West of Want (Hearts of the Anemoi) (8 page)

Her words wrapped around his heart, made it pump harder, or maybe that was the clinging heat in the room. He wanted to reward her assessment of Eurus by telling her she was a good judge of character, but that would mean praising what she’d said about him, too. As much as he needed the affirmation she’d voiced, he found it hard to accept about himself. So, he kissed her forehead, allowed his lips to linger. An electrical charge rippled from his lips down his body.

“Don’t be sorry. And thank you,” he finally said in a shaky voice. Finding it harder and harder to breathe in the heated air, Zeph flicked on the exhaust fan and reached into the stall to shut off the shower. Scalding water streamed over his arm. He hissed, cranking the nozzle with his injured hand, and the shower cut off. His stomach flirted with nausea. Good thing it was just an extremity.

Frowning, Ella leaned around him and gasped at the angry red mottling his forearm. “Oh, I’m so sorry. We should run that under some cold water.”

Zeph attempted a small smile. “It’ll be okay, but thank you. Right now, you are our first priority.”

She looked doubtful, but finally nodded. “Okay, so, about this marking thing.”

He stepped back. “Right. It will likely wear off, after a time, though there’s no telling how many small misfortunes will befall you in the interim. My brother’s a death-by-a-thousand-cuts kinda guy.”

She swallowed audibly. “Uh-huh. And option B? Please tell me there’s an option B.”

Of course there was. But how could he expect her to agree to it? He pressed his lips together and inspected his arm. The skin already felt cooler, the burn fading from red to pink.

“Zeph?”

She really had no choice—so neither did he. The marking ensured things would continue to get worse, much worse, before they got better. “There is,” he finally said. “A cleansing.”

“A cleansing. As in, get a shower? I was going to do that anyway, before all this.” She waved her hand between them.

Zeph crossed his arms over his steam-dampened chest, hiding the fists clenching and releasing as he imagined running his hands over her body. “That’s the basic idea. Though it’s a bit more involved.”

Fuck if this wasn’t probably part of Eurus’s plan, too
.

She gestured as if drawing the words out. “Okaaay.”

“First, a bath, then a shower. I must wash you with my hands. Only a g—”
Good gods.
He’d nearly divulged his identity. He shook his head, regrouped. “Only
I
can remove my brother’s…influence.”

“Why is that, Zephyros? What were you going to say?”

He turned away, focused on his distorted reflection just visible through the condensation on the mirror.

“Please tell me what you were going to say.” She grasped his shoulder. Skin-to-skin, the strange, wondrous elemental connection they somehow shared flared. Zeph sucked in a breath. “I hate not knowing the truth.”

He sighed and glanced at her. The humidity in the air made the soft cotton cling to her body. The outline of her bra became just visible through the fabric. He’d already revealed so much that must seem strange, could it really hurt to fill in the gaps for her? “Cleansing first, my story second. Please. It’s imperative I take care of you as soon as possible.” He turned and grasped her hand.

Her gaze followed the gesture and she gasped. “Your arm. It’s…all better. How…” Her face paled. “You heal?”

No sense holding back, really. The evidence was right before her. “Yes.”

“Jesus. I guess that shouldn’t surprise me, given what you did for me.” She carded the fingers of her free hand through her hair. “But will you explain that later, too?”

“Yes.”

“I want it all. How you got in my house. The healing. The deal with your brother. What you were going to say. All of it.”

The thought of such a conversation made him weary, but it was also one full of potential—for acceptance, for sharing just a little of his load. Assuming he didn’t scare her so bad she banished him forever. He nodded once. “Okay, all of it.”

She pressed her lips together, twisted them. “And it will be the truth,” she stated. Demanded.

“Yes. Always.” Her insistence on the truth piqued his curiosity and tugged at the center of his chest.

Sagging back against the counter, Ella released a long breath. “Okay. Thank you.” She braced her hands behind her. Jumped right back up. “Ah!” She flew forward, cradling one hand against her chest and pointing at the scissors on the counter with the other. “I just cut myself on these,” she growled, showing him the angry red mark just blooming with blood. “Your brother?”

