Page 130 of Hellbound

“I’m really tired.” She really was.

Was that disappointment in his eyes? No, don’t be absurd.

The look vanished as he turned toward the hallway. “Suit yourself.”

Marian watched him go. What was she going to do? Sleep? And risk being tormented by dreams wrought from the horrific memories Vale had tried to free her from?

“I don’t have a swimsuit,” said Marian.

Vale stopped and threw a veiled look over his shoulder.

“Then wear whatever you must to protect your modesty. Clothing is optional.”

Marian eyed him warily. “And what if I want to swim in jeans and a sweatshirt?”

“Then you’ll swim in jeans and a sweatshirt. After a while, you’ll complain about how uncomfortable you are, I’ll remind you that swimming fully dressed was your choice. You’ll call me a dickhead, and I’ll call you petulant, and we’ll both carry on with our days, my leiah.”

He held her gaze, a dark, humorous edge in his eyes.

“Will you tell me what that means already? Leiah?”

“ ‘Pain in the ass’ is a close approximation.”

Marian shot him an unfriendly look. His expression softened ever so slightly.

“Swim with me. I promise not to drown you this time.”

Damn the crooked smirk that slashed across her face. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d gone swimming for fun; the only reason she entered a pool these days was to die.

So make a new memory. A weird one, but a better one.

Marian lifted her chin. “Promise?”

An alien warmth thawed Vale’s arctic gaze as he watched her rise from her chair.

“I promise.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Vale led them down the same corridor that connected the garage to the house, and further still past rooms she’d not explored. Then he opened the door to a sight that made Marian think he’d conjured a portal to the southern hemisphere.

Balmy air enveloped her as they stepped into a room concealing a rocky pool set deep in the floor. There were no windows; submerged lights illuminated the water, casting rippling reflections on the dark walls and ceiling. The sound of running water drifted in from a small waterfall on the pool’s far edge.

Marian toed off her shoes and socks and soaked up the sense of peace and safety in the air like water in the desert.

Vale stepped beside her and flipped a switch that activated recessed panels in the floor. Little halos of warm white light illuminated a raised wooden walkway around the pool and a few chairs set against the wall. It wasn’t a large pool, but it’d take some effort to swim it end to end.

“Whoa,” Marian whispered. “What is this?”

“A reset button for the nervous system,” Vale replied as he strode to a nearby chair and pulled his shirt over his head, exposing the hard, lean lines of his back in one smooth stroke. “And one of the more recent additions to the house.”

Marian was suddenly acutely aware of her own body as she stood in the oversized green Guinness tee she’d spitefully pilfered from Paul’s room. She glanced down at her toes and palmed the thighs of her black joggers.

When she looked up, Vale stood at the edge of the water half-naked. Tight black shorts clung to his backside, and Marian found herself underwater before she’d even set foot in the pool. Her heart flung itself against her ribs as all the blood in her body flooded her cheeks. Heat bloomed between her thighs.

She envisioned herself snuffing out a candle as she willed the sensation away.

If Vale noticed her discomfort, he didn’t show it. The monster slid into the pool like it was the most natural thing in the world. The water came up to his waist and broke softly as he turned to face her, a wry gleam in his gently glowing eyes. “You can swim, can’t you? I realize I’ve only ever seen you drown.”