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“Take it easy,” Xander said quietly from behind him. “You’re scaring her.”
“I don’t scare easily,” I promised.
“You do when someone’s trying to take care of you.” Xander shoved Dominic gently into my room, then eased the door shut behind us. “After all, you can take care of yourself, right, Selena? So his protective, possessive impulses make you feel squirrely?”
I frowned at Xander. The feeling of having someone else spill my deepest secrets over the plush white carpet was deeply uncomfortable. “No.”
Neither of them looked convinced.
“You’re going to drip on the carpet,” Xander said. “Go into the bathroom. Jesus. You couldn’t take a shower?”
To my surprise, Dominic headed for the nearest bathroom,mybathroom. “I took a dip in the river.”
“The same river where you dumped him? Gross.”
“Yeah well,” he said. “All of it was gross.”
“So, really not your blood.” I wasn’t sure why that seemed so important. But I would’ve asked one of the other Belladonnas anyway, to make sure they didn’t need medical attention.
“No.” In the doorway to the bathroom, he stripped off his t-shirt, his muscles rippling with the movement.
“You need to get cleaned up for dinner with Aiden.” Xander leaned against the door, crossing his arms over his leanly muscled chest; he looked relaxed. “It’s time for another little test before you meet Gavin Crude.”
My heartrate sped, but I covered it with a smile as I reminded myself that he couldn’t easily lock me back in that cage. He could get another set of locks in a heartbeat, I was sure—but Dominic and Xander seemed likely to stop him. I didn’t entirely understand why, but I could feel it in my bones.
Xander pulled himself up and crossed to me before I could say whatever glib words first came to mind. “You don’t have to hide with me,” he said quietly. “I don’t need that fake smile.”
He rubbed his thumb across my lips as if he wanted to rub it away. I frowned, looking up at him.
“That’s my girl,” he said. “The real one.”
His electric gaze held mine.
“Can you get me some clothes? And take these to be burned?” Dominic called.
“Why are you in my shower?” I called back, feeling slightly exasperated. I wouldn’t normally feel flustered by much of anything, but there was something about these men invading my space—in every way possible—that made me feel off kilter.
I needed to master my feelings about them, or I was forever going to be off balance around them.
What was I so afraid of?
I should fuck them until I didn’t care anymore.
“I’m going to get his clothes,” Xander told me.
“Great,” I said. “It’s going to be an awkward dinner without them.”
Xander grinned at me and left. I faced the bathroom, where the sound of the tub running was loud.
And I steeled myself.
Then I walked into my bathroom, only to see him with his head tilted back, his arms spread to either side as he sank into the deep tub. The hard planes of his chest, covered in colorful, intricate tattoos, were on full display. He looked like a different man without the suit, with his blond hair darkened with water and slicked back from the cruelly beautiful angles of his face. It was as if the mask he wore had been stripped away with his clothes, and I could see him as he truly was.
Beautiful. Dangerous. Alluring.
“Are you joining me or are you just going to stare?” He didn’t open his eyes, as if he could feel my presence. As if he was just as attuned to me as I was to him.
“Neither.” I’d dressed in a short black dress, so I sat on the edge of the tub and let my feet dangle into the water. He was using the bubble bath that had been provided in my bathroom, so the scent of lilies hung in the air. It was going to be quite different from his normal musky, leathery aftershave. “So, you do Aiden’s dirty work?”