He scowled at the shears, as if they were responsible for attacking Ella’s hand all by themselves. “Yes,” he bit out.

“Zephyros, I want this cleansing. Whatever it entails, I want you to do it. Now.”

“You must be in water, and I must bathe you.” Ella gaped. “First in a salt bath, and then I must rinse you off in the shower.”

She scoffed. “Oh, that’s all?”

“Yes.”

Ella thought to argue, but now that Zeph had described her as “marked,” she was sure she could feel it. The memory of that cold, slick wind surrounding her made her shiver. It almost felt as if her heart had to work harder to pump normally. Maybe it was just her anxiety, or the weirdness of…everything. She met his waiting gaze. “Okay, I guess.”

“You’re sure?”

“This is really the only way besides just waiting to see what else happens?”

“I’m afraid so.”

She twisted her fingers together. “Then let’s get it over with.”

He nodded and started filling the tub. “Now, can you bring me as much salt as you have?”

“Like, regular table salt?”

“Yeah.”

“Sure. I’ll just, uh…” She thumbed over her shoulder, then left.

“Ella?” he called.

She swung back around the doorjamb. “Yeah?”

Intense gray-blue eyes stared at her. “Be careful.”

She nodded and retreated. Her mind went mechanical.
Salt. Salt. Salt
. Thinking about anything else threatened to unleash a serious case of nerves. Shaker off the table, canister of Morton’s from the pantry. Of course, when she reached for the latter, it slipped out of her hand and spilled on the floor. Bad luck on top of bad luck. Just great. Eager to be free of whatever was happening to her, Ella returned to the bathroom, shut the door, and plunked her findings on the counter. “Please tell me this is enough.”

“Should be.” He unscrewed the lid from the saltshaker and emptied the granules into the filling tub. Repeated the process with the canister, pouring what was left of it in.

“So, er, I suppose it’s too much to hope this will work with clothes on, right?” Heat infused her cheeks, but the thought of baring herself to him got her hot and wet in a way that had nothing to do with the steam the shower had thrown off earlier.

He turned and raked his gaze down the front of her. “I’m sorry.”

“Uh, don’t be. Somehow, I knew.” She nearly asked him to turn around so she could undress, but any attempt at modesty was pointless if he had to bathe her. Besides, this was simply a clinical procedure. Like being at the doctor’s office.

Uh-huh. Right.

Well, Dr. Zeph, here goes nothing
.

Before she allowed herself another second to consider her actions, she whipped her shirt over her head, then shoved her sweats to her ankles and stepped out of them. She wasn’t ashamed of her body—she bore no resemblance to Barbie, to be sure, but her body was strong and curvy, and she liked how the wide flaring of her hips made her waist look smaller than it was. This body let her handle the rigors of sailing a ship all alone, and she liked that about herself. Still, her muscles went tight with nervousness, and moments passed before she gathered the courage to check Zeph’s reaction.

His eyes bulged, then narrowed. An odd, reflective quality played behind the blue, like they were backlit.

No doctor had ever looked at her like that before.

That she affected him eased her anxiety, made her bolder. Holding his gaze, she swallowed hard and reached behind her back. Her bra fell loose and she dropped it. With a deep breath, she shimmied out of her panties.

Adrenaline surged through her. She clenched her fists to restrain the trembling. The reaction wasn’t from nerves or embarrassment,
but from a growing desire for the near-stranger before her, from the sense something rare and magical was about to happen—was already happening. Instead of the self-consciousness she expected, Ella’s arousal surged, then spiked when Zeph’s eyes started to glow that tense, beautiful light she remembered seeing upon waking this morning. A quiet, needful moan sounded from the back of his throat, and he licked his lips. Ella’s gaze dropped and locked onto the huge bulge filling up the front of his jeans.

Jesus
.

