because I’m still angry with him.
I walk beside him, manacles clapped on my wrists to keep up the charade that I’m some prisoner for transfer in Illya. Only Captain Alejandra knows the truth, but who knows what might happen out on the sea?
