me,” Jude yelled. “I demand—”
Bang.
They didn’t see what happened, having been hustled into the room, but the abrupt shuttering of Jude’s strident voice made it clear. One less soldier to worry about. The door to the suite shut, and a lock clicked.
Cam was already doing a perimeter sweep of the room. No noticeable weapons. A locker bolted to the wall revealed nothing but a few crimson garments hanging. There was a bed, covered in blankets, with two flat pillows. A lavatory with running water, a toilet, and a shower. Nothing he could pry and use to hit people with.
He returned to the room and saw Kayda still staring at the closed door. “I can’t believe they betrayed their own people.”
“The will to survive is stronger than loyalty in some,” he remarked, standing in the middle of the room to see if he’d missed anything. The rather barren chamber didn’t deserve the lofty title of suite.
“What are we going to do?” She wrung her hands.
“We are going to wait a bit and see how things play out. The good news is, they don’t want us dead.”
“No, they want to sell us instead, which is so much better.” Spoken with a sarcastic drawl.
“Which gives us time. Keep in mind, an hour ago we wanted inside this place. And now we’re here.”
“As prisoners.”
“For now.” He kicked off his boots.
“What are you doing?”
“Seeing if there’s hot water.”
She blinked. “You’re going to shower at a time like this?”
“You should, too. Who knows when we’ll get another chance.”
“What if they come back?”
“Then we’ll be clean.”
He stripped his shirt and unbuttoned his pants as he walked away from her to the lavatory.
“I’ll keep watch while you have a turn.”
“Watch? Why, Kay, I didn’t know you were into that kind of thing.” He winked at her over his shoulder and was rewarded with a blush and a stammered, “That’s not what I meant.”
“Please. From the first moment we met, you couldn’t wait to get my clothes off.”
“To help you.”
“I could use your help again.”
Her gaze dropped to his waist. Could she see how she affected him? Desire coursed through him. Probably not the best time for it. But then again, when was there a perfect time? When living in danger, pleasure had to be taken every chance possible.
She turned her back and faced the door. “Don’t use all the hot water.”
“I’ll save you some.” Because he’d need plenty of cold to put a damper on his arousal.
The towel, no surprise, was red. It felt kind of like treachery to wrap it around his hips. But while the thought of emerging nude appealed, he didn’t think Kayda would appreciate it.
Or would she?
She certainly stared a bit more than necessary at his chest. “Your injuries. We should find something to bind them.”
He glanced down. “Why bother? They already stopped bleeding.”
She frowned. “But the countess will see you’re healing too quickly if we don’t hide them.”
“The countess can have her guards pin me down to check. There’s no point. I think you’re just using this as an excuse to stare.” Bold words from a man who was usually shy in his flirtation. But something about Kayda brought it out of him.
“I am not staring!” she huffed, cheeks bright pink, her chin angled higher.
“If you say so, Kay. Now strip.”
“Excuse me?”
“It’s your turn to get clean,” he stated. Never mind the fact he just wanted to get dirty with her.
“I don’t know—”
He gripped her gently by the arm and pushed her in the direction of the lavatory. “I’ve got you covered, Kay. Go. Have a hot shower. It’s probably been a while.”
“Twenty years,” she said on a sigh. “Hot water wasn’t exactly considered a necessity.”
“Then you are past due. Go. Relax.”
She chewed her bottom lip. “You’ll yell if you need me?”
“Define need.” Because technically he wanted her right now.
It was as if she read his mind or had the same thought. She blushed and ducked her head. “If someone comes—”
“No one is coming,” he grumbled, and he meant that quite literally.
She finally went, and while the door was closed, he did spend a second staring at it. Imagining her peeling the layers revealing that sweet body, inch by inch.
Groan.
He turned away. He was just torturing himself with the impossible.
Since he didn’t feel like putting his dirty clothes back on, he raided the closet. Red, red, more red. Ooh, a pair of black pants folded on a shelf.
They were snug but would do the job. He eschewed the shirt for the moment and