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Closing my hand around the pendant, I slipped it into my pocket and looked around. I wouldn’t let it come to that.
Time passed as I got things together. I pulled out ingredients, pillows and blankets, queued up a movie, and searched for Astrid’s favorite selection of bath relaxers.
Astrid entered the house around the time I finished drawing hot water. I rushed downstairs to meet her. She was alone, and she was a mess, with her disheveled hair and dirt smeared… everywhere. Her body also drooped with exhaustion.
“They pushed me hard today,” she murmured before I could say anything.
“I can see that.” I looked around, but we were the only ones in the house. “Where is everyone else?”
She gave a half-hearted shrug. “Said something about participating in a magical fight pit or something.”
Her lack of caring showed how exhausted she was. She and Darius had a family tradition of watching UFC fights and wrestling together. No one would know someone as kind as her loved seeing people beat the shit out of each other for entertainment, fame, and money. And if she didn’t care about a magic fight pit, she definitely needed this surprise I’d cooked up.
“Well, let’s get you relaxing.”
I reached for her, but she pathetically tried to push me away. “I’m going to go lay down.”
“No, you’re going to enjoy this surprise I have.”
Her shoulders drooped more. “Diego…”
I slipped my arms around her and guided her to the loft. I’d carry her, but I knew she’d freak out at me for trying that on stairs.
Astrid’s feet dragged in her exhaustion and I worried she might actually fall asleep while walking. She’d never been this tired after training.Why did they push so hard this time?
Even though she was tired, she still noticed the setup I’d created in our personal lounge up in the loft. “What’s that?”
I veered her away and toward her room. “Part of your surprise. But first, a bath.”
“Bath?”
Guiding her into her room, I nudged open her bathroom door, where a hot bath with salts and bubbles waited for her.
She gasped. “Diego…”
She looked up at me with watery eyes and wrapped her arms around me, burying her face in my chest. I hugged her back, smiling. I knew she’d appreciate this treatment.
When she was ready to pull away, I motioned with my finger. “Turn around.”
She eyed me, suddenly suspicious. “I don’t know if I should trust you.”
I chuckled. “I said turn around, not bend over.”
Astrid sucked in a breath through her lips, her cheeks turning a shade of pink. She turned around, and I allowed my gaze to trail down her figure.
I slid my hand along her hip and pulled her against my chest, bending close to her ear. “I’d be sure to warm you up first before I ask you that.”
She pressed her lips together, and I felt her weight shift. “As if it’d be easy, like turning the keys of a car.”
I hummed thoughtfully, allowing my hands to teasingly trace up her arms and along her collarbone. “I’d take my time. Slow and steady, until you’re purring.”
She visibly swallowed.
I grinned and finished clasping the necklace around her neck before stepping back. “I hope you like your gift.”
Astrid blinked and tipped her head down, now noticing the piece of jewelry. I didn’t wait to see her reaction. We could talk about it after she bathed, and at this rate I didn’t trust myself not to ask her if she needed help getting into the bath, with nothing on but that necklace.
I paused in the threshold of her room just before leaving, and sucked in a deep breath when an image of her slowly stripping down flitted through my mind’s eyes. Her milky, freckled skin, a little bruised but quickly healing with her immortal Valkyrie power, all exquisitely tempting me to touch and feel… to kiss and lick.
