It didn’t take long for the one of the pair to reappear and wave us forward, and I couldn’t have been more grateful. My butt was in desperate need of a thawing. Staying focused on that discomfort made it easier to deal with seven sets of fey eyes watching me once I was inside.
“Would you like to stand?” Azio asked.
“Please.”
He put me down and let me hang onto his arm as I shook out my legs.
“Is this how many fey usually watch over a human on the supply runs?” I asked.
Azio shrugged. I released him and nonchalantly tried to rub some warmth into my backside. It didn’t work too well, so I moved around, pretending to look around the house.
“How much farther until we get to where we’re going?” I asked.
“We’re halfway there.”
“Where’s there?”
“Warrensburg.”
I nodded slowly, recalling what I’d heard of the place.
“Isn’t that pretty picked over, foodwise?”
“We will find food and clothes.”
The way he said that didn’t reassure me. Sure, we might find food and clothes, but what would it take to get to them. I mentally scolded myself. That was the kind of thinking I needed to get rid of and why I was doing this. I needed to learn to trust the fey. To trust Azio.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, confusing me.
“What? No. Why?”
“You keep rubbing yourself?”
I flushed and jerked my hands away from my butt.
“Nope. Fine.”
He glanced at the other fey. Two left the house, and the rest went off to look at other things.
“Will you allow me to help you?”
“You are.”
He sighed and strode toward me. Before I knew what he intended, my face was pressed to his chest, and he was grabbing my ass with both hands.
The sound that tore from me could only be described as a squawk.
“Shh. I am not hurting you. You need to warm before we leave again.”
I turned my head to breathe and grabbed his waist for support.
“A little warning would have been nice.”
“So you could pretend you didn’t need this?”
I made a face because he was probably right. Huffing, I leaned into him. He seemed to take that as permission to start moving his hands. I opened my mouth to tell him to stop, then snapped it closed again.
Wasn’t this the whole point, Terri?I thought to myself. This is nothing compared to what you are thinking of asking him to do to you.