13. Athena
Athena
Had that really happened?
I stood dripping water on the floor as Lorken walked from the room, my heart still racing and my ears ringing. I wasn’t sure if I was more shocked that I’d fallen into the water and couldn’t get out, or that he’d jumped in to save me, or that he’d done it completely naked.
Despite having swallowed enough water to make me gag, my throat was bone dry as I thought about looking over and seeing Lorken’s long, thick cock dangling between his legs. I’d looked away, but not before spotting the black marks that curled around it that looked exactly like the ones on his chest.
I gave my head a shake to snap myself back to the present and try to purge the image from my mind.
“Not likely,” I said under my breath. I wouldn’t forget that anytime soon.
Even though my hair was drenched and my clothes were plastered to my body, a giggle welled up in my throat.
I guessed that Lettie and Vallia weren’t having the kind of welcome to the ship that I was.
That thought made me giggle even harder, especially when I thought about how Lettie would have handled the same situation.
She wouldn’t have looked away, that was for sure.
I continued to laugh as I sloughed off my clothes and padded to the towel hanging on the peg. It wasn’t as fluffy as towels I was used to. Instead, the fabric was flat and thick. At least there was a lot of it, and I was able to wrap it around my body twice before tucking it in at the front.
I draped my wet clothes over a ledge designed to look like natural rock, since carrying them out would only get the floor in the rest of the Raas’s quarters wet. At least, everything in the bathroom was meant to be wet.
With a final glance at the pool and waterfall that had almost been my downfall, I walked carefully back into the main room.
My steps were small, since the wrapped towel limited my leg movement, so I shuffled more than I walked, and after the steamy warmth of the bathroom, the air outside of it felt cold.
My arms instantly pebbled, and I wrapped them around my middle, as I crossed the room to where the warlord sat on one of the low tufted ottomans.
His legs were bent and crossed at the ankles, which meant he still towered over the low table.
Dishes of hot food now covered the polished stone surface, as well as metal goblets and a pair of glass carafes.
I hadn’t heard anyone come in with the food, but I couldn’t hear much over the cascading waterfall.
When Lorken saw me, he stood, his gaze slipping from my face down the length of my body and finally to my feet. I was walking on my toes because my gait was so limited, and my legs barely moved with each tiny step.
The Vandar warlord looked back up, met my eyes, and burst into laughter.
“What?” I stopped walking and glared at him. “Why are you laughing?”
He managed to stop, shaking his head as he approached me. “This is not how you wear it.”
“Well, excuse me for not being an expert at towel wrap—” I started to say, before he started to unwrap me. “Hey! What do you think you’re—?”
He stopped and leveled such a stern gaze at me that I stopped speaking. “Do you wish to be able to sit?”
I mumbled rather grumpily that I did.
“Then let me show you.” He inclined his head to where my hands were clutching the top of the fabric. “Hold your arms out to the side.”
I hesitated, my eyes narrowing in suspicion. Did I need to remind him that I was not okay with being undressed by him?
He sighed. “I have no intention of disrobing you, Athena.”
I debated for a moment, but then decided to trust him. He had saved my life, after all. I released my grasp and extended my arms on both sides.
Lorken unwrapped the fabric until it was only wrapped around my body once. His fingers brushed my skin, and I tried to ignore the tingle that his touch provoked, and the scorch marks he was leaving across the swell of my breasts.
He should not have this much of an effect on you, Athena. He’s just a guy, and you’ve been around plenty of guys. He’s not even the first guy who’s dressed you.
Of course, almost all the guys who’d dressed me had been completely uninterested in me.
Maybe that was it. Maybe I’d gotten so used to working with men who weren’t attracted to women that I’d forgotten what it felt like to have one devour you with his eyes.
And there was no mistake about it, Lorken’s gaze was feasting on me.
Even if his hands didn’t drift anywhere they shouldn’t, I could feel the heat of his breath and see the quick pulse tremble in his neck.
As if eager to be done, he made quick work of rolling up the fabric so that it only reached my knees.
Then he made accordion folds with the extra fabric until he tucked that into the front again.
The result was a much shorter tube that flared open in the front and allowed me to move my legs.
“Thanks,” I said when he’d finished and dropped his hands as if he’d burned them on me. “You’re better with fabric than I would have imagined.”
“The Vandar wear many kilts and not all of them are leather.” He didn’t meet my eyes as he swept an arm wide toward the table. “Now you can join me without toppling over.”
If I can only do it without combusting, I thought, as I made my way to the table and picked an ottoman across from him, tucking my legs to the side as I sat so I wouldn’t inadvertently flash him. He sank back onto his seat and met my eyes.
My breath lodged in my throat as his gaze bored into me. Then I managed to clear my throat and find my voice. “This isn’t what I thought your quarters would look like.”
Crap. That wasn’t what I’d planned to say. Actually, I hadn’t had anything planned, but I should have thought of something less aggressive than that.
Instead of being offended, he merely lifted one brow. “What did you think they would look like?”
I reached for my goblet and almost cried with relief that it was full. I took a sip to buy myself some time, grateful that the liquid inside the glass was cold and tart. “I guess I expected a bed, for one. The other rooms I saw all had regular beds.”
He brought his own goblet to his lips and eyed me over it. “I am not a regular Vandar.”
That statement felt charged, although I already knew that he wasn’t regular in at least one metric. My face flooded with heat as I flashed back to the dark marks etched over the veins of his cock. There was nothing regular about that.
“My quarters are, as you say, not like the quarters of other Vandar or any other Raas. That is because I prefer to model the way our ancestors lived when our hordes rode beasts, not ships, and we slept in tents.” His gaze shifted to my cheeks and then he glanced at the sleeping area. “Have you never slept on furs before?”
I shook my head, biting back the urge to tell him that I’d embraced the advancement of modern beds and bedding.
He took a drink and his lips curved up ever so slightly. “There is nothing quite so soft as bare skin on fur.”
My grip on my goblet tightened. Bare skin?