He laughed.
Alex decided to seat himself on the edge of her spacious, high bed—after tossing aside several pillows to create space. What was it with women and pillows?
When Jacyn reemerged, still damp and hastily dressed, he patted the space next to him. She sat obediently, her palms clasped together and trapped between her knees as she eyed him warily.
“Relax,” he said, in the same soothing tones he had used with Brute earlier. “I mean you no harm.”
“Why are you here?”
He shrugged. “To talk. Just a little chat before we go to bed.”
She lifted a brow.
“Separately,” he clarified.
“Chat away then,” she answered, visibly relaxing.
“How are you feeling?”
She gave him a curious, even surprised look from under her lashes. “What do you mean?”
“Does your body feel like you’ve wrestled a bear? Are you covered with bruises? The first few times on a horse can be pretty brutal.”
She grinned at that. “Well, let’s just say that I now know why cowboys in westerns all walk bow-legged!”
“Nothing wrong with your legs,” he said, before he could even halt the words from coming out of his mouth.
She flushed so prettily that he had to chastise himself mentally for the second time this night.Stop thinking about her body.He changed the subject. “My mother says you visit her every day.”
She looked puzzled. “I do. Was I not supposed to?”
He lifted his hand to allay any anxiety on that point. “Of course you may. It’s good to hear, in fact. She says she looks forward to your visits. And she seems to think you enjoy them, too.”
“I do,” she said.
“So it’s not just a case of you,” he had to phrase his question delicately, “executing the terms of our agreement?”
“I may be beholden to you,” she said tartly, “but that doesn’t mean I’m not a human being, capable of forming my own relationships.”
“That’s not what I meant—”
“Thatiswhat you meant. You flex your power like it’s a muscle. Like it’s something attached to you. And you’re so used to the idea of people responding to your power, and that alone, that it hasn’t occurred to you that sometimes, people can do what is pleasing and right, without your having a hand in it.”
Alexandre looked away from her indignant stare, knowing in his heart that she was right, and not wanting to allow her to see his concession in her eyes. That would give her the upper hand, and he didn’t know how he felt about that.
But Jacyn seemed determined to get her point across. She leaned into his space, so close he could smell the scent of precious oils on her glowing skin.
“In other words,” she said in a loud whisper, “it ain’t all about you.”
That made him grin sheepishly. “I guess it’s not.” The woman made way too much sense, he thought. That was something he needed to guard himself against. “So what about you, then?”
She looked puzzled. “What?”
“If it’s not about me, let’s make it about you. What is it that so pleases you about your visits to my mother?”
She pondered his question for a moment, and then said, “I think she’s sweet, warm and a little pensive. Being with her reminds me of how my mom was before the divorce.” She grimaced.
“You and your mother, you are not close?” He was truly curious now.