Page 132 of Rain of Shadows and Endings

“Fuck me,” she heard him mutter a moment before the door clicked open, and Theon pushed her forward. Axel was still sprawled across the sofa, the TV still on. Theon left her standing near the short hallway, plunking the half gone bottle of agaveheart onto the coffee table and grabbing a couple bottles of water.

When they were in the bedroom, he handed her one of the bottles. “Drink this. You are going to need it.”

“I have a high tolerance,” she bit back, taking the cap off the water anyway and taking a sip.

“I am gathering that, considering over half of that agaveheart was gone. Go shower,” he added with a jerk of his chin towards the bathroom.

“What? Why?”

“Because I will not have you smelling like another male and certainly not like a mortal,” he snarled. “So either go wash his scent from your skin, or I will do it for you.” Tessa huffed under her breath as she turned to the bathroom, quickly knotting her hair up on the top of her head. “I’ll bring you something to sleep in,” he called after her.

She stripped down, burying Tristyn’s business card in the bottom of her cosmetics bag before she climbed into the shower. Although fell into the shower was probably more accurate. She was definitely feeling all the agaveheart now. Perhaps the lull-leaf had been a terrible decision. An impulsive one.

She scrubbed herself down as quickly as she could, and when she climbed back out, she found Theon’s long-sleeve thermal waiting for her. There weren’t any bottoms of any kind to be found, and she grumbled as she slid his shirt over her head. It fell midway down her thighs, and she tossed her towel to the floor as she went back out to the bedroom, finishing off the bottle of water Theon had given her.

“I need pants,” she demanded, tossing the empty bottle into the trash.

“They are being laundered. The front desk assured me they would be back in time for us to leave in the morning,” Theon answered from the armchair he was sprawled in, his legs spread wide and a finger steepled along his temple as he studied her.

Tessa crossed her arms. “And undergarments?”

“Also being laundered. Luka neglected to order any extras when he purchased your clothing this afternoon.”

“Are you serious?”

“Mhmm,” he confirmed. “Come here.”

“No,” she scoffed.

“Tessa.” Her name was laced with warning. “Come here, and we can speak about this.”

“I can speak with you just fine from here.”

“Tessalyn—”

“For the love of the gods,” she grumbled, stalking over to him.

The moment she was close enough, he reached out, grabbing her bare thighs and pulling her between his legs. Looking up at her, he asked, “What, exactly, is the problem with your sleeping attire?”

“I’m not sleeping next to you in just a shirt, Theon,” she replied, adamantly ignoring the sensations of his hands where his thumbs were making sweeping circles on the backs of her thighs.

“You’re not?” he asked, pushing to his feet. His hands slid over her hips as he moved.

“No, I’m not,” she insisted. “We need to figure something else out.”

“Hmm,” he hummed, reaching to take her hair out of the knot on her head. “There are no other options, Tessa. Luka is in the other bedroom, and Axel has commandeered the sofa so…”

“So nothing. It’s not happening,” she snapped, slapping his hand away as he began twining a lock of her now loose hair around his finger.

“You slept by me all afternoon in nothing but a robe,” he pointed out.

“That was different.”

“How was that different?”

“I needed you then. I needed something to block out the shit I was forced to endure today because I don’t have access to the people and things who could actually help me deal with it.”

Tessa slapped her hands over her mouth. She had not meant to say any of that, to reveal that much of her desperation.

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