Mastering her emotions so they didn’t show on her face, she commented, “Maybe one day I’ll see it, the Black Tower, I mean.”
“No.” Ronan shook his head and pulled his shirt back over it. For a moment Bella mourned the loss of his bare chest. “It’s not as bad as you think, Bella, but if I have anything to say about it, you’ll never find out firsthand.”
She glanced up at him. “Why? Don’t you think I can handle it?”
“You can handle anything, but the Black Tower is too dangerous for someone who hasn’t grown up there.”
“So what’s with being so protective of me?”
“You haven’t figured it out yet, Bell?”
Their gazes held for a moment, until she broke away and scooted off the mattress. “I’m going to use the bathroom.”
She inched around the bed and went directly into the bathroom to wash her face and shed as much clothing as she could to sleep better. When she exited, Ronan was on the floor, lying wedged on his side between the bed and the wall. She wasn’t going to think for a minute about how uncomfortable he must be. He’d been the one to get himself into this situation, after all, not her.
Bella crawled onto the bed and lay down with a heavy sigh.
She wasn’t going to think about what this bed was normally used for, either.
SIX
The light snicked out in the quiet air and the room sank into inkiness. Outside the window, fat snowflakes had begun to drift down again, catching and melting on the metal of the fire escape.
Tomorrow night was Yule, and all the fae in Piefferburg were celebrating the coming of the longest night of the year. The day after Yule the light would begin to increase and rule the world once again.
“Why did you do it?” she asked, her voice startling in the quiet. “The job for the Phaendir? I know you won’t tell me what you stole for them, but can you tell me why you did it?” Silence.
“Ronan?”
“Sometimes you guide your life down a path where it seems like you have nothing to lose, so why not?”
“That’s not really an answer.” She sighed. “You’re the king of non-answers and games.” He remained silent for several moments before saying, “It is an answer. You’re just not listening closely enough.”
Rolling to her side, she sighed again. “Ronan, you’re a mystery to me. There was a time in our lives when I thought I knew everything about you, but now you’re nothing but an enigma.”
“You always did like puzzles.”
“Ugh. Go to sleep.” Bella flopped onto her back, closed her eyes, and tried to follow her own advice, but her muscles were tight with stress.
On top of it, every couple of seconds she would hear Ronan shift on the floor, trying to get comfortable.
“Ronan, get into bed. There’s no sense in you being down there when this bed could fit three people.” She winced, wondering how many times the bed really had fit three people.
He crawled onto the bed. “I thought you’d never ask,” he said on a groan as he lay down.
“Just remember it’s an invitation to get into bed, not into me.”
“I value my balls. I know better than to try anything with you right now.” Silence and darkness descended, intimacy closing around them like a velvet fist. His body heat radiated out and melted into her, relaxing her better than a massage. The stress leached from her body and drowsiness closed over her. Finally, she slept.
Bella awoke to a picture of enticement almost too strong to resist. Ronan lay on his back in just his low-slung pants, the top of his dark blue briefs visible at the waistband. His feet were bare, as was the muscled, lickable expanse of his chest. One strong arm was thrown over his face, shielding his eyes from the dawn streaming in through the uncurtained window—undoubtedly designed to get the hotel guests out of the room as quickly as possible in the morning. His other arm was thrown wide on the mattress, his hand reaching out in unconscious supplication toward her.
Bella eyed his broad hand with a mixture of alarm and contentedness.
Dear Danu, she needed counseling. Apparently this man was the worst kind of addictive drug. No matter how low her addiction brought her, a part of her still needed more. Maybe her hormones were reversed in some masochistic way, making her want only the men who were the absolute worst for her.
Her gaze skated down the smooth sweep of his chest, to the jut of his lean hip bones. Her teeth made furrows into her lower lip. It had been a long time since she’d had sex. That was obviously not a good thing, since her libido was unnaturally revved up by the sight of Ronan.
“Good morning,” came Ronan’s sleep-raspy voice.