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His hands linger on my arm, and he leans forward, so close his breath is on my lips. “That’s a very lonely way to live.”
“And yet, I live.”
“Whoever he was,” Rock says, rubbing his thumb in a slow caress against the skin on the underside of my arm. “He was a fool.”
I wonder how such a small, seemingly insignificant touch can turn my innards to mush. It makes me wonder what more from him would do to me. I drop my gaze to his inviting lips. The right side of his mouth is pulled just a little higher than the left in a confident grin.
If I lean forward, just a fraction, our lips will touch. Would it really be so horrible to lose myself in the throes of passion for a while? We’re stuck here in the castle together anyway. It would change none of my plans, but it’d certainly satisfy my curiosity and growing desire. My stomach tightens at the thought, but then I think better of it, reminding myself he already knows too much about me as it is. And in the end, I’m going to steal from him, and he’ll never see me again. If I take my passion from him beforehand, I’d be just as evil as I fear I am. I quickly get to my feet and hug my arms. “It’s freezing in here, and it’s going to get worse before dawn.”
Rock gets to his feet, that infuriating smile still plastered on his face. “Really? I thought it was just starting to warm up.”
I give him a hard look and say flatly, “I’m cold.”
“Right you are.”
A movement catches my eye. In one swift motion, I grab my dagger from my boot and throw it, it flies past Rock’s shoulder, flipping end over end until it meets its mark and sinks into a fat rat.
Rock’s eyes go wide, and he whips his head around to see the dead creature across the room.
I walk over, pull my blade from the carcass, and use one of the rags to wipe off the rat’s blood. “Dinner,” I say to Rock with a satisfied smirk.
Rock wrinkles his nose and shrugs. “I’ll start a fire.” He looks around the kitchen, and a shudder runs through his body. “Perhaps upstairs. It’s less likely to have rodents.”
We head upstairs where Rock leads us to the King’s suite. Sheets cover every surface, keeping the layer of dust from touching what’s underneath. Once Rock pulls the sheets off of everything, it looks as though time has barely touched the room. Rock stacks the old wood inside the massive fireplace. I’m a little surprised he knows how to start a fire. He seems more the type to have servants do that sort of thing for him. I work at skinning the rat and use a fire poker as a spit. Luckily, the rats in this area are more the size of a cat—more meat.
I put the spit over the now blazing fire and wipe my hands with one of the wet rags I brought up.
Rock pulls his shirt over his head, revealing a toned, muscular physique that has me wanting to slide my hands over each rise and fall. He shakes out the shirt before laying it near the fire.
I tilt my head. “Umm. . .What are you doing?”
“Our clothes are still damp and it’s going to get colder tonight. We need to get them off our bodies so they can dry, or risk frozen fever.”
Seeing as I’ve been having a difficult time keeping things from escalating between us with our clothes on, I’m wondering if it’s better to risk frozen fever. I notice he hasn’t taken his bracelet off. I focus on the gold. That’s why I’m still here with him, and that’s the only reason, I remind myself.
I pull off my boots and socks and unbuckle my belt. When I begin unfastening my top, Rock stops unlacing his boots. For once his smile is gone and he just stares. I find myself matching his stare as I continue to unfasten each clasp, knowing full well that the undergarment beneath leaves little to the imagination. The camisole is sleeveless, low-cut, thin, and fitted. His eyes darken and I find myself breathing heavily, imagining it’s his hands unfastening each clasp.
“I know I said I wouldn’t touch you unless you wanted me to,” Rock says, his voice rough with lust. He swallows. “But if you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to get the impression that you do want me to.”
I quickly look away. “We wouldn’t want that now, would we,” I say, my voice small. “Why don’t we both turn around?”
I glance up and he’s running a hand through his hair. “This is going to be a long night,” he mutters and turns around.
Don’t worry, hero, I’ll be gone soon enough. And with the way things are going, the sooner the better. I turn my back to him and take off my top before I work on the laces of my pants and peel them off as well. My matching undergarment bottoms are so small that half of my ass hangs out. I know my fit body with curves in all the right places is attractive to most men, and I’m comfortable in my skin for the most part, but I’m not used to exposing so much of myself to someone that I’m tryingnotto bed.
I wrap a blanket over my shoulders. “You decent?” I ask.
“As decent as I’m going to be at the moment,” he says.
What does that mean?I turn around. Rock has a sheet tied around his waist and is sitting in front of the fire. I join him, letting the warmth thaw out my cold fingers and toes. The crackling flames are the only noise, and I try not to think about how betrayed Rock will feel when he finds me gone in the morning.
“Sky,” Rock says, leaning back onto his hands. The shadows from the flames dance across his handsome features. “I have a proposition for you.”
I give him a hard look. “I don’t think so, hero.”
“Whoa,” Rock’s eyebrows shoot up and he puts his hands out in surrender. “No, nothing like that. I mean. . . unless—”
I give him another hard look and he chuckles.
