Page 11 of Silk & Sand
RAIDER WATCHED THROUGH slitted eyes as the Curator came striding across the bathhouse. The man’s bare torso was deliciously carved with muscle above the blue and white patterned towel. His powerful legs flexed below it to pleasing effect.
Raider couldn’t imagine what had the man moving his way, but he wasn’t about to complain. He didn’t even mind that the Curator looked half inclined to violence. On the contrary, that aggressive stride and the emerald fire in his eyes had Raider’s cock stirring under the water’s surface.
With the pool recessed into the floor and Raider reclining to offer a full frontal view, Seth would easily be able to see Raider’s reaction to him if he looked down. However, when the Curator halted on the opposite side of the pool, he also halted his eyes at Raider’s face.
“You found me!” Raider exclaimed, stretching his arms out on either side along the pool’s ledge.
“You’re staying at the tavern?”
“Are you trying proposition me?”
The Curator’s body went positively rigid, and the flush in his cheeks deepened. Raider let his gaze drop to Seth’s groin, just in case, but the Curator’s towel hung flat.
“Don’t be absurd. I need to speak with you but would rather not do that while you’re naked in a pool.”
“It is a bit awkward when you’re not naked in the pool as well.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Why so shy? You have a fantastic body. Unless … not all of it’s fantastic?” he baited.
“So you are flirting with me.”
Raider laughed. “Were you unsure before?”
Those green eyes narrowed. “Did you follow me here?”
“There’s only one major street in Shalaa, so … technically?”
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
“Would you get in the pool already? It’s uncomfortable talking to you up there. I’m getting a crick in my neck.” Raider rolled his head to demonstrate.
“Answer my question.”
“I just got in from six days of desert travel. Where else would I go?”
Seth’s nostrils flared. He didn’t acknowledge that salient point but didn’t argue it either.
“You’ll be at the tavern tonight?”
“Hard to say. I don’t like to sleep alone, so it will depend on what invitations I get. You’re free to make one.”
Raider knew he was pushing the man, but tension like this couldn’t be wasted. The two of them needed to fuck or fight. Raider would accept nothing less.
But Seth displayed the same control of himself that he’d shown earlier. “Fine,” he bit out, glaring. “We’ll just have to do this here.”
“While I appreciate your confidence in my ability to find a welcoming bed and thus be unavailable tonight, I do have to ask: do what?”
“Have a conversation.”
“Aren’t we already having a conversation?”
“You keep pulling me off task. I have questions—”
“Seth. You stormed in here bursting at the seams with business, but look around! This is a bathhouse. Enjoy the steam room. Get a massage! You’re as tight as a miser’s purse strings. At the very least, get in the damn pool.”
Seth stared at Raider. Raider stared back. Yes, he could be stubborn too.