He caught her hand. “Don’t. It’s hot, you’re hot. I like it.”
“I like showering with you. I have never bathed with a man before.”
Nick grinned. “So you just lost your shower virginity? If I’d known, I’d have held off till we had more time to enjoy it.”
“We will have more time later, will we not?”
The same amazed delight that Raluca felt visibly radiated from Nick. “Yeah. We’ll have all the time in the world.”
But he kept darting glances away. Raluca knew he was impatient to speak with Hal, but unable to bring himself to end the time with her. She resolved his dilemma by turning off the water.
When they finished drying each other off, she reluctantly dressed in the black fatigues. They reminded her unpleasantly of how she and Nick had misunderstood and rejected each other the last time she’d worn them, but she could hardly wear a couture gown around an office. It needed to be dry-cleaned before she could wear it again at all, anyway.
“When will I be able to retrieve my clothes from the hotel?” Raluca asked. “Or will I need to purchase more?”
“Someone will fetch them,” Nick said absently. He was staring down at his crumpled white tie outfit. With a groan, he said, “Hang on. I’ll be right back.”
He darted out with a towel around his waist, then bolted back inside with an armful of black cloth. As he began changing into his own fatigues, he said, “Team’s already starting to arrive. This could get awkward.”
“How so?”
Nick turned to the closed door, his entire body radiating nervy tension. She could hear nothing, but no doubt he heard more. “We have to decide if we tell them that we’re mates now, or later. My vote is for later.”
“Would Hal disapprove of you guarding me if he knew I was your mate?” Raluca asked.
“I doubt it. He guarded his mate. No, there’s this other thing...” Nick trailed off, cocking his head as he listened to more sounds that Raluca could not hear. “I don’t think they’d do it, they already know you, sort of, and I — well, I’m just me.”
“What are you talking about?” But even as she asked, Raluca’s attention was elsewhere. She was rifling her hoard pack for jewelry that would go with the fatigues and dress them up, but which she hadn’t already worn with them. It was a challenging task, especially as Nick was in a hurry and she meant to accompany him.
“It’s a little hard to explain.” Nick’s eyes flickered as he listened to whatever was happening outside. “Do you mind if right now, we just tell Hal we made up and you still want me as a guard, and we save the mate talk for later?”
Raluca supposed that Nick expected his teammates to tease him over his newly mated state, as Destiny had when she’d thought he had a date. Though Raluca wouldn’t be the target of any teasing herself, she sympathized with Nick’s desire to postpone it.
“I am in no hurry. We can tell the others whenever you wish,” Raluca said, and was rewarded with his relieved smile.
She finished finger-combing her hair and clipped it with a simple pin of gold and rubies. Nick also finger-combed his hair, but she suspected that was how he always did it
. It fell easily around his face, and would no doubt dry into his usual appealingly tousled locks.
“Do you even own a hairbrush?” Raluca asked.
His blank look said it all.
They helped each other strap on their bulletproof vests, then button black cloth jackets over them.
“You look like a girl wearing her boyfriend’s shirt,” Nick said with a grin, then held up one hand. “Wait... Okay, coast is clear.”
He opened the door to an empty corridor. They walked to the lobby, where Nick indicated the wolf photo. “There’s Manuel.”
“And you.” Raluca examined the photo again. Nick’s wolf still looked so sad. “Perhaps you should take another photograph the next time you visit them.”
Nick looked more closely at his shifted self. “Yeah, I probably should. Don’t know if anyone but you would notice, but I sure don’t look like I was having any fun.” Lowering his voice, he added, “You come along next time. I’ll clean up better, guaranteed.”
He knocked on Hal’s door. A deep voice rumbled, “Come in.”
Only Raluca’s princess training prevented her from giving a start at the sight of not only Hal, but Destiny, Rafa, and the blonde woman that Raluca had only ever seen in a photograph on Hal’s desk. Nick didn’t flinch, no doubt drawing upon his alpha cool, but Raluca felt him stiffen slightly beside her.
“Raluca, this is Fiona,” Hal began. “She’s done with her job, so either she or Destiny can —”