Page 68 of Red Fire
I groan. “I would kill for coffee.” I gasp. “You must be starving. And thirsty.”
He nods, grabbing a glass and filling it with water. He offers it to me.
I shake my head. “You drink first. I insist.”
I watch his throat work while he drinks down three…no, four glasses of water before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Better?” I lift my brows.
“Much.” He gives me a half-smile, and despite the grime and blood clinging to his skin, my stomach does a flip-flop. “I need to take a shower,” he growls. “I stink.”
He does not.
“That sounds good.” I nod. I’m pretty sure I stink. “I could do with a serious shower.”
His eyes flare with something that looks very much like lust.
“I have a spare bedroom,” he says. “You can shower there. You must make yourself at home.”
I nod, feeling strangely disappointed. It’s not that I was expecting us to share a shower or anything, but still…I feel let down when he tells me about the spare room. I’m being silly.
“Let’s get cleaned up, and then I will head out and pick up some supplies. I’ll cook you dinner.”
“You will not! I owe you so much, Creed.” My voice breaks a little. “I owe you everything.” I’m shocked at how close to tears I am. “I’m grateful…so grateful. I’ll never be able to make it up to you.”
“Hey…you don’t have to make up for anything.” He takes my hands in his, rubbing his thumbs over the tops of them. “Nothing at all. None of this was your fault.”
“Still. You—”
“Really. I mean it.” He lets me go. “You saved my ass today. I don’t think anyone has stood up to that asshole colonel before.” Creed laughs softly. He’s so sexy. I can’t help but think it. “You kicked his ass. Verbally, I mean, which is somehow sexier than—” He catches himself, getting this look. “Better than if you had actually kicked his ass. You put him firmly in his place with that sassy mouth of yours. I loved watching you in action.”
I smile. “He deserved it. I can’t believe that man. He seemed to have it in for you, but that makes no sense.”
“Actually, it does.” He rubs his mouth. “Taro is Chase’s uncle. Chase is the male I beat and maimed. That’s why Taro hates me so much.”
I gasp. “That makes all kinds of sense.” I smooth a hand down my shirt and clear my throat. “Still. It was wrong. He was using his position of power to get back at you for something you already served your time for.”
“Yeah…well.”
“Don’t say you deserve it, or I’ll kick your ass.” We both laugh, but I sober up. “There’s something else I need to just double-check on before making myself at home.”
“Okay. Check away.”
“Are you sure you’re okay with me staying here? I wanted to get away from there as quickly as I could. I wasn’t thinking about anything else. But I can stay at the castle until that flight leaves in a week. I know you never wanted to come back here. I don’t want to force you into—”
He makes a face and barks out a laugh. “You can’t force me to do anything, Octavia. Thankfully, Taro knows that, or you might have been arrested after confessing to forcing me to have sex with you.” His eyes seem to darken.
I shrug. “Ididthrow myself at you.”
“You have a bad memory; there was zero throwing. I picked you up.” His gaze drops to my mouth. “I wish I could’ve seen Taro’s expression when you told him you would’ve had sex with me again if we’d had the chance. Or when you said that your vagina died and went to heaven.”
“Me, too,” I say; my voice is soft.
Creed chuckles. “Even though you were only joking, it would have been—”
“I wasn’t joking,” I blurt. “I was serious. I was serious when I said it was the best sex I ever had and totally serious when I said I would have liked to have done it again.” I keep my eyes on his. They flare with definite heat.
Creed steps up to me, so close that we are almost touching. He makes this soft, growling noise that does things to my insides.