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She grins, and I push my tired self up to kiss her lips.
Chapter Thirty-Five
~ELIZABETH~
I don't think I've ever seen anything hotter than Hunter's face as he comes. But in the seconds after he finishes, I'm worried again. He grabs a towel off a bench and cleans us up, and then he pulls me to my feet and hands me my clothes—and he's gentle, with his eyes on me as we both dress, clearly concerned about whether I enjoyed myself.
I look into his eyes and tell him, “That was wonderful.”
“Good,” he says. But the little smile he gives me doesn't reach his eyes at all. He looks distracted. Worried, even. Like maybe he regrets what happened. And why wouldn't he, says a little voice inside my head. He told you to leave, Lizzy—and you didn't.
I'm staring at the floor, trying to decide what to do next without making all this ten times more awkward, when he reaches out and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “Want to go upstairs?”
“Of course.”
There's no smile from him, no sign at first that he's relived or happy that I'm still around. But after we step off the elevator onto the main floor, he wraps his arm around my shoulder as we walk toward the staircase. Every time our sides and hips bump, I feel a bolt of lightning jolt my body.
He loosens his grip on me a little as we take the stares, but we're still close. His eyes glide over me. He looks pensive. “I want you to get a shower.”
Oh no. He's sending me away now.
I swallow, because I don’t trust myself not to make embarrassing noises. If he wants me to leave, I need to go.
“Okay,” I say quietly.
He holds out his hand, and for a second, I'm confused. “I didn't think about this when I touched you, but my hands are bloody.”
Panic flashes through me. “Are you positive for something?”
“No. I'm not. Just…I thought you might like to clean it off.”
He says nothing more as we make our way through his room into and his massive bathroom, done in sleek whites and grays.
There's a shower, which I figure he will turn on, but instead he reaches over the square gardener's tub and turns the knob. He turns around and pulls some bottles from a cabinet, squirting something from one of them into the tub as it fills.
“Take as long as you want,” he tells me. He sits a towel and a wash cloth on the tub's edge, and then he disappears, closing the door behind him.
What the heck? I strip out of my clothes and hop into the bath only as a courtesy to Hunter. I don't feel dirty, and I don't want to sit in here by myself, curious about what's going on inside his head, but maybe he has a thing about cleanliness.
I take the world's shortest soak bath, and as I reach for my towel, I notice the mess of fluffy, black terrycloth isn't all towel. There's a robe there, too.
I bring it to my nose and a quick sniff reveals it's Hunter's. It smells like shaving cream, deodorant, and Hunter. As I slide it on my damp body, I actually shiver.
Holy wow.
After only a moment's deliberation, I use a comb on the counter to brush my hair and then I gather my dirty clothes into a bundle and walk into Hunter's bedroom. It's been entirely put to rights—by Hunter while I bathed, or by a housekeeper, I'm not sure; I was so focused on Hunter I didn’t pay attention to the room when we passed through it before.
I don't see Hunter, but then he taps me on the shoulder, and I realize I passed him. He's sitting with his back against the wall, just outside the bathroom.
“Hi.” Despite the weirdness of our circumstances, I can't help but smile.
“Hi.” He returns the smile, but his is weary. I jerk my thumb toward the still-steaming bathroom. “You should shower, too.” He's sweaty and his hands are still bloody. “I bet you'd feel better.”
He shakes his head and pushes up off the floor. His green eyes meet mine and hold. “Libby, I'm worried about you. Priscilla is used to getting what she wants, and she won't like it that you're here. Will you please go?” For the first time, I can tell he doesn't want me to. When he asks me to leave, he's frowning, and there's a crease between his eyebrows. His body is tense, like he's waiting for a blow.
“So you know Priscilla came by?”
Something flickers over his face, but I'm not sure what it is. “Hal told me. I'm sorry you had to deal with that. It's bullshit. Just another reason now would be a good time for you to leave.”
