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Siofra kept her gaze averted from the hotel staff as Rory handled the details and took the key card from the manager. People were coming and going in everything from casual clothing to business dress, so she shouldn’t worry about how she looked.
They were near downtown Spartanburg, which was in South Carolina, according to what Rory had told her. He’d also told her that the heavy traffic had been from rush hour.
She’d never been in a rush hour. She’d only read about these things, or seen them in the carefully selected library of movies she was allowed to watch. She’d also never been inside any place this luxurious, much less spent a night in a hotel. Everything smelled so clean, but not as if a harsh cleaner had been used like in the dormitories where she’d slept every night in the past.
This was more like fairies had sprinkled fresh flowers into the air.
She’d expected everyone to stare at her, but after putting on the workout clothing and shoes, and hiding her unusual white hair, she didn’t stand out.
Rory declined any help with luggage, carrying her tote and a small duffle bag to the elevators.
When they left his headquarters, he’d asked her to just close her eyes rather than cover her head with a bag again.
She’d appreciated that thoughtfulness. She hadn’t opened her eyes, even once, as a show of her trustworthiness.
He’d explained that it wasn’t as if they were trying to hide the building, but that they didn’t want her to know any more about the lower levels than necessary.
She could understand their security measures, but she still struggled with being locked up and interrogated. That seemed to be a fallback choice when it came to men.
What was it about the Cadells that had set off eagle man?
Rory led her into an elevator everyone had just exited and zoomed them to the fourteenth floor.
She didn’t know what to expect after walking down the carpeted hallway, but she never would have dreamed the gorgeous room revealed when Rory opened the door.
He stepped aside, waiting for her to cross the threshold.
She paused, trying to take in this moment. She’d lived with nothing for so long. She’d slept on floors and ratty cots, sometimes wearing clothes until they shredded from age and wear.
This was too much. She needed smaller steps before walking into a place like this where she didn’t belong.
He asked, “Something wrong?”
“Uh, no.” She entered and stepped carefully into a space with a sofa and chairs. She needed a shower, now, so she would not get anything dirty.
Once she got past the shock that this would be her own little playhouse for the night, she looked around. “Where’s the bed?”
Maybe that beautiful sofa opened into a bed. She’d seen pictures of convertible sofas.
“There’s a bed in the next room.” He gave her an odd look. “Have you ever spent the night in a hotel?”
She flashed back on her life in one work camp after another and would have laughed if it hadn’t been so sad.
Shaking her head, she said, “No.”
He surprised her by taking it in stride and explaining, “Then you’re going to love this one. It’s a suite, which means you get a living room and a bedroom. You must have made some impression on my boss to be given an upgrade like this.”
He was trying to make her feel comfortable and not like a clueless fool. Her heart sighed at the way he treated her.
She said, “Oh, I made an impression all right. Your boss wanted to hang me until you showed up.”
“Huh.” Rory scratched his jaw. “Then this might be an apology.”
“Pfft. Would that man apologize to anyone?”
“You’d be surprised. He’s powerful and tough, but he’s the most fair and decent person I’ve ever met besides my teammates.”
She tried to match the admiration in his voice to the man who had threatened that she might not see tomorrow. “Think we’re talking about two different people.”
Rory stepped over and placed his bag on the floor by the sofa and hers on the coffee table. “I didn’t say he wasn’t vicious when crossed, but he has our backs no matter what happens and is generally a stuffy gentleman.”
“Must be nice to have so many people to depend on,” she murmured to herself.
Returning to where she stood, Rory said, “It is. I’m sorry you didn’t have someone like him watching over you.”
She’d had no one until Baatar ... and now, apparently, Rory. Thinking that way was dangerous. It led to wanting something she could never have.
Baatar would be yelling at her for even talking to Rory.
She didn’t care. She’d been alone for years and Rory couldn’t be put into the category with bad shifters. He was nothing like the jackals she despised.
Her mind might have a hard time accepting Rory’s kindness when Baatar’s words kept hounding her, but her heart recognized sincerity.
Rory had been staring at her just as she’d been staring at him, but he seemed to snap out of whatever had held him still so long. He asked, “Do you want to clean up and go out to get something to eat or do you want me to order room service?
“Go out to eat? Where?”
“Anywhere you want. What kind of food would you like?”
She hadn’t eaten in a restaurant since she was six and that had been only in places with the entire menu available twenty-four hours a day.
She wasn’t a heathen. She’d been taught table manners, but the idea of eating in a restaurant both excited and intimidated her.
Then the reality of her situation slammed into her moment of happiness. “What if someone like the Cadells or Black River pack recognizes me?”
“Hide your hair under the hat, but your eyes ... ” He frowned a second, then snapped his fingers. “Get a shower. I have the perfect place to go where you’ll be fine.”
“Really?”
“Really.” He grinned and her heart noticed.
Rory probably got all the women he wanted with that smile.
What woman wouldn’t want a man who treated them well and had a protective streak a mile wide? He’d make a considerate and caring husband some day. He did have a grumpy side, but all he’d have to do is smile to own a woman’s heart.
She frowned, thinking about women throwing themselves at him and Rory owning their hearts.
His irritated face returned. “What’s wrong now?”
She would not admit she hadn’t liked the idea of him making another woman’s heart flutter or ... those women sleeping with him. That was too insane for even her to understand.
Instead she blurted out, “I don’t have any makeup.”
