I laughed at that. “I’m no hot-house orchid.”
His fingers trailed over my shoulder to the clasp on my dress. As I’d done earlier, he released it and pulled me to my feet. The dress slipped from my shoulder to pool on the floor. “Do you need my assistance with your bath?”
Oh, boy. But no. I was sore. Tired. Hungry. And feeling way too vulnerable to let him get inside me again so soon. I needed to gather my wits and rebuild some defenses around my stupid heart. The cuffs might force him to stay with me, and me with him, but I couldn’t get over Ryston’s reminder that they’d had to hold Rezzer down, force him to submit to the testing. That even after my arrival, he’d been in a big fat hurry to give me away. That now that he had his beast back, all he wanted to do was go back to war. To fighting and killing. To hunting down Hive on some kind of security team.
I shook my head. “No.”
His silence stretched as the tub filled, and I knew he was watching me, trying to read me. But I hadn’t spent all that time on Wall Street without learning how to put on a poker face. My adolescent demonstration of nerves and drama was over. I was a full-grown woman, not a fourteen-year-old who couldn’t get her emotions on lockdown. I didn’t do drama. Hadn’t for years.
Not until him. And these people. And the human woman, Rachel, and the beautiful round belly that had hit me like a punch to the gut.
Babies. God, I hadn’t dared let my mind go there, not for years. But the idea of holding a child, a little one with my black hair and Rezzer’s green eyes? The need made me ache, an actual hole opening up inside me that I had never felt before. An emptiness I now knew needed to be filled. Wanting children was a weakness I’d refused to allow myself to think about on Earth. No husband, no prospects. That meant no children, because I sure as hell didn’t want to raise kids alone. Too hard. Way too fucking hard. I knew single mothers who did it, and they scared the shit out of me. They were stronger than I. They had to be. Raising children was one battle I’d never been willing to fight alone.
Now? With Rezzer? I ran my hand down to my abdomen, realized that he’d fucked me without protection. I’d never had sex without protection before. Never. But to say the beast had made me forget…well, that was an understatement. I’d gripped that big cock and all rational thought had fled. Since I was no longer on birth control—it wasn’t something they handed out in prison—I could, at this very moment, be on my way to carrying his child. The thought both thrilled and terrified me, and I hated that weakness in myself.
He turned off the water, the tub full of steaming bubbles that smelled wonderful, like rose petals and lemon drops, and stood. “I will have a meal ready for you, mate.”
I nodded, but waited for him to leave the room before sliding into the warm water.
The heat soaked into my muscles and I leaned back, resting my head on the edge of the tub. Paradise. This moment was paradise.
My beast left the door open, and I wasn’t sure if it was for me—so I’d know he was near—or for him, so he could keep an eye on me. Either way was fine. I didn’t care. He’d seen me naked. Fucked me. I was past being modest. I rather enjoyed hearing him moving around in the next room. Strange aromas filled the air and my stomach responded with a series of hungry growls that had me standing, dripping water and looking around for a towel.
Stupid. There was nothing. Why hadn’t I asked for one before I got into the tub?
As if he’d been waiting, Rezzer was there. He’d changed clothes, wearing loose-fitting brown pants and a shirt that looked like they were softer than my skin. I wondered if those were his pajamas, or if he slept naked. He lifted me from the tub and wrapped me in a giant, fluffy blanket that whisked the water away from me. I thought he would dry me off, put me down, but no. Neither.
He swung me completely up into his arms, carried me to the other room where a table was set with food, and placed me in his lap. “I asked for several Earth dishes. I hope you like one of them.”
“Earth dishes?” I squirmed in his arms, but his grip only tightened.
“The other Earth mates requested special programming of the S-Gen units, the machines that make our food.” He added the last, obviously for my benefit. “I chose several items from your planet for you.”
Curious, I inspected the offerings. There were a couple things I didn’t recognize, things that must be from Atlan, but there was some sort of rice dish with vegetables and chicken, spaghetti with marinara, pickles—which made me grin—a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and a steaming filet mignon with asparagus and loaded mashed potatoes. The whole thing was ridiculously too much food.
I opened my mouth to tell him so, but the hopeful look on his face stopped me cold. He had done this, mixed a PB&J and asparagus in an attempt to please me. “It’s perfect. Thank you.”
His smug grin was worth the little white lie. “You will eat now. Which do you prefer we try first?”
“We?”
He cupped my cheek in his hand and tilted my face up to his. “Yes. We. I am learning you, mate. I will eat what you eat. And you will try some mild Atlan dishes as well.”
Weird. Cute. Hell, I didn’t even know what to say to that. “Okay.” I glanced over the options one more time. I was starving. “The filet.”
He reached for a knife and fork and handed them to me. “Cut it into equal bites. But do not place a single morsel in your mouth.”
“What?”
“Do it, mate. Do not make me spank you again for disobedience.”