SWNOVELS Queens and Monsters: Chapter 33
If my bathroom at House of Axl was a dream bathroom, then Dray’s was a dream bathroom for treehouses. Holy hell. If they had just told me being a samhain came with heaven-sent bathtubs and showers, I wouldn’t have resisted in the slightest. I would have begged them to Awaken me faster.
“What’s wrong?” Dray stepped around me and flipped on the shower.
“I’m just taking it all in.”
He glanced around the open shower. “Taking what in?”
I waved at the large soaking tub situated in front of the floor-to-ceiling picture window that looked out at nothing but valley, then to the open shower beside it, then to the double vanity sinks to my right. “This! It’s gorgeous!” It wasn’t massive. In fact, it was quite compact. However, what it lacked in space it more than made up for in luxury.
Dray came over and picked me up. “Well get used to it.” Then he walked us right under the water.
I closed my eyes and let it wash over me until Dray released me, then I stepped back so I could clear my eyes. “So am I going to be smelling like you all the time now?”
He frowned again. “Your stuff is right there.”
I turned to where he was pointing to a built-in shelf in the wall, and sure enough, my shampoo, conditioner, and body wash were right there. Even my razor. “But…how?”
“Gigi got your things. Even those. I think she bought you new stuff though. I didn’t ask.”
I needed to give Gigi a very big hug for doing all this for me. While Dray got right to scrubbing, I inspected my supplies. Sure enough, each one was a brand-new bottle, and the razor was new too. I snatched the shampoo first.
“Shampoo huh?” Dray pushed his wet hair back from his face.
“I like to go top to bottom. In order.” I began massaging the suds into my hair. “What do you start with?” I felt like I’d known Dray forever and ever, and yet I knew nothing about him. What was his favorite food? Beverage? Time of the year? All important things to start learning.
“I guess you could say I work from the middle, outward.” Now that his hair was clean he grabbed the soap and washed his legs and feet. “And done. Voila.” Then he grabbed me and pulled me back under the water, the shampoo rinsing out of my hair and all over the both of us.
“You’re very handsy after sex!” I pushed away and cleared my eyes. Again.
He came after me, whispering in my ear. “We could get dirty again right now.”
While I was gratified that our sexual escapades seemed to have reassured Dray that I was no longer made of glass, I did need to recover still. “Food. Lots of water. A nap. Then…maybe.”
His eyes softened. “Of course. You just get me so—”
“Aroused?”
“Focused.” He grabbed a towel and began drying off while I soaped up, then he moved across the bathroom to the sinks. Dray wrapped that towel around his hips and unf did I almost say screw it, lets fuck again. But I didn’t. I really was tired.
When I was clean and dry I made my way over to the sinks, slid up onto the counter and watched as he shaved away his stubble.
“What?” He glanced at me with just his eyes.
“Just watching you. It’s sexy to watch a man shave.”
He grunted. “How’s that?” He slid the razor along his skin then rinsed it under the water.
Well, there was the concentration, then there was the naked torso, the exposed neck…the flexing forearms. Really any number of things could be sexy about this, but how did I explain it to him? “Let me put it this way: would you enjoy watching me shave?”
His eyes slid back to me. “Yes, but that’s different.”
“Not really.”
He rinsed the razor one last time then toweled off his face and slid between my legs. “Oh, it’s different. When you shave your legs, you bend over. I get to see these gorgeous tits dangling down and I can picture shoving my dick inside you. Very different.”
Oh men. All boobs and cocks. “So the reasons are different, but the reactions are the same. You see me in a position you can visualize as sexual and you enjoy it. Whereas I see you acting the way you do when we have sex, and that arouses me.”
“How is shaving anything like having sex?” He ran his nose along mine and dropped a kiss on my lips.
I took his face in my hands and answered all low and breathy. “You’re concentrating hard, just like when you’re watching for my reactions. You’re being very careful, every move calculated. And you’re using your hands.” I traced a finger from his face, down his arm, following the sexy vein in his forearm, down to his capable hands.
“Oh,” he breathed.
“Yep. Shaving is sexy for both of us. Just accept it.”
He pulled me to the edge of the counter so that his erection brushed my sex. “I accept.”
“Dray!” Kris yelled through the house. “You here?”
I groaned while Dray swore. “Yes!” he yelled back.
“The Nalas will be here in an hour.”
The Nalas?
Dray locked eyes with me. “I’ll be there soon.”
“Glad you’re feeling better, Rhysa!” Kris yelled before we heard the sound of the door slamming shut.
“He knew I was in here?” These Wren’s had super sensitive senses.
Dray chuckled low and deep. “Well there’s the obvious—you slept here last night—but then there’s the fact that he can sense where we are. So yes, he knew you were here. And before you ask, I sent Kris to meet with the Nalas, explain what happened, and ask them to meet with us before tonight.”
“Will some of my family come?” My nerves took over.
“Without a doubt. That is at least some of who are on the way over now.”
A level of insecurity I was not okay with set in.
“Hey.” Dray took my chin in his hand and tilted it up. “This is good. They’re going to love you. How can they not?”
Images of me in my mother’s bed covered in blood flashed through my mind. “I didn’t exactly make the best first impression.”
“Not your fault. If anything, they should be apologizing to you.” He lifted me off the counter and set me on my feet, then grabbed a flannel robe from the hook by the door. “Why don’t you go explore the upstairs while I throw on my clothes?”
Between the bathroom door and the kitchen was yet another door where I found a set of wooden stairs. As I reached the top of the steps a bed came into view. It looked delightfully fluffy with its white comforter and multicolored quilts. The wooden walls were painted white, giving the bright room an even brighter feel. There were old photographs, knickknacks, chests, a fireplace and more lined along the walls. Then I turned and my mouth fell open in shock and awe.
An entire wall of books.
All the way up the ceiling! From the left clear to the right, up the angled roof to the point at the top where only a couple of volumes fit.
“Thought you’d like it up here,” Dray murmured from the doorway.
“Like it? I love it.”
He came up behind me, wrapping his long arms around my middle. “That first night at your cottage when all I could do was sit and wait, I felt like I was here. It has a similar look and vibration.”
He was right. It did feel a lot like my cottage.
My cottage. My old life felt a million miles away now. I still held on to the idea that I would return in the fall and finish my degree, but right now it seemed like a dream I had once. Fuzzy, but there.
My eyes fell on an old wooden crib. “Babies have lived here?”
Dray chuckled. “One in particular. Me.”
Little Dray’s crib. “Your parents lived here?”
“This house tends to fall to the oldest child. It was my father’s until my grandfather died. Now it’s mine.” He kissed my cheek. “I know we don’t exactly have time for awkward conversations about living arrangements, but at least this space can be all yours whenever you want it. We can be awkward later when things are simpler.”
If we ever got that chance. “Thank you for sharing this with me.” I would definitely take the opportunity to have my own fortress of solitude within the fortress of solitude.
“Take your time getting ready. I’m going to leave you be but call for me if you need help.”
“Where are you going?” I turned in his arms, throwing mine around his neck.
“To speak with Kris and get ready for the Nala’s arrival.”
“I can throw on some clothes and come with you.” I wanted to hear what Kris had to say, too.
He smoothed a hand over my damp hair, reminding me that I was still in a bathrobe. “If that’s what you want then I’ll wait, but I’m not keeping anything from you. Whenever you get down to the house we’ll update you on everything we know. Promise.”
“Fine. I’ll dry my hair and pick out my armor before joining you.”
His eyebrows rose. “Armor?”
I shrugged. “Clothes and makeup are armor for a second first impression. I want to make sure this one is a good one.”