“Belle.”
“I’m fine.”
“You are not.”
I slid one arm beneath her knees and the other behind her back before she could protest further.
Her breath hitched. “Raphael?—”
“You will not argue while positioned on a staircase.”
And then I lifted her.
She was warm. Warmer than the steam still clinging to my damp skin. Her arms instinctively wrapped around my shoulders as I carried her down the remaining steps. The contact was immediate and electric in a way I had not prepared for. Her palm pressed against my bare shoulder. Her fingers curled there, tentative and firm at once.
I was acutely aware that I was nearly naked. Water still traced slow paths down my chest. The towel was secure, but barely.
Her breath brushed my collarbone.
When I reached the floor, I didn’t set her down immediately.
She was staring at me. I had never seen her like that. Her gaze moved slowly and involuntarily down my chest before snapping back to my eyes. Color rose high on her cheeks.
“Are you—” she began, then stopped.
“Yes,” I said evenly.
“You’re naked.”
“I am aware.”
Her lips parted slightly.
The energy between us drew tight like a wire. My hand at her waist tightened fractionally without conscious instruction. Her fingers flexed at my shoulder in response.
“You’re . . . wet,” she murmured before she could stop herself.
“I was in the shower.”
Silence. Her pulse fluttered beneath my thumb where it rested against her side.
She swallowed.
“I can stand,” she said finally, though she made no move to detach herself.
I lowered her carefully, keeping one hand steady at her waist until I was certain she had balance.
Only then did I step back. Which was when I noticed we were no longer alone. Geoffrey stood at the end of the hallway with Chandler beside him. Both attempting and failing to suppress amusement.
Geoffrey cleared his throat delicately. “Sir.”
Chandler’s grin was less restrained. “Everything under control, I assume?”
Belle’s face went scarlet. I did not turn fully toward them.
“Yes,” I replied calmly. “It is.”
Geoffrey’s gaze flicked briefly from my still-damp torso to Belle’s flushed expression and back again.