Ella’s nipples, already peaked from baring herself to his observation, went tight. Warm heat slicked the place between her legs.
Holy shit
. In all the years she’d been with Craig she’d never once felt this kind of crazy animal attraction.

His jaw clenched and his chin gestured her toward the tub.

Oh, right
. Good thing one of them still had their head about them. Though she didn’t love the proof that he affected her more than she did him.

She stepped into the tub with one foot, then the other, and promptly slipped. Her arms shot out to brace herself against nothing, but Zeph caught her around her waist, his hands clutching just below her breasts.

He growled out a string of words she didn’t understand, but totally got the gist of from his tone. She could only suck in a deep breath and try to calm her racing heart.

“Let’s do this,” she finally said, “before I kill myself.” She sank down into the bath, almost glad for her most recent incident because it bolstered her resolve. “Ooh, it’s a little chilly.”

“I’m sorry. It, uh, it needs to be.”

“Okay.” Sitting up, she clasped her arms around her knees and glanced at Zeph. He towered over her, that strange glow lighting up those incredible eyes. “You with me?”

There was a flaring of blue, and then he knelt beside the tub.

The image of his masculine bulk, bare from the waist up, on his knees… Ella dropped her gaze to the water to try to rein her body in. “Okay, so, what do I—”

“My hands will draw the curse out of you, and the salt will render it inert.” He tilted his head to meet her lowered gaze. “All right?”

She nodded, and her shoulders relaxed. That he took the time to explain what was going to happen made her feel less out of control.

“I’ll start with your back. Stretch out as much as you can, and face the wall.”

Ella blew out a breath and obeyed. In allowing her the modesty of facing away, he showed her respect and earned her trust, which wasn’t something that came easily to her, not anymore. She concentrated on the lapping of the water against her skin, on the chill of her exposed shoulder.

His hands burrowed under the length of her hair and cupped the back of her neck. A tingling like static electricity danced off her skin, seemed to conduct through the water even where they didn’t touch. Meticulously, he glided his palms over her, from neck to shoulder to spine to ribs. A deep yearning erupted within her. How she wished this wasn’t just some ritual. How she wished a man like this would tend to her and worship her because he
wanted
to. But that wasn’t what this was about.

Words spilled from his lips. She’d only ever heard him say a few utterances in that foreign language before, but as his speech flowed now, it sounded reverent and plaintive. As his hands reached the swells of her rear, she held her breath, trying to restrain the trembling brewing beneath her skin.

He switched into English. “In the names of my ancestors, my gods, and myself, I call upon the elements of good and the forces of righteousness. Come forth and cleanse Ella of all evil and alien magic, and restore her to balance and health. By our wills combined, so be it.”

The words mesmerized her so much that his hands were on her lower thighs before she realized. He slipped back into the other language, and she knew in her gut he’d purposely distracted her as he’d touched her more intimately. Her heart squeezed and released. A delayed ripple of pleasure surged between her legs. Her body was hyper aware of his touch, even if her mind had been temporarily diverted.

As his charged touch caressed the backs of her feet, she kicked, sloshing the water. “Sorry, it tickles,” she said.

A low chuckle rumbled out of him. “Turn over onto your back.”

She shivered as she turned, and not just because the water was cool.

Except for her face and nipples, most of her was submerged. She’d never felt more vulnerable in her life.

“Be at ease,” he rasped.

How often his words seemed to respond to her thoughts! Her gaze cut to his. That blue light was back, studiously fixed on his hands’ journey. His mouth hung open, his chest expanded and contracted at a faster pace than before.

“Tilt your head back,” he whispered, cupping the nape of her neck so her head didn’t go all the way under. “Your hair needs to be wet through.”

She tipped her head and nearly purred when he stroked his fingers through her hair. He combed his nails against her scalp, and the combination of his touch with his energy turned her body liquid all over.

Zeph sucked in a breath. “Good. You’re doing so good. Can you hold your breath and go under? Let the water cover your face.”