Oath Bound
Page 50
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Upstairs, Van was clicking away at her laptop in the room at the end of the hall, and I knew without asking that she wouldn’t get much sleep, in spite of the late hour. Not with Kenley missing. But at least she’d found something constructive to do with the time.
When I was sure everything was secure and everyone was safe—except for Kenley—I headed into my own room. Then stopped cold with my hand still on the doorknob.
Sera stood naked in the middle of the floor with her back to me, a towel in her left hand, a T-shirt in her right.
For about half a second, I had a stunning, unimpeded view of one of the most beautiful sights I’d ever seen. She was slim, and soft and every curve on her body seemed designed to fit into my hand, or under my lips, or into my mouth...
Then she half-turned and saw me, and if she hadn’t choked on surprise, she’d surely have screamed loud enough to break every pane of glass in the house. Fear flashed behind her eyes for just an instant, replaced almost immediately by blazing fury as she dropped the shirt and clutched the towel to her chest, its hem grazing her toes.
“Get out!” she screeched, and my confusion manifested as anger, which I probably had little right to express.
“This is my room.”
“Oh, Kris?” Kori called from the room next door. “I forgot to tell you I gave Sera your room. Sorry!” But she wasn’t sorry. That was not the tone of regret.
“You gave her...” Irritation burned in my cheeks and I turned to Sera, who’d wrapped the towel around herself and was tucking the loose corner between her breasts. I’d never wanted to be a towel so badly in my life. “So you’re not...”
She rolled her eyes, one hand resting on the footboard of my bed. “You can’t be serious. You thought I came up here to throw myself at you?”
I shrugged and leaned against the doorjamb, scrambling for composure to hide any sign that I’d liked what I’d seen. “It’s happened before.”
Her glare grew colder and she crossed both arms over the front of the towel, a secondary barrier between the two of us. “I promise, if I throw something at you, it’s gonna hurt.”
“Well, what was I supposed to think? There’s a naked woman in my room.”
“A woman you kidnapped, interrogated and conscripted into your mission, then dragged into the line of fire. Again. You’re supposed to think, ‘Gee, the least she deserves is a place to sleep and a little privacy.’”
I couldn’t really argue with that. “So, what...” I asked, loud enough for Kori to hear. “I get the couch?” We all knew she was listening in anyway.
“Unless you think you can talk Gran out of her bed,” my sister called back, and I could still hear repressed laughter in her voice.
“This is because I’m a guy, right?” I crossed the room and grabbed the duffel bag I’d been living out of for more than three months. “Girls never take the couch.” And Ian and Kori wouldn’t both fit on the one downstairs, which only left me...
“You’re such a gentleman.” Sarcasm dripped like venom from Sera’s lips. “I’m floored by your hospitality. Now, would you please get the hell out of my room so I can put some clothes on?”
“No one’s stopping you.” And instead of leaving, I started loading my stuff into my bag. My stuff didn’t amount to much—deodorant, a comb, a bag of unshelled peanuts I’d been munching from for two days.
I was halfway down the hall, the door already closed at my back, when I remembered Elle’s sleep journal. Shit. If Sera found that, she’d think I was rude and crazy.
At the bedroom door again, I knocked twice. “Fair warning. I’m coming in.”
“Just a second,” she called. And that meant she was still naked. Or still partially naked. Maybe pulling her shirt over her head at that very moment.
My imagination was good and my memory was even better, and I couldn’t purge the mental image of her facing away from me, tugging a T-shirt over her bare back, where it hung down to hips that could make a man weep.
“Okay. Come in.”
I opened the door. She was fully dressed in a T-shirt and shorts. Damn.
“What, one invasion of privacy wasn’t enough?” She propped both hands on those hips, and my gaze stuck there for a second. “Three strikes and you’re out.”
“So, I get one more?” I was kidding. Trying to make light of the fact that my subconscious seemed determined to sabotage my efforts to not think about her naked by constantly showing me images of her naked. But she didn’t look amused. “Sorry. I forgot something.”
I stomped past her to the nightstand and quickly realized she wasn’t going to look away while I removed the very private contents. But I guess I deserved that, considering how much of her I’d seen in the past five minutes alone.
Sera watched me shove the notebook into my bag, but didn’t comment. “Night,” I said as I closed the door behind me for the second time, and if she replied, I couldn’t hear her.
For almost a minute, I stood outside the room, leaning against the door, fighting the urge to go back in. To say...something. Something brilliant, and funny, and without any kidnapper or peeping-perv overtone.
Whatever it took to make her stop hating me again.