His eyes twinkled and that might be more dangerous to her heart than his smile. He stepped over and ran a finger down the side of her face, raising chills on her arms. “When you’re pretty, and you are, you don’t need any.”
This man had to be too good to be true.
No one had ever made her feel pretty, but he’d done it twice already. At the building, he told her she had the body of a goddess and now he said she didn’t need makeup.
He’d also stopped talking as if he’d said too much.
If he only knew how he’d raised her self-esteem with so few words. She wanted to see him happy again. She lifted her hand and ran her fingers lightly over his face, but couldn’t find words to speak.
Rory closed his eyes as if her touch soothed him.
She brushed her fingers over his lips. So fast she didn’t see him move, he caught her wrist and held her hand there, sucking her fingers.
His eyes opened and her favorite golden gaze held hers as he kissed her fingers, then he lowered his head, bringing those lips to hers.
Energy sparked, but it wasn’t painful. She shut her eyes to absorb everything she felt more powerfully. His mouth moved tenderly over hers and she wanted more. His fingers drove through her hair, cupping her head in a careful way. His other hand covered her back and eased her to him.
Oh, yes. Being closer improved everything, except the kiss. She didn’t think it was possible to improve perfection.
She’d been kissed only a few times by one boy.
She’d never been kissed by a master.
Heat and energy filled the space between them. Hers, his, she had no idea where one ended and the next one started. He smelled like the outdoors and a warm summer night.
He never pushed for more, but she couldn’t say the same for herself. Her body complained about Rory not touching her everywhere.
When he broke away, he said, “I can’t be doing this.” Sounded as if he were talking to himself and not her.
Don’t stop yet. If he did, her world would go right back to the crapfest it had been before he’d given her a little mental holiday. She gripped his shoulders and pulled up to kiss him again.
He caught her head in both hands, returning the kiss and not so gently this time. Yes, that’s what she wanted. His mouth plundered and she welcomed him. Time drifted, but not slowly enough when Rory once again ended the kiss.
When he did, he set her backwards a little, on her feet but away from him.
She feared looking into his eyes to find he was angry for her not listening to him the first time.
But his golden eyes still glowed with a hunger that took her breath. He said, “My boss would have my head for this.”
He didn’t sound the least bit sorry, and that tickled her beyond belief.
She cocked an eyebrow at him. “I liked it.” Would he deny that he had?
“I did, too, but I can’t be doing that again.”
Disappointment washed away her joy. She would not allow him to see her hurt. Rory was being good to her. She couldn’t ask more of a man than that, could she?
He said, “You get showered and dressed so we can go eat.”
She’d completely forgotten about the meal. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll be ready.”
“Take all the time you want.”
“No way. I’m excited to eat in a restaurant, but I’ll warn you, there’s only one more set of clothes in that bag and it’s not fancy. Just jeans and a blouse.”
“That’ll be perfect. I’m not much for fancy.” He walked past her and opened a door, revealing the bedroom. Pointing to another door inside that room, he said, “That’s the bathroom.”
There he went again, making it easy for her to find things that should be obvious for normal people, so she didn’t feel like an idiot.
She snatched up the tote and hurried into the room he’d indicated, which was not like any bathroom she’d ever been in. This was a bathing room for royalty.
Closing the door, she poured everything from the bag onto the marble counter that stretched eight feet wide.
Sorting out the supplies they’d included, she grabbed what she needed to shower. She’d have stayed an hour in that hot shower if her stomach hadn’t growled.
Not true.
She’d have made her stomach wait, but not Rory.
He was taking her to a restaurant.
She didn’t care what they served. She’d eat anything that didn’t bite her back.
When she had her hair dried and her teeth brushed, she took a moment to consider the finished look. Meh. She hated to hide her hair under the hat again, but wouldn’t risk getting recognized or putting Rory in danger.
Backing away from the mirror, she gave herself thumbs-up for at least looking human again.
Then lost her grin.
She wasn’t human. She didn’t know what she was other than a ghost magnet, and since Dyson had attacked her, an unexpected lightning rod.
Way to kill her happy mood.
Shaking it off, she straightened the bathroom and walked out to the living room.
Rory had his mobile phone at his ear, but took one look at her and quickly ended the call. The hungry expression that filled his face gave her ego a helium injection. Some instinct she could not name whispered that the man had more on his mind than dinner.
Why did that thrill her when he was a shifter?
When he looked at her that way, she forgot all she was supposed to not like about shifters.
All she saw was a man in a body cut with muscle, a sincere person who had shown her more kindness than anyone except Baatar, and a man who had trusted her touch.
A sexy man with a smile that turned her insides upside down.
She didn’t see a bad shifter or even just a shifter when she looked at Rory. Maybe she should, and had every reason to based on the life she’d been forced to lead, but living free of the Cadells was making her reassess how she looked at others.
Her breasts didn’t give a fig what he was either. Must be that weird energy humming to life that woke up the girls. They ached, wanting to be against him.
This could be the most perfect night of her life. She had a fabulous hotel room to sleep in and a sexy-as-hell man taking her to dinner, almost like what she envisioned a date to be.
But the night would not end well.
Much as her body wanted to find out what hid behind Rory’s heated gaze and spend the night sleeping hard on a real bed, she couldn’t risk falling asleep.
Baatar needed her and Rory’s boss had not committed to a time for releasing her.
If she relaxed too much, she might miss her chance to escape.
