Page 170 of A Sanctuary from Shadow
I turned slightly toward him, Daddy’s kind voice echoing through my head:I want you to fall in love with someoneyoulove. . . . Not someone you thinkI’lllove. . . . Someone you’d trust with your soul.
“Actually, if that had been our story, Pete, we wouldn’t have had to run away.” Now, I watched the stars twinkling beyond the undulating aurora ribbons and swore Daddy’s approving smile appeared there, a constellation. “I think my dad would’ve liked you.”
He scoffed. “Then I must seriously question his parenting instincts.” His laughter rumbled, his lips deliberate in grazing the arch of my ear.
My gasp was uncontainable, though I managed to hold myself from bowing like a horseshoe, frissons spearing through my veins.
“Interesting,” Pete hummed, trailing a finger over the goosebumps no doubt rising along my jugular.
Gritting my teeth, I kicked his shins. “Don’t do that!”
After a throaty chuckle, he stopped teasing me. His arm returned to my waist, tucking me in tighter to him. To the heat and maleness nestled against my bottom.
Get it together, Amy,I ordered myself, inhaling a deep, relaxing breath.
“Suppose we should catch some shut eye before dawn,” Pete remarked, his chin settling above my head. Only a man his size would fit with me so well. Only a man his size would make me feel so feminine.
“Yes,” I returned, terser than I’d meant to sound, my goosebumps still unnerving me. What had possessed him to agitate me before bed? The big jerk! “Good night.”
“Mm.”
Despite my body’s clear reluctance to sleep with a hotblooded man wrapped around me, several deep breaths relaxed me into a drowsy state. I was damn near dreaming when the noises started—the dulcet moans of two Blue Caps making love across the fire.
I swore to Danu, Pete’s heavy eyes popped open the moment mine did. And we both just stared into our mutual silence, neither moving a muscle as the sex susurration continued for an agonizing eon.
If either of us slept that night, it was only in winks between gasps and giggles.
Twenty-Eight
“Wouldyou,uh,mindif I, uh, stepped in there to buy some soap?” I asked Pete the next dusk after we’d dropped Tibbs, Rhoswen, and Oats off at their mining site in Shanerie—a congested, muddy village carved into tall, grassy hillocks. Basically, a more cramped Hobbiton fromThe Lord of the Rings. We were about to leave town to make camp in a less populous spot, and I’d spied an apothecary that might carry replacements for my Dove products, now sadly empty. “Unless we can’t spare the seeds.”
Reaffixing Bob’s harness after using him as a pack animal to get the Blue Caps’ belongings to their new love nest, Pete glanced up at me, astonished. Probably because I’d broken our day-long silence. After the sleepless night we’d spent together, both of us were acting self-conscious. Hard not to. Every time I looked at Pete now, I heard sex noises. Which made me crave something I shouldn’t—him.
I doubted we were on the same page with that. He wasn’t as jittery as me, despite his reserve, and I hadn’t been the recipient of a single evocative look all day, evidence that his lustful gazes the previous night were just part of our act.
“I believe we can spare a wee sum.” After rooting in his purse, Pete offered me several seeds.
“Thanks.” I let him drop the seeds in my palm, touching out of bounds for me right then. He replied with the hint of a smile. I smiled back, forgetting how to move.Aaawkwaard.
“Do—do you want anything?” I gestured toward the shop. “Any, um, oils or—lotions.” Did they have lotions in Evereostre? “Any soap for you?”
“Taking umbrage with my scent again, Shorty?”
I giggled. “Just heard there was a blue moon tonight.”
Pete waved me toward the shop. I took that to meanbuy me whatever you think I needand scurried inside.
A suitable camping spot was situated just outside Shanerie near a lazy lake surrounded by rolling hills, towering foliage, and night lilies that glowed like the moss in the Nixie’s cave—not that we needed further illumination. The moon wasn’t blue, but the light coming off that massive globe in the sky was so bright it bleached us silver as we dined on leftover fish and my bachram winnings.
Despite us barely speaking, things felt almost normal again after supper. Afterwards, Pete skinned yet another fuchsia chipmunk for Sionna, and I excused myself to pee and change into my shift. Then, it was laundry time!
The soap I purchased was a chunk of tallow, milk, and something called kelpie ash. I was clueless how it would work as a detergent, but the apothecary had assured me it was scentless, so I bought it and hoped for the best. I was just retrieving the waxy hunk from my backpack when I sensed Pete’s approach.
My heart lurching, I stuffed my panties into the folds of my cloak.Please don’t let him see my dirty underwear!
Pete stopped beside me. “Mind if I add a garment to your wash load?”
His nearness, his citrusy musk—damn, was it intoxicating. “Of course.”Maybe a joke will alleviate things.“But you’ll have to wash your own back, mister.” I blinked like an idiot at Pete’s stunned expression.Nope.
