Shadowed(66)

You’ll just have to manage, he lectured himself sternly. Just keep it together and leave her be, damn it. She’s not for you!

* * * * *

Nina could feel his silver eyes on her as she led him back to their room. God, what was going on with her? She’d been blatantly staring at him back there when he was practically naked—not that he hadn’t been staring at her too. The tension between them was thick enough to cut with a knife.

You are not doing this, she told herself firmly as they made their way back down the long corridor to the room they’d been assigned in the guest hut. You are absolutely not falling for the man who kidnapped you. It’s crazy!

But she couldn’t get the way he’d been looking at her out of her head. Couldn’t ignore how warm his hand was or pretend her heart wasn’t pounding every time she touched him.

Yes you can, eecho, Mehoo-Jimmy’s voice lectured her. You just keep your distance from him. He hasn’t even promised to take you back home yet. Don’t fall in love with a man you can’t trust.

Nina lifted her chin as they entered their small room. Mehoo-Jimmy’s voice, which she knew was simply her own common sense talking, was right. She needed to put some distance between herself and the big Kindred. Accordingly, she let go of his hand and went to find one of the other “dresses” she’d made herself while he was unconscious. She took it around the corner of the fireplace, where there was some privacy, and pulled it over her head before dropping the towel.

“Hey,” he murmured from right behind her.

Nina jumped and gave a little squeak of surprise as she turned around.

“Don’t do that,” she gasped, putting a hand to her chest. “You scared me to death.”

“Sorry,” Reddix said apologetically. “Didn’t mean to startle you. I was just going to ask about getting something else to wear and maybe that shave and haircut you promised me.” He rubbed a hand over his chin, producing a rasping sound. “I’m a lot shaggier than even I like, and this damn beard itches.”

“Oh, of course,” Nina said quickly grabbing another light blue fur blanket. “You’ll have to give me some time to sew something together for you—or you can just wear a blanket like a kilt until we have time to wash your regular clothes.”

“Don’t know what a kilt is, but I suppose I can drape it around my waist like the towel.” He took the blanket she was holding out to him and let the towel drop.

Nina looked quickly away. Of course she’d seen his equipment before, but this was different. Before at least he’d been mostly clothed. Now he was naked and muscular in the firelight. Beads of water still stood on his broad shoulders, and as she watched from the corner of her eye, one of them slid down the flat, muscular plane of his chest and rippled over his washboard abs in a most distracting way.

Damn it, why couldn’t she stop looking at him? Maybe because he was so freaking hot he made her feel like melting into a little puddle at his feet. Were all the Kindred this big and built? There wasn’t a spare ounce of flesh on him anywhere—it was all rock hard muscle and smooth, tan skin.

“…to sit?” he said.

“I’m sorry?” She blinked up at him, trying to meet that blazing silver gaze.

“I said, where do you want me to sit? For my ‘personal grooming session.’” He gave her half a grin which made Nina smile back.

“Um, there’s a chair thing around here somewhere.” She grabbed it from the other side of the fireplace—a heavy wooden thing she had to struggle to lift.

“Here, let me.” Reddix lifted it easily with one hand. “Where do you want it?”

“Right in front of the fireplace so I can see what I’m doing,” Nina directed. “Then just have a seat. I’ll get everything ready.”

She bustled around, laying out the scissors and shaving kit which was actually a really nice one although the Kindred razor looked kind of strange. She’d played with it some earlier and found that it emitted its own shaving gel which evaporated, leaving a thin film of water to wipe off as you shaved.

It was an awesome invention, and Nina had used it on her legs, loving the fact that she didn’t have to be in the shower to shave. Now she changed the blade and then put it back down on the towel she’d laid out on the bed. She needed to cut his hair while it was still damp so she would save the shaving for last.

Finally, she had everything the way she wanted it. She turned to Reddix, who was sitting patiently before the fire with the fur blanket knotted around his waist.

“Okay, I’m ready. Let me just get a towel around your shoulders so we don’t get hair all down your back.” She draped a still-damp towel around his broad bare shoulders and picked up the scissors. “How much should I take off? Do you want it short?”