Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
ARENA
Nav growled lightly and hugged me a little more firmly, showing he not only didn’t mind but really wanted to hold me. So I wrapped my legs around his waist and inched up on him to shine the light over his shoulder. What I saw shocked me.
Boxes and totes lined the walls of the basement. Most of the boxes had brand labels, and if those reflected what was inside, I would be eating like a queen for months.
“You moved all of this in one night?” I asked, amazed.
“Yes. There’s a lot more yet. The grocery store hasn’t been touched. I even found your favorite food.”
He turned me so the light shone on a box in the center of the room. It had a vacuum-packed pizza crust, a can of diced tomatoes, and a vacuum-sealed block of cheddar cheese. He’d actually found the ingredients to make pizza because I’d told him it was my favorite?
Trying to ignore the ache in my chest, I moved the light over the boxes again, noting vegetables and other foods I’d never seen him eat.
In fact, since we’d been together, I hadn’t seen him eat anything but canned meat.
Not chocolate. Not chips. Nothing. He never even glanced at them when I ate them.
Well, that wasn’t entirely true. He had paid attention to the chocolate bar, but only to feed it to me.
Of all the boxes he’d brought back, only a few contained meat. I realized these supplies weren’t for him. They were for me.
What man had ever gone through so much effort for me before? None. Ever.
The ache grew. And I began to question how much of what he’d said was a lie or simply to get laid. Finding me a house? That could benefit him. But getting supplies he didn’t even like to eat? What other reason could there be for that except that he’d been honest?
Nav wanted me.
Willing.
He let me touch him, but never asked for it. Meanwhile, he always asked if he could touch me and never tried to take more than I was willing to give. But was he really interested in me, or would he be just as interested if it’d been Gwen or Lettie he pulled from the water?
I straightened in his arms to look at him and felt something…a hint of jealousy. Shit. Was I really starting to like Nav? I knew better than to let myself fall first. Especially for a guy with questionable intentions.
Thinking about today’s mind-blowing wake-up call and how he was quick to comfort me now, I decided to listen to the part of me demanding answers. I needed to know if he cared about me or just having a sex partner.
“Thank you,” I said. Then, determined to see what was real and what wasn’t, I leaned in to kiss him.
He held still as I brushed my lips against his.
“Does that mean you like this?” he asked when I pulled back to meet his gaze.
The uncertainty and hope were easy to see. But were they real?
“I do,” I said. “A lot. What do you want in return?”
He glanced at my mouth.
“Can you kiss me again?”
The second one was just another gentle kiss, but I could see how much he liked it by the way his pupils slowly expanded.
“There’s more,” he said, turning with me in his arms.
He took the stairs two at a time, like I weighed nothing, and veered into the bedroom. I saw the suitcase from the hotel in the closet as he turned toward the dresser.
“I put the clean clothes in there and will wash the dirty ones for you today. We can hang them outside to dry. If you want to bathe, I can wash the clothes you’re wearing too.”
I glanced at him, gauging the sincerity versus the attempt to get me naked again.
He blinked at me, not a hint of slyness or deception in his gaze. Just patient expectation as he waited for my answer.
He was making me want to kiss him again. Dangerous to give in to when I was still so conflicted.
“Can you put me down, please?”
He did so reluctantly, which tugged at my heart a little. To distract myself, I turned to the dresser to check what clothes were clean. On the top, I saw a pair of leather pants and a folded note.
“Whose are those?” I asked.
“Mine. I’ll take them off whenever I’m inside. I promise.”
I almost snorted.
“What’s the note?”
“I think it’s from your family,” he said, making my heart skip a beat in fear. “I left supplies for them at the dock last night and found it there.”
“What does it say?” I asked.
He reached around me, picking it up and offering it to me. “I don’t know. I cannot read human language, only speak it.”
I glanced from him to the note, wondering if he was telling the truth. Did it matter? The need to know what it said was too strong to care.
Unfolding the paper, I read Gwen’s distinct scrawl.
