“Good thing I’m not, huh?”
“A very good thing. What’s with the robe? Turning shy on me?”
“No. Mr. Thatcher just came in the front door.”
“He did?” Luke grabbed a towel and knotted it around his hips. “I didn’t hear him.”
“The running water probably drowned it out.”
“And anyway, you have that extra-keen hearing.” He said it as if he’d accepted the fact in the same way he accepted that she had red hair and green eyes.
That was good, she decided. Now she could admit to hearing things that might prove useful to them without causing him to be suspicious. He didn’t have to know how much better her hearing was than his.
He glanced over at the tub. “It takes a while to fill, but it’s worth the wait. Don’t get in yet. I’ll go get the Epsom salts. We might as well give him our order for breakfast before he heads back down. What would you like?”
“Anything is fine.”
“Aw, come on, Giselle. Test the system. Eggs Benedict? French toast stuffed with cream cheese and blueberries? You name it, and the chef will fix it.”
No love notes or flowers, but anything she wanted for breakfast, no matter how exotic. Yep, he was falling for her. And when he gazed at her with that expectant expression on his handsome face, she couldn’t stop herself from falling for him, either.
She thought of her favorite breakfast in the world. “A strawberry waffle with fresh strawberries and whipped cream, please.”
“You’ve got it. Anything else?”
“Coffee and orange juice.”
“I’ll order that. And I’ll be right back with your Epsom salts.” He started out of the bathroom.
“Luke?”
He turned back. “What?”
“Do you think Mr. Thatcher will know why you wanted Epsom salts?”
“Maybe.” He smiled. “But I’ll tell him you turned your ankle getting out of the gondola at the Venetian.”
“Thanks.” She assumed Mr. Thatcher would figure out pretty soon that the relationship was no longer platonic, but she’d rather not advertise that they’d had enough sex for her to need a warm soak in Epsom salts. With luck, a maid would change the sheets and Mr. Thatcher wouldn’t be privy to the chocolate smear-fest that had taken place.
She remembered the conversation about Were-human pairing and wondered if Mr. Thatcher would start worrying about Luke now. She’d thought of him as a Were ally, but he was also devoted to Luke and Cynthia. He wouldn’t like knowing that she was going to make someone he loved suffer.
Luke came back in with the bag of Epsom salts. “He says to rest your ankle today. He asked if you needed an ACE bandage, and I said you didn’t. I think he was prepared to disagree with me.”
“Maybe I should have sprained my wrist instead.”
“We’ll figure it out. Look at that; he even opened the seal on the bag for me. Now, that’s service.” Luke sprinkled a generous amount of the granules into the water.
“He’s very thorough.”
“He’s an amazing guy.” Luke set the bag on the bathroom counter and turned off the water. “I don’t know what I’d do without Mr. Thatcher. He’s been like a spare parent. Now that my dad’s gone and my mom’s in France, I depend on him even more.”
“I’m glad he’s here for you.”
“Me, too. He’s as loyal as the day is long. Completely trustworthy. Well, the bath is ready. Want a hand in?”
She took off her robe. “I think I can manage.”
“That’s probably a good thing.” He backed away from her. “Because watching you move around while you’re naked is getting me hot. You realize there are jets in the tub, right?”
“There usually are in a tub like this.”
“Want them turned on?”
She smiled. “No, thanks. I want a nice, peaceful soak. No jets involved.”
He let out a shaky breath. “I’m glad. Because if you wanted the jets on, then I’d wonder what you were doing in there with those jets, and I’d have a really tough time keeping myself from climbing in with you.”
“Maybe you need to be in here with me. You said you were sensitive after our two-person orgy.”
“I couldn’t handle it. You, me, and a big Jacuzzi would have a predictable outcome. Before long, I’d forget that the whole point was giving you a rest from me and my insatiable demands.”
She laughed as she stepped into the warm, soothing water. “Don’t beat yourself up about that, Luke. Like I said, I was a willing partner in all of it.”
“I know, but . . . Listen, would you mind sitting down in the tub? And sliding under the water so I can’t see anything but your head?”
Glancing back at him, she noticed the towel he’d wrapped around his hips now jutted out at right angles to his body. “I see the problem.” She lowered herself into the tub and scooted down until her chin touched the water. “How’s that?”
“Better. But you know what? I’m going to check the messages on my phone. That should shut down my libido. I probably have about ten riddles piled up from my little sister.” With that, he walked out of the bathroom and took his impressive erection with him.
She hadn’t thought much about Cynthia and Bryce in the past few hours, but she needed to concentrate on that problem. She’d tried a direct approach to Bryce last night, but that had gone nowhere. Although he hadn’t said so yesterday, he might be irritated that she’d come to town without telling him, even if he thought she was a good influence on Luke.
Well, he’d left San Francisco without telling her, either. She’d deserved some kind of explanation for his behavior. He had to know it’d impacted her.
Now that she’d had this experience with Luke, though, she’d be less hard on Bryce if he’d gone over to the side of those who believed Weres and humans should be allowed to mate without censure. His comment yesterday, that he wished he had been attracted to Cynthia, might mean he was, in fact, open to such relationships and wouldn’t judge her too harshly.
Perhaps now he agreed with Duncan MacDowell, a werewolf who championed integration of Weres and humans. Duncan had founded WOOF, Werewolves Optimizing Our Future, and his popular blog argued in favor of blending the two species. Many in the Were community strongly opposed that idea, but every time a human and Were mated, the hole in the dike widened. Bryce would have heard about Jake Hunter’s recent decision to take a human mate. Although Bryce wasn’t romantically interested in Cynthia, he might welcome some other human female into his life. Giselle hoped not. Such a move wouldn’t go over well in the Landry household.
More than that, she had a feeling that Bryce and Miranda should be together. Whether Miranda would ever forgive him for cutting out on her was a whole other matter, but Giselle hoped that she might. They seemed right for each other, despite this current glitch in their relationship.
But if her brother had decided that a human female like Cynthia Dalton would suit him better, Giselle and her pack had big problems. A Were-human mating caused ripples throughout the Were community, and that was for starters. Either Bryce would abandon his pack, which left Giselle holding the bag, or he’d ask his human mate to become part of the Were world, which would create a set of problems for whoever that woman might be.
At least that woman wouldn’t be Cynthia. Giselle’s thoughts drifted to Luke’s sister. Had Luke ever considered bringing Cynthia into the business? Maybe not. He was in so many ways the throwback she had imagined him to be when they first met.
Cynthia might not want to be an officer in the corporation, but if Luke had never asked her, that wasn’t good. Giselle had much to talk to the man about, but she had to choose her words carefully. These were touchy subjects.
Phone in hand, the subject of her thoughts walked back into the bathroom. He’d replaced the towel with a pair of gray sweats and a black T-shirt with Silver Crescent in metallic letters highlighting his impressive pecs. The T-shirt fit tight across his shoulders and hugged his biceps. She could stare at him all day and not get bored.