I couldn’t stand knowing that a couple of hours earlier, she’d smiled at me in the thick of enemy territory, yet here, where she was safe, fed, clothed and tucked into my bed without me, she hated me all over again.
When I was sure everything was secure and everyone was safe—except for Kenley—I headed into my own room. Then stopped cold with my hand still on the doorknob.
Sera stood naked in the middle of the floor with her back to me, a towel in her left hand, a T-shirt in her right.
For about half a second, I had a stunning, unimpeded view of one of the most beautiful sights I’d ever seen. She was slim, and soft and every curve on her body seemed designed to fit into my hand, or under my lips, or into my mouth...
Then she half-turned and saw me, and if she hadn’t choked on surprise, she’d surely have screamed loud enough to break every pane of glass in the house. Fear flashed behind her eyes for just an instant, replaced almost immediately by blazing fury as she dropped the shirt and clutched the towel to her chest, its hem grazing her toes.
“Get out!” she screeched, and my confusion manifested as anger, which I probably had little right to express.
“This is my room.”
“Oh, Kris?” Kori called from the room next door. “I forgot to tell you I gave Sera your room. Sorry!” But she wasn’t sorry. That was not the tone of regret.
“You gave her...” Irritation burned in my cheeks and I turned to Sera, who’d wrapped the towel around herself and was tucking the loose corner between her breasts. I’d never wanted to be a towel so badly in my life. “So you’re not...”
She rolled her eyes, one hand resting on the footboard of my bed. “You can’t be serious. You thought I came up here to throw myself at you?”
I shrugged and leaned against the doorjamb, scrambling for composure to hide any sign that I’d liked what I’d seen. “It’s happened before.”
Her glare grew colder and she crossed both arms over the front of the towel, a secondary barrier between the two of us. “I promise, if I throw something at you, it’s gonna hurt.”
“Well, what was I supposed to think? There’s a naked woman in my room.”
“A woman you kidnapped, interrogated and conscripted into your mission, then dragged into the line of fire. Again. You’re supposed to think, ‘Gee, the least she deserves is a place to sleep and a little privacy.’”
I couldn’t really argue with that. “So, what...” I asked, loud enough for Kori to hear. “I get the couch?” We all knew she was listening in anyway.
“Unless you think you can talk Gran out of her bed,” my sister called back, and I could still hear repressed laughter in her voice.
“This is because I’m a guy, right?” I crossed the room and grabbed the duffel bag I’d been living out of for more than three months. “Girls never take the couch.” And Ian and Kori wouldn’t both fit on the one downstairs, which only left me...
“You’re such a gentleman.” Sarcasm dripped like venom from Sera’s lips. “I’m floored by your hospitality. Now, would you please get the hell out of my room so I can put some clothes on?”
“No one’s stopping you.” And instead of leaving, I started loading my stuff into my bag. My stuff didn’t amount to much—deodorant, a comb, a bag of unshelled peanuts I’d been munching from for two days.
I was halfway down the hall, the door already closed at my back, when I remembered Elle’s sleep journal. Shit. If Sera found that, she’d think I was rude and crazy.
At the bedroom door again, I knocked twice. “Fair warning. I’m coming in.”
“Just a second,” she called. And that meant she was still naked. Or still partially naked. Maybe pulling her shirt over her head at that very moment.
My imagination was good and my memory was even better, and I couldn’t purge the mental image of her facing away from me, tugging a T-shirt over her bare back, where it hung down to hips that could make a man weep.
“Okay. Come in.”
I opened the door. She was fully dressed in a T-shirt and shorts. Damn.
“What, one invasion of privacy wasn’t enough?” She propped both hands on those hips, and my gaze stuck there for a second. “Three strikes and you’re out.”
“So, I get one more?” I was kidding. Trying to make light of the fact that my subconscious seemed determined to sabotage my efforts to not think about her naked by constantly showing me images of her naked. But she didn’t look amused. “Sorry. I forgot something.”
I stomped past her to the nightstand and quickly realized she wasn’t going to look away while I removed the very private contents. But I guess I deserved that, considering how much of her I’d seen in the past five minutes alone.
Sera watched me shove the notebook into my bag, but didn’t comment. “Night,” I said as I closed the door behind me for the second time, and if she replied, I couldn’t hear her.
For almost a minute, I stood outside the room, leaning against the door, fighting the urge to go back in. To say...something. Something brilliant, and funny, and without any kidnapper or peeping-perv overtone.
Whatever it took to make her stop hating me again.
I couldn’t stand knowing that a couple of hours earlier, she’d smiled at me in the thick of enemy territory, yet here, where she was safe, fed, clothed and tucked into my bed without me, she hated me all over again.