Don’t give up. Follow protocol, and if nothing goes tits up, we’ll see you again soon.
G
If nothing goes tits up? What did she mean by that? Didn’t they see the bra?
“What does it say?” he asked.
“They’re looking for me,” I said, sticking with the truth just in case he was trying to trick me.
He made a thoughtful sound. “It is a good thing I marked the road for them then.”
“What do you mean you marked the road?”
“I used the sticks from the pharmacy to draw arrows. I will need to redraw them if it rains, but they will be able to find the house today if they return. When I go back to the grocery store for supplies, I will listen for them and make sure they are not attacked by infected.”
“You want to leave?” I asked, trying to hide my panic. “Why? We already have plenty of supplies, and I thought you were going to fix the door so we aren’t interrupted again.”
I brazenly wrapped my hand around his hard length and watched his gaze grow a little vacant for a second.
“Don’t you want to shower with me, Nav?”
“I will shower with you,” he said, hands closing around my arms.
“And eat breakfast with me? And snuggle with me by the fire?”
“Yes.”
The drawn-out word told me I had him right where I needed him. Tossing the note onto the dresser, I stroked my hand down his length.
“How long will it take to heat some water?”
“Not long,” he said.
He didn’t move until I let go. Then, he made good on his “not long” promise.
Once we had all the hot water in the bathroom, we used the pitcher again to “wash.” The speed of his orgasm, seconds after slicking him with soap, surprised me.
Like the day before, he showed no signs of flagging.
Not even after his fifth gushing release.
“Can I wash you now?” he asked when I would have kept going.
Since he’d painted my stomach thoroughly, I definitely needed to clean up, but I hesitated to agree. I knew where he wanted it to lead. He’d already made me come twice.
“I know you’re still sensitive. I will be very gentle,” he said.
“And you promise to stop if I say stop?” I asked, even though I knew I should say no.
“I promise.”
He made a growly sound when I nodded and used a good portion of the water to wet my front. His hands rubbed away his spend then carefully explored my folds again. He knew right where and how to touch me, making me hang onto his waist for support within seconds.
“Yes. Lean into me,” he said, wetting a finger in my depths. “Would you like to move to the bed again?”
I nodded, and he had me on that mattress seconds later, his mouth on my chest and his fingers wringing another orgasm from me within minutes.
As I lay there, heart pounding, catching my breath, I knew I was in trouble.
I liked everything Nav did.
Everything.
The way he watched me.
The way he took care of me. Fed me. Talked dirty to me.
And especially the way he touched me.
“I’m going to get dressed,” I said, not moving away from the fingers that were still slowly stroking me through the aftershocks.
His heavy exhale moved the hair between my legs, and I found the strength to lift my head as he withdrew his fingers. I watched him lick them clean while staring longingly at the source. My core clenched, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d be able to say no when he looked at me like that.
He caught me staring, and the ends of his ears darkened.
I scrambled to my feet and hurried to the bedroom. Closing the door, I leaned against it and took a moment to collect myself, realizing that I was in so much trouble.
Nav was getting to me. The looks. The touches.
I needed to keep my priorities straight.
My family came first. I had to keep them safe—from him and, potentially, from me.
However, the longer I went without any sign of infection, the more I began to believe the rumors were wrong. His kind wasn’t the source.
Regardless, I wasn’t here to hook up with a fey, no matter how sincere or adorable he was. He just wanted sex. He’d never tried to keep that a secret or the fact that he wanted more women to pass to his “brothers.”
The bra should keep them away, but what if they saw the supplies he left and risked docking? Would they see the arrows he’d made and ignore the bra to try to find me?
Straightening away from the door, I wondered how to get him to erase the chalk. Would I need to trade more than hand jobs?
Probably.
Lost in thought, I opened the top dresser drawer. Nestled in the center of the small selection of clean socks and shirts was the bright pink bra I’d hung out of the hotel window.
He’d removed the warning and marked the way to the house.
Shit.
My family was going to walk right into his trap.