Chapter 14
Danger came awake to something tickling her nose. Shaking her head, she brushed it away, only to have it return again to annoy her.
Aggravated, she opened her eyes to find Alexion kneeling on the floor beside her with a devastatingly gorgeous grin on his face. He laid the rose he'd been tormenting her with down on the mattress in front of her.
"Good evening, beautiful. I was afraid you were going to sleep the night away."
Danger returned his smile as she stretched and yawned. "What time is it?"
"Almost eight."
She froze at his words. "What?"
He leaned his chin on the mattress. There was something very innocent and sweet about that gesture. It was wholly unexpected from a man who was capable of the power this one commanded. "I told you. You were sleeping the night away."
She was completely stunned. She couldn't remember the last time she'd overslept. Come to think of it, she'd never done this before. Six hours a night was her maximum. But this time she'd managed to sleep twelve and she wasn't even in her own bed. How had that happened?
Maybe you need mind-blowing sex more often?
Well, that went without saying.
Yawning, she sat up slowly, clutching the sheet to her to find a nice dinner laid out on the small table by the window. This was just too good to be true-a man who could be terrifyingly powerful and protective, awesome in bed, and still be considerate enough to feed her a decent meal the next day.
No guy was this perfect.
She cringed as that thought went through her. Oh, yeah, he did have one serious drawback. He was rather dead and "other." But for an eternity of this kind of pampering, she just might be willing to overlook that one disturbing flaw. After all, she was no picnic herself.
Alexion turned a lamp on by the table. "I hope you like Chinese."
"As a matter of fact, I do." For some reason that made no sense whatsoever, she had a sudden case of shyness about leaving the bed buck naked while he stood there with that intense stare. She looked about the room awkwardly, wondering how she could dress without him seeing her.
Blind him?
That might be a problem, not to mention... rude.
He scratched his chin before he indicated the door with his thumb. "You want a Coke to drink? I can go get you one."
She smiled, relieved that he was a little more intuitive than most men. He really was "other." No mere mortal man would do such a thing. "Yes, please. That would be great."
He nodded, then left her alone.
Picking up the rose to inhale its fragrance, Danger took the time to lie back in the bed and remember the way they had spent the early morning hours.
To be awakened like this was something wonderful indeed.
"A woman could get used to this." She sighed dreamily as a foreign sensation of warmth and happiness rippled through her. "I think I like 'other.'"
"Other" gave her a satisfaction the likes of which she'd never known before. He made her feel things that she had never thought to feel again. She was actually giddy with the idea of spending another night with him.
Giddy? Me?
It was inconceivable that she would feel that. Yet she did. There was no way to deny it.
If only it could last. But she knew better. Their time together was all too limited.
Sighing, she got up and went to take a quick shower.
Alexion hesitated inside the room as he heard the water running in the bathroom. He had a perfect image in his mind of the water running over Danger's naked body. Of her soaping herself... Touching her flesh intimately.
An image of her in there running her hands over her breasts with her legs slightly parted.
His cock hardened immediately.
It was more than he could stand. His mouth dry, he set the drink down and went to push open the door to the bathroom. "Need someone to scrub your back?"
She made a squeak as if he'd startled her. "What are you doing in here?" she snapped.
"Wanting to see you naked in the shower," he said without embarrassment or hesitation.
She opened the curtain to stare at him. Her hair was plastered to her body, but the strands parted over her breasts, leaving the tips of them bare to his hungry gaze. "You need to learn control."
"That I have in spades."
She ran an equally hot look over his clothed body. "I am tempted, but I slept too late. We need to get back out there and see what's up with Kyros and crew."
She was right.
"Fine," he said, hating the fact that he had a job to do that didn't include more naked time with her. "Hormones leashed." He let out a tired breath, then started away.
She caught his hand to stop him. "There's always the dawn, you know?"
He lifted her hand so that he could place a kiss to the back of her knuckles. "Is that a promise?"
She nodded.
He closed his eyes and savored the softness of her skin before he released her and allowed her to finish her bath. But it was hard.
Not as hard as I am.
That was certainly true enough. He was having a difficult time sitting with the erection that wouldn't be denied.
While she finished showering, he distracted himself by preparing her food. Impulsively, he picked up a piece of the chicken to taste it.
His heart clenched as he tasted nothing. It was like the popcorn. There was no difference whatsoever. Only the texture differentiated one from the other.
"I miss eating," he breathed, moving away from the white containers of food. As a man, he had liked nothing better than that long feast at the end of a battle. The roasted lamb and beef that had been marinated in wine and spices. Goblets of rich, red wine and mead.
His mother had made the best honeyed bread he'd ever tasted.
Of all the things he'd lost by being reincarnated, he hated losing the ability to taste the most.
No, that wasn't true, he hated losing his soul, but the food was a close second.
He heard the door open. Turning, he saw Danger leaving the bathroom, fully dressed. She had a white towel wound round her head. "How is it?"
"Still warm." That was all he could tell about it.
"Are you eating?"
"I ate already," he lied. She was suspicious enough about what sustained him. The last thing he needed to do was confide in her how Acheron kept him alive. There were some things she didn't need to know.