“Besides, there are only so many times I can feel guilty for getting Marco injured,” I said quickly, before either of us said or did anything we might regret. “It sounds like he needs you.”
He dropped his forehead to mine. “Aye, but what if I still need you.”
I felt myself smile. “I’m not in any danger tonight.”
He sighed like he wished I’d stop making so much sense. Before he let me go, he pressed a kiss to my temple and then started reaching for his clothes. I left him to it, sure that my willpower would go out the window if I was with him a second longer. Instead, I pulled on my pyjamas and plopped onto my bed to wait.
While Valen was still getting dressed in the bathroom, Florence poked her head in the room.
“Safe?” she asked.
I shrugged. “Sure.”
She came in and dropped on her own bed just in time for Valen Kincaid to walk out of our bathroom in damp clothes. His jeans looked like they chafed, but it was the long-sleeved tee that clung to every single ridge and contour of his marvellous body that I was sure Florence was gaping at as slack-jawed as me. His tattoos were stark through the wet white fabric, sending off very Rockgod Darcy vibes.
Valen paused, his eyebrow quirking as his eyes darted between us. “My grandmother would ask ye if ye’re trying to catch flies.”
“Nope,” Florence answered. “Just having a right old perv.”
“I’ve warned ye how far my restraint goes, Miss Walton.”
“Och, aye,” she said, teasing him about the thickness of his accent. I snorted. Valen frowned. “But you’re also standing in my dorm room in a tee that leavesnothingto the imagination.”
“What do you want me to do?” he asked her.
She shrugged. “I could run out and get you a change? I’ve always wanted to see the great Valen Kincaid’s dorm room.”
“I’ll be fine, ta.”
Florence crossed her legs. “We do not doubt that.”
Valen’s frown deepened in a way that warned her yet again about his restraint, but he said nothing. Instead, he just walked over to where I sat on my bed, bent down to give me a quick peck on the lips, then nodded to her.
“Good night, Miss Walton.” A nod for me. “Princess.”
“Good night, Valen,” we chorused like good little schoolgirls welcoming the Sister to lesson, much to his displeasure.
He walked out of the room, with his head held high, like he owned the bloody place.
Florence and I sniggered and hurried to the window to wait for him to appear at the bottom of the building. When he did, people were already staring at him in surprise. But he strode across the quad like it was the most normal thing in the world for him to be walking out of the girls’ dorms more than a little damp.
“The balls on that man,” Florence whistled.
“The arse on that man,” I countered.
“The mouth on that man.”
“The cock on that man.”
We dissolved into a puddle of laughter on her bed, and she insisted I tell her about every single second of the last couple of hours.
Chapter Nine
Did I feel conflicted sleeping with two guys at the same time? Yes. Did I feel like, if those guys got to do what they wanted without anyone batting an eyelid, then I should be able to as well? Also, yes. Did it complicate matters that I was contractually obliged to marry one of them and it was hard to maintain the other was only casual? Yeah. Very much so.
Still, I was an independent modern woman carving a future and a life for myself despite my world’s insistence I do neither, so I was going to roll with it until it all came to an unavoidable head.
And it was all so much easierandharder to do when we were all heading back to the Callahan Estate for the Christmas holidays a few days later. Something I wondered if Apollo was thinking about as well that Saturday before we left.