Dead Ice (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter) - Laurell K. Hamilton Page 0,181

each other as guards and as friends. Ares had been the blond physical counterpoint to Bram’s oh-so-brunette. Ares was dead, and Bram was like a shadow with no light to balance him, or maybe that was just my guilt talking, since I’d been the one who had to kill him. A vampire had bespelled Ares and suddenly all that military skill and werehyena strength was turned against us. It was one thing to not be able to save someone, but to have to pull the trigger on them, that was something that stayed with you.

Benito grinned, eyes shining with some suppressed mirth.

“Leave it alone, Benito,” Bram said.

It took me a second to realize that the wererat guard’s eyes were looking lower than my face. I guess the fact that it took me even a few seconds to remember I was nude meant I was getting more comfortable with it than I’d thought.

“Your eyes better stay on my face, Benito, because one rule across all wereanimal cultures is that if someone is just nude and not trying to be sexy you’re supposed to ignore it.”

“My apologies, Anita,” and he tried to keep his eyes on my face, but it was as if my breasts had a gravitational pull that he just couldn’t resist. I refused to cover up, because he was the one being rude; I wouldn’t let him embarrass me, damn it.

“I’ve never seen you on the practice mat, or in the gym working out, but I’d really credited you with more control than this,” I said.

He looked at my face then, frowning. “What do you mean?”

“It’s been my experience that a man who can’t control himself in one way has poor control in others.”

The frown turned to a scowl, but he was giving me great eye contact now. “My control is excellent, or I would not be trusted to guard our king.”

“Good to know, and the eye contact is appreciated.”

A look went through his eyes that I couldn’t decipher, and then he smiled. “Very well done.” He gave a few soft claps. “You manipulated me beautifully,” and something about the way he said it was still not as friendly as normal.

“I just got you to behave professionally, that’s all.”

He scowled again.

Bram said, “Micah and Rafael are in room three.”

“Thanks,” I said, and moved past them, though admittedly I walked on the far side of the hallway so that Bram was between me and Benito. I didn’t think he’d hurt me, but there was something odd about the last few minutes of interaction with him, and until I understood it I’d err on the side of caution.

I had a moment of hesitation just outside the door to the room, because again I suddenly felt very naked. Maybe it was the weirdness with Benito, but I suddenly felt awkward again. Micah wasn’t the problem; if he saw me nude and it made him think sex, and I wasn’t rushing for work, then I was all for it. The problem was Rafael. Even though we were friends with benefits, showing up without clothes seemed a little abrupt for him and me. He was actually quite fond of silky lingerie with robes. The first time we’d had sex had been very slam, bam, thank you, ma’am, but either because of how he’d behaved the first time, or because it was his natural bent, there was always a bit of talking and just awkwardness as if he was never quite sure how to transition from good evening to hey, baby.

Me walking in naked would definitely not be the style to which Rafael and I had become accustomed. I started to wonder about looking for a robe, or something, or texting Micah . . . and I realized that I’d left my phone in the locker with the weaponry. Sigh.

The door opened and Micah was there. His eyes went a little wide as he saw me, and then he smiled. It was a good smile, and the look in his eyes said plainly that he appreciated the possibilities of the view.

“The shower took longer than I’d planned, and I didn’t want to wake anyone in the bedrooms to get clothes.”

He grinned at my obvious discomfort. “It’s okay, Anita, you just surprised me, that’s all. You usually don’t like walking through the Circus without clothes.”

“Yeah, way too many new guards to say good morning to for my comfort,” I said, frowning.

He reached out to take my left hand like normal and found it full of gun.