“To the bath. I’m desperate for a long, hot soak.”
I nodded, then hoisted her into my arms and carried her to the bathroom. She sat on the edge of the tub and turned on the water. Within seconds, steam began to rise. “Perfection.”
“I’ll go fetch your tea.”
“Thank you.” She gave me a long look. “You really don’t have to take care of me, you know.”
I gestured around me, indicating the knickknacks that had somehow managed to invade even the bathroom. “Of course I do. If you fall anywhere in this place, you’ll take out half a dozen of Poa’s creepy admirers.”
She looked at a little porcelain puppy that sat on the back of the cistern and winced. “Good point. She would kill me for that.”
“Glad you’re seeing reason. You can’t get on that cat’s bad side.” I couldn’t believe I was joking with her, but that had definitely sounded like a joke.
“You’re just too good, you know that?”
I gave her an incredulous look. “That is patently untrue.”
“It’s really not. I’ve been watching you, you know.” She gave a little laugh that morphed into a grimace, and it was cute as hell.
Cute as hell?
I was losing my mind.
“I mean, not watching you in a stalkerish way,” she continued. “But around. Day to day. And you’re good. Like, a really good person.”
“All right, I’m leaving.” I turned and headed toward the living room to get her tea. I didn’t want to admit it to myself, but I liked taking care of her. I shook my head. Better not get used to it.
By the time I returned to the bathroom, she had my jumper off and was working on the buttons of her jeans. She looked up, her gaze catching mine. Heat flushed her cheeks, and she nodded toward the little ledge on the bathroom sink. “You can put it there.”
I nodded and did as she asked. “I’ll be just outside the door in case you fall.”
“I’ll be okay on my own. Seriously. You go do your thing.” She turned to face the tub and made a squeak of pain as she put weight on her ankle.
“Like I said.”
“Fine.” I could actually hear her roll her eyes. “And thank you.”
I felt a smile tug the corner of my lip but said nothing as I left. After shutting the door behind me, I went to the kitchen to get a chair to sit in, then put it by the bathroom so I could hear if she needed help.
Eventually, she called through the door, “Are you out there?”
“I am.”
“What are you doing?”
“Sitting.”
“On what?”
“A kitchen chair.” I smiled. “What’s with the twenty questions?”
“Don’t know.” There was an audible shrug in her voice. “Just want to know you, I guess.”
“By knowing what I’m sitting on?”
“You can know a lot about a person by what they choose to sit on. For example, you could have gone for the floor. Or a cushy chair. Or a stepstool.”
“And what would that have told you about me?”
“I’m still working on that bit.”
I smiled again, unable to help myself.
“How about you tell me something real, then?” she asked. “Like why your room is so barren. There’s nothing in there.”
I sighed, not particularly fond of this question.
When I didn’t answer, she continued. “Like, are you a secret serial killer?”
I laughed. “What about a tidy room leads you to think ‘serial killer’?”
“It’s more than just tidy, it’s empty.”
She had a point. “Fine. Since the alternative is you thinking that I’m a serial killer, I’ll tell you.” I shook my head and smiled as I leaned back against the wall. “I’ve moved around so much that I got sick of throwing things away. And since I don’t remember my friends and family, I don’t have any important mementos.”
“Oh, wow, that sucks.” I could hear contrition in her voice. “Sorry, I didn’t think about that. I shouldn’t have poked so hard.”
“Don’t worry about it. When I think about it from your perspective, it is a bit weird. Most people decorate their places. Pictures on the walls, that kind of thing.” I shrugged, looking toward the window that I could see the other end of the hall. “The outdoors is so beautiful here that I don’t feel any need to hang pictures. And I don’t look at the walls, anyway. I look at my work.”
“Fair enough.” There was a pause. “So, you have nothing from your previous life. Is that because you forgot everything after she cursed you?”
“Yeah. I woke up outside, with no memory of where I lived or what I did. I remembered my first name and her face. From there, I had to figure things out.”
“Wow. That’s…intense.”
“Yeah, it wasn’t the best part of my life.”
“But you built something amazing.”
“I built something, at least.” And that was the most I could say about it. After all, I would hardly call it amazing, since I felt the need to move around every couple years. Nothing ever felt like home, no matter how hard I tried. “The water has to be getting cold. Are you ready to get out?”
“Done talking so soon, huh?”
She knew me too well after too short a time. “It’ll be an early day tomorrow. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
“All right.” I heard water sloshing as she rose and waited, wondering what I should do. Did she need help?
When she cried out in pain, I launched myself upright and through the door.
“Hey!” She had a towel wrapped around her and was standing on one leg. ”Knock first!”
“I heard you cry out.”
“Well, yeah. I put weight on my ankle like an idiot. But I’m okay.”
“Do you need a ride to your bed?”
“Um…yeah, actually. Can you give me a minute in here, though? I can balance while I brush my teeth.”
“Sure.” I left, shutting the door behind me, then leaned against it and squeezed my eyes shut.
She’d looked so damned beautiful, it had turned my mind to pudding. With her cheeks flushed from the heat and her hair piled loosely on her head, she’d been gorgeous. Everything in me pulled toward her, and the wolf’s soul that was part of my own howled with its longing.
I rubbed my chest. “Settle down.”
It didn’t work that way, of course. It wasn’t a separate being who would listen to commands. It was part of me, and as such, it was stubborn as hell, just like I was.
“Okay,” she called out. “I’m ready.”
“Coming in.” I returned to the room.
She still wore the towel, and I was careful to keep my gaze on her face. Not that that was much better for my equilibrium. “Ready?” I asked.
She nodded, and I lifted her into my arms. Her flat was so tiny that I reached her room seconds later and deposited her on the bed.
“Can I get you anything?” I asked. “Water? Pajamas?”
She shook her head and pointed to a water bottle at the side of her bed. “I’m good.”
There were no pajamas near her, though. So if I wasn’t getting her any, that meant she didn’t wear any. And that was definitely something I couldn’t dwell on.
“All right. Call if you need anything.” I headed toward the door. “Actually, I’ll sleep on your sofa.”
“You don’t need to do that.”