He laughed, a small private sound. “Because you plastered yourself against me before I could get them off.”
I backed up and sat on the cold marble of the vanity countertop because my feet hurt and because it put some distance between us. I could watch him strip without being tempted to touch—which might slow us up.
Watching Adam undress was one of my favorite things.
“What?” he asked, stepping out of his jeans.
I remembered to shut my eyes before I accidentally looked into his. “What do you mean, what?” I asked.
“You were grinning.”
I felt it happen again. “I am just surprised that some enterprising women haven’t put a hit out on me in sheer envy,” I told him. “And they don’t even know that the outside package isn’t a tithe on the man underneath.”
There was a pause, and I felt my smile soften, but it wouldn’t go away. I hurt all over. I was an exhausted mess. As soon as I let myself think again, I was going to be a scared, exhausted mess. And it didn’t matter. Adam made me happy.
“You can look at me, you know,” he said, nearer than I’d expected. “You don’t need the Soul Taker to show you my soul—you’ve already been there, done that.”
My mate had a generous and open heart. Beside him I was a hopeless coward. It would not matter to me if he’d seen my soul bared once, I still would not want him to do it again. I would be too afraid of what he’d see.
I swallowed. “I have my heart set on jumping your bones,” I told him. “That other is distracting.”
He gave an Adam grunt, and I heard the soft footfalls that told me he had gone into the bedroom. I opened my eyes and gingerly got off the vanity. My skin wanted to stick so I had to peel myself off. Standing on my feet had been getting more uncomfortable, but sitting on the vanity had been the wrong choice. Hopping down wasn’t pleasant.
Adam missed all of this—as I intended him to. When he came into the bathroom, I was standing on the tile and he was holding one of his silk ties—deep blue with chocolate highlights that were the same color as his eyes.
“Not that one,” I said. “It’s my favorite.”
He lifted it and wrapped it around my eyes anyway. “Mine, too,” he said. Then he put his lips against my ear and whispered, “I like it when you wear my clothes.”
I didn’t object again. There were always dry cleaners.
He picked me up again—this time avoiding both the cut on my back and the sore muscle. He took his time getting from the bathroom to the bed. By the time he set me down on the cool sheets, I had forgotten all about my aches and pains.
It took him a while, but eventually I forgot my own name. I remembered his, though.
Sweaty, panting, and happy, I lay contentedly facedown on the bed while Adam cleaned the mess we’d made. He put ointment on my back and only then untied the tie covering my eyes.
“I think it will survive,” he said, sounding a little surprised.
“Quality pays off,” I murmured.
“You should eat something,” he said.
If I moved, it was going to hurt. Right now nothing hurt at all.
“Go away or come to bed,” I told him.
“I thought it’s supposed to be men who have to sleep after sex,” he complained, but there was a thread of laughter in his voice. I made Adam happy, too.
“I fought a possessed vampire. I get to sleep.”
“Fair enough,” he said, patting my butt. He pulled the sheet and then the blankets over me.
I probably should have worried about the ointment on my back getting on the sheets. But I couldn’t work up the energy.
Adam pulled down the shades to darken the room, then took a shower. I was asleep before he came out of the bathroom. Someone tried to wake me up for dinner but left me alone after I yelled at them. If I dreamed, I didn’t notice.
* * *
—
I woke up to a dark room and Adam sleeping beside me. I’d stolen all of the covers and he lay naked, facedown on the bed. I couldn’t help but smile—and it had nothing to do with his hard-muscled body. He could have unrolled me from the covers, but that would have woken me up.
“Frost—”
The memory of Wulfe’s voice made me frown. Why had he wanted to talk about Frost? Frost was dust, Adam and I had killed him between us, but when Frost was walking the earth, he’d had a talent for souls. He’d fed off them.
Adam stirred. I rolled out of the blankets and covered him.
“I’m up,” I whispered. “Go back to sleep. I’m going down to grab some food.”