He sat in silence, stunned at the revelation, furious with himself for not seeing it coming. Maybe all along he'd suspected, but he hadn't wanted to know. She was so beautiful. So right for him. Who sent her? Who put those shadows in her eyes? The wariness on her face? Because of you. What exactly did that mean?
He kept his features expressionless while he studied the situation from every angle. If she'd been sent there to kill him, she would have done it already. If she was spying, she would have tried to get into his office and he would have known. He didn't believe in coincidence, so just how much danger was he in? And how much should he tell the others? He'd kept everyone away from Saber, purely for selfish reasons, although maybe he'd known the truth all along.
"What? No comment? You've gone awfully quiet, Jesse, and you always have some little lecture to pull out of your long list of them. I guess the truth is, I wanted to feel something for someone. He seemed like fun in the bar. Good looking. Somewhat intelligent."
He'd been a creep. She'd purposely gone out with a sleaze, just as she always did, because she didn't want to hurt a really nice man. Wherever she was currently calling home, she knew she could never stay. She wanted to do all the normal things a woman would do when she pretended she was living life like everyone else, but she never wanted anyone hurt on her account. She'd already caused enough hurt for a lifetime.
She sighed and punched her fist into the bubbles. "It was stupid. I won't be doing it again."
"It was stupid," he agreed. "And no, you won't be doing it again."
She glanced up at his face. It looked as if it were chiseled from stone. That was Jesse on the outside. Jesse on the inside was...mush. A slow grin spread over her face and amusement slowly lit her eyes. "You're so bossy. How does anyone stand you?"
"Not very well, which is why I've lived alone until you came along. Even my parents avoid me." He flashed her an answering grin and, using the bars, pulled himself from the hot tub to the platform he used for drying off.
For a moment all she could do was stare in awe at the power in his arms as he lifted his body. Realizing she was ogling him again, she hastily jumped out, turning away from him to shut everything down.
"So what's with the T-shirt, angel face?" Jess idly toweled his hair.
"I always wear a T-shirt swimming." Saber shivered as the cold air hit her wet body. She strove for the ideal tone. Nonchalant. Breezy. She could do breezy--she'd honed that to perfection. "You know I do, it isn't anything new."
"I know, but you can't exactly get sunburned indoors," he pointed out, and reached for his thick, terry cloth robe. "I've explained that before, but you didn't take much notice." He paused in the act of putting on his robe. "Where are your sweats?"
"I forgot them." Saber was drying herself off as fast as possible.
"Come here," Jess ordered softly in exasperation.
"I'm all right," she assured him, looking anxious.
"It's a hell of a lot easier for you to come over here than it is for me to go over there, but if you insist." Jess shifted his weight, reached behind him for his racing chair.
"All right already," Saber was beside him in an instant. "Do you always have to have everything your way?"
He grinned mockingly, and without preamble caught the bottom of her T-shirt and pulled it right over her head. Saber froze in place, her heart thundering in her ears, but Jess was already enfolding her in his warm robe.
"You already know the answer to that one, baby." With the ease of long practice and the help of strategically placed bars, Jess lifted himself into his chair.
Saber pulled the robe close, tightened the belt around her small waist. "Someone spoiled you, Jess. Patsy?" She named his older sister.
"Patsy!" He groaned the name. "Patsy was far too busy ensuring my soul was saved. You ought to know that. How many times have you heard her lectures on the two of us living in sin?" He spun the chair around, balanced on the two back wheels for a long moment before streaking through the wide-open halls to the living room.
"Will you stop doing that?" Saber jogged after him. "One of these days you'll be showing off and you'll go over backward." She scooped up the thick comforter lying in a heap on the sofa and tossed it to him. "And it's all your fault we get lectures. You started the whole thing."
"I did?" Jess tucked the blanket around him, one eyebrow shooting up. "I was not the one who came strolling out of my bedroom wearing one of my shirts and nothing else when she came to visit."
His smile did something to her heart. "It wasn't like that and you know it. You didn't even mention having a sister, dragon king. How was I to know who she was? And you know very well why I was in your bedroom, wearing your shirt."
"Another one of your unfortunate accidents--a mud puddle, wasn't it?"
"Laugh about it." Saber swept a hand through her wet hair, glaring at him. "You dropped me in the mud puddle on purpose. I know you did. I wasn't about to go dripping up the stairs and into my bedroom. And I wasn't going to stand around in filthy clothes."
"You decided all by yourself to pay me back by dirtying up my bedroom," he pointed out. "And it wasn't my idea for you to come out of my bedroom looking as sexy as hell when my nosy sister showed up. You did that all by yourself."
Saber stamped one bare foot in feigned outrage. "Hey now. I did not know she was here. You could have warned me." Only Jesse had ever made her feel this way--joy, laughter, a sense of belonging. Fun. He created fun. "I was not about to stay dirty. You knew very well I had taken a shower and put on your shirt. I was being silly--it was a joke. I did not look sexy. I'm totally incapable of looking sexy."
Amusement softened the hard edge of his mouth. "Yeah? Who says? Believe me, honey, you looked sexy. I didn't blame Patsy for jumping to the wrong conclusion."
"And you didn't deny it when she did," Saber accused, snuggling deeper into his robe, wishing it were his arms, wishing she dared press her mouth to his.
"Neither did you. As I recall, you wound your arms around my neck and looked provocative." Deliberately he provoked her, wanting the shadows gone from her eyes, wanting to see her laugh, the real thing, the one that she reserved for him alone.
"Provocative?" Violet sparks were fairly shooting through her blue eyes.
She looked young, tousled and very tempting, so small in his huge, thick terry cloth robe. If he reached out, he could catch the lapels of the robe and tug her close, bring his mouth to hers and just go up in flames.
"Provocative," he said decisively.
"Now that is untrue and you know it, Jesse." She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Provocative. What rot. And you pulled me onto your lap prior to my winding my arms around your neck. Which, incidentally, was a major mistake; it should have been my hands around your throat. I had no idea Patsy was your sister. I thought she was some ex-girlfriend you wanted to get rid of. I was merely obliging you."
"Ha!" he snorted inelegantly. "More like you thought she was a new one you wanted to get rid of."
Saber's bare feet beat a little tattoo on the floor in total frustration. She looked around for something to throw at his head, and settled for her damp towel. "You wish, caveman. Don't flatter yourself. You are so arrogant, Jesse, it drives me crazy."
He reached out, captured her hand, and brought her fingers to the disturbing warmth of his mouth. "You love it, baby." His thumb feathered over her knuckles, sending little darts of fire racing along her nerve endings. "You love arguing."
She jerked her hand away as if she'd been burned. Maybe she did, but she wasn't admitting it. "One of these days someone is going to take you down a peg or two."
He shrugged his powerful shoulders, his smile mocking. "It won't be you, angel face."
"Don't count on it, dragon king. As it happens, my week to cook is coming up fast. I know at least seven recipes for tofu. Shape up or eat soybean."
Jess burst out laughing, the sound so infectious she found herself joining in. "Vengeful little brat, aren't you?"
"You know it." Saber didn't bother to deny the accusation. "I'm going upstairs."
"Is that an invitation?"
"Stop leering, although I can tell you're very experienced at it," she retorted. "Good night."