you?” Belle finally put her knife away, but what he liked less was she went for the pile of clothes on the chair and began to dress. He wouldn’t have minded her remaining a moment longer in the slim fitting shorts and cropped top that outlined her lean physique.
“Do not confuse her feelings with mine.”
“She wants me gone.”
“I don’t.”
“I’m not about to live somewhere I have to watch my back all the time.”
“If you became my sykyrah, they wouldn’t dare harm you.”
Clarabelle snorted. “I’m not worried about me. But if you’re attached to them, it could get dicey.” She slid on her boots.
“Are you going for a walk?”
“You might say. Listen, this isn’t going to work. Might as well face it now. We couldn’t last one day together, let alone a lifetime.”
“You said you’d give me eight days.”
“You might not have any family left by the end of it,” was her ominous proclamation. “Best for us both if I leave.”
Leave? She couldn’t go. Not yet. He had to do something. “What if you didn’t have to deal with my family?”
“Going to murder them yourself?” was her sardonic reply.
“More like going to suggest we escape them for a bit. How do you feel about camping in the wild?”
Eleven
What had possessed her to say yes? Clarabelle wasn’t a person who enjoyed shitting in the woods or sleeping on the ground, yet the thought of being alone with Thyos enticed.
It shouldn’t have.
She’d been ready to leave. Being constantly on her guard didn’t appeal. Screw seven more days of vigilance. Yet despite all the reasons to go, she found herself riding a hover bike of some kind out into the wilderness. The bike made her think of the ones used in that Star Wars movie she’d watched as a kid. Had George Lucas been to outer space? Because there was an uncanny resemblance.
She appreciated the fact Thyos didn’t expect her to ride bitch. She got her own bike, and once she figured out the controls, she had a blast zooming through the trees, doing hover wheelies and zigzags. It helped that the vehicle wouldn’t let her crash. Some kind of safety feature ensuring she never got too close to any trunks or branches.
She couldn’t have said how far they travelled, only that it was fun. When they finally stopped, she was smiling. And dear Lord, he smiled back.
Once more she couldn’t help but notice how handsome he was. He’d worn only a harness over his chest and a short kilt for the ride, meaning he had plenty of his body on display. She’d seen even more of it when he’d barged into her room, ready to be her hero.
Kind of hot, especially given he’d been dressed in a pair of loose shorts and nothing else. She got to see those shorts again once they’d parked and he stripped down to dive into a lake, the water sparkling in the sun.
When he emerged from the water, hair slicked back, he showed white teeth as he said, “Aren’t you coming in?”
The water tempted, but she could already see it was deep. It went from rocky lip to bottomless.
“No thanks.”
“Why not?”
“I can’t swim.” She hated to admit it and waited for the mockery.
Instead, he said, “Let me show you how.”
Her first impulse was to say no. After all, she’d refused more than a few offers of teaching by her friends and the Zonians. Pride and even a bit of fear had held her back.
Not today. Call her possessed, or she was just in the mood, she stripped, her cheeks hot under the avidness of his gaze. Did he like what he saw when she removed everything but her undershorts and cropped tight tank top that acted as a bralette? She could only imagine what the glow in his eyes meant.
Not yellow, she realized, but golden and warm. The fact they were shining should have repulsed her. Instead she felt more of that delicious heat between her legs.
It might have been a while since those teenage hormones had her wet all the time, but she remembered the feeling. The panted, fumbling pleasure in the back seat of Ryan’s car. He’d been two years older than her, driving and so hot.
The breathless feeling was back with Thyos. When he hooked one arm on the rock lip and offered the other for her to take, she didn’t hesitate. Her hips swayed as she joined him and crouched. This close, she could see the shape of his body under the water,