Page 75 of Ruthless Scoundrel
Chapter twenty-two
Reina
Iwake with something hard pressing into my butt and I’m worried for half a second that Jasper’s pistol is aimed at me. But no.
It’s his erection.
Again.
It’s dark in the room with the window boarded, but pre-dawn light is slipping under the wide crack at the bottom of the door. Jasper’s breathing is slow and steady. His arms are warm and his chest is warmer. For some reason, even with the lewdness of his anatomy pressing against me, I’m comfortable. I just want to go back to sleep, but I want some gods-be-damned answers more.
“Jasper,” I say loudly.
His grip tightens on me as he sucks in a sharp breath. “What is it?” he whispers.
“Your exact wording was ‘once we get to Illya.’ That time has come and gone. We’re firmly in Illya. I want answers,” I say.
He groans. “That’s what you woke me for?”
“That and I must handle my needs, which I can’t do it while chained to you.”
“Youcan, you just won’t.”
“Answers,” I say sternly.
Jasper sighs. “You’ll get them once we’re away from the city and on the road. There’re too many people here. Too many high magi that could somehow overhear us. I won’t risk it and you’ll understand why soon.”
I roll out of his grasp and stand. “Then let’s get going so thatsoonwill benowsooner.”
He sighs again, longer and more drawn out, but produces the key to unlock us. The manacle pops off and I scratch my wrist. The skin there has gotten rougher from the scars, making it itch. Nothing worse than a manacle itch all night long.
“I’ll go downstairs and get us something for breakfast,” Jasper says as he tugs on his boots.
He leaves me to handle things I really wish I didn’t have to do in a pot and throw out the window, but he informed me that’s the way it’s done here, as long as it’s not after dawn or before dusk. I shiver as I think about how much excrement we’ll have to walk through to get out of the city—how much I’vealreadywalked through just to get here.
I believe I’ll be demanding a new pair of boots before we go. Alejandra’s are too big, anyway.
Jasper returns with a loaf of bread and some roasted fish. I’m so elated to see bread again that I rush the tray and bite right into it. The sour, salty, yeasty tang explodes across my tongue, and I hum in delight.
Jasper watches me with amusement. “Putting bread on the list of things I need to learn how to make.”
I cock my head at him. “Why?”
He leans in, capturing my chin. I’m stunned, breathless, and I stop chewing.
“I want to hear that sound every morning.”
My senses return and I jerk away. “Too bad the only sound you’ll hear is the chains around your wrists in the lowest level of hell.”
Jasper chuckles. “So, youaregoing to kill me now?”
“I already told you I would,” I say, then take another bite of bread.
He softens, and I can’t help but feel like an asshole as he says, “Maybe you should withhold all that judgement until you’ve heard me out.”
“Maybe if you hadtold mealready, I wouldn’t have to keep planning your murder,” I say through a mouthful of bread.
“When we’re on the road,” he repeats.
