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This was some special kind of torture, obviously. And I didn’t mean for her. For some reason, this was killing me. While I carefully unlaced her, I considered how many women I’d undressed in the past year and felt absolutely nothing. There was the supermodel in Milan, who insisted on having me guard her. I’m pretty sure she was trying to seduce me. There was the rocker’s wife in Vegas. She was sloppy drunk and needed help getting ready for bed. She was tall, blonde, and surgically enhanced to near perfection, but my heart didn’t even beat fast. Here I was with Peri, Fredo’s niece, and my hands were shaking as I tried to assist her. There,” I whispered, afraid if I spoke any louder my voice wouldcrack.
Peri glanced at me over her shoulder, her brows furrowed, a question lingering on her face, but she simply murmured, “Thank you.” Then she disappeared into thebathroom.
She had the right idea. I decided I’d better change into something more comfortable while I was alone in the room. I pulled off the doublet, the shirt, the breeches, hose, and my other sock. In my bag, I found my pajama pants. At first, I considered only wearing them, then I thought about Peri and how I wanted her to be comfortable around me. While I was grabbing a shirt, she walked out of the bathroom and froze a good ten feet from me. “Sorry. I’m working on a shirt,” Imumbled.
With a hand over her mouth, she shook her head. “My fault. I didn’t think. Of course, you’d want to get changed.” Peri shrugged. “It’sjust…”
My head tilted. “What?”
“I didn’t expect you to look so…” She seemed at a loss forwords.
I pulled my shirt on over my head. “Tan?” I suggested as I grinned ather.
She shook herhead.
“Tall?”
Another headshake.
I began rattling off descriptors in an effort to hit on the one she sought. “Old? Hairy?” I held out my arm, covered in blond hair. This earned agiggle.
“Perfect,” she whispered. “Devon looked nothing like this.” She gestured to my torso. “He was thin, but he was a businessman…” Peri looked away while her cheeks turnedpink.
A smile played on the corners of my lips. I wanted to take her in my arms. I needed to see if she felt anything at all for me. Then I heard the sound of sirens in the distance and I was reminded this wasn’t the time to even think about whether Peri might be made for me. Right now, it was my job to keep her safe, and hopefully save thedragons.
Peri plopped down on the center of the bed. “So, the beginning,huh?”
“What?” I shook my head and struggled tofocus.
“We need to go back to how this whole thing started, how I ended up getting you involved, right?” She frowned as she studied me. “Are you feeling okay?” Peri crawled off the bed, rushed over to me, and felt myforehead.
Her touch had me on fire. I closed my eyes and savored the feel ofher.
“You’re burning up,” she murmured. “Maybe you should rest and I’ll get on this.” She yanked her hand away, but I caught it and held it against mychest.
“No, I’m fine. Maybe a little tired.” I inhaled deeply and stood straighter. “Let’s get towork.”
* * *
Peri
“Where should we start?”I mused as I reluctantly yanked my hand from Mishal’s grasp and hopped back on the bed. With a frown, I grabbed the bag Devon had entrusted to me. I hadn’t taken the time to explore the contents, but now doing so seemedimperative.
There was a knock on the door, which had me jumping, then Stephen peeked in. “I heard voices,” he noted. “Thought I’d check and see if anyone needs anything.” He opened the door wider and leaned on the frame. “I’m kindahungry.”
I glanced at Mishal. He was holding a hand over his abdomen. “I think that’s a great idea.” The clock on the nightstand showed it was closing in on midnight. “About the only thing left open this time of night is pizza. You wanna pick it up?” My brows peakedhopefully.
“Here,” Mishal mumbled as he reached for his bag and pulled out more cash. “Let’s get three large pizzas. What do you like on them?” He looked back and forth between me andStephen.
“Just extra cheese.” Igrinned.
“I only eat pepperoni and extra cheese,” Stephenadmitted.
“I need all the meat.” Mishal eyed our driver. “Gotthat?”
Stephen stepped in to grab the money and nodded. “Be back soon with food.” Then he disappeared and closed the door behindhim.
Mishal strode to the door. “I need to lock up after him,” heexplained.
