Page 25 of The Lightkeeper

“Your clothes are soaking wet and freezing, Aurora. They need to come off. Now.”

“I like when you say my name.” I sighed and then immediately wondered if I’d actually said the words or only thought them. It was just that he was saying my name so much right now, whereas before it was alwaysMiss Cross.

I pushed my eyes open, the width of his chest almost completely blocking my view. I turned my head and saw he’d brought me into the bathroom, the white subway tile swimming in my vision for a second as he leaned around me and turned on the shower.

“Arms up.”

I shivered again, and my arms felt like logs as I tried to obey him.

Steam started to spill out around us. He’d shut the bathroom door and closed us in the cramped room, so it wouldn’t take longfor the steam to heat it. But it wouldn’t be enough. Not for the way I shook.

“Kit…” Was that my voice? It sounded thick. Husky. Maybe it was because I was so cold.

“Let me.” A second later, my arms lifted as though by marionette strings.

My shirt started to peel up my stomach. Inch by inch, the cold air hit my wet skin and then was immediately chased away by the heat of his hands. I shivered uncontrollably, my breaths punching in and out of my lungs. I’d never been naked in front of a man before. When kissing felt like a flop, it seemed like a waste of effort to continue to something more.

I kept my gaze locked on his face. It seemed like it helped the shaking if I really focused on something steady—and Kit Kinkade was the most immovable thing I’d ever met.

“I like your beard,” I blurted out, staring at the pulse of his jaw underneath it.

Only his nostrils flared in response as my shirt reached my chest. He was so focused. So… angry. His eyes dark, their centers stormy as he bunched the fabric in his grip. And then his jaw muscles squeezed harder for an instant as he carefully lifted my shirt over my breasts.

There was a noise. A rumbled sound of pain. I bit into my bottom lip, thinking it came from me—from the cold rush of air against my sensitive skin—but when I looked at Kit, I wasn’t so sure… he looked like a man who’d been stabbed. Wounded.Tortured. But unable to remove the knife—the source of the pain without risking further harm.

“Sorry, they’re big.” Why was I apologizing for my boobs? I had no idea what I was thinking—what this fever was doing to me. He just looked so angry, it seemed like I should apologize for something, and I was willing to let my boobs take the fall.

Air hissed from his lips, his eyes snapping to mine as he said,“They’re perfect.”

Oh my…I inhaled tremulously, trying to hold onto the low words that shook me—warmed me to my very core. And just as quickly as he’d said it, his gaze lowered again and my nipples furled so tight against my bra, their outline pressed through the padded, wet fabric.

Perfect.

Had he really said that?

I focused on his mouth, wishing the words had stained the curve of his lips so I knew for certain he’d spoken them.

“Kit…”

He pulled my shirt the rest of the way over my head, taking whatever I’d been about to say with it as he let it land with a slap on the floor. Another burst of cold made me quake, but instead of lowering my arms around me, my hands reached for his shoulders.

“You’re so warm,” I murmured when his sharp stare pierced mine. “And I’m so cold.”

Even in the steam, the air felt like a thousand nettles prickling my skin.

If he said something, I forgot what it was as the warm hooks of his fingers curled under the waist of my leggings.Right. Those were wet, too.

“I didn’t see the wave,” I murmured, gripping the steely supports of his shoulders tighter as he lowered in front of me. “I found aLepasterias?—”

“Aurora—”

“I’m sorry—abrood sea star,” I mumbled, letting him lift one leg to remove my leggings. “They have light sensors, so they bury in the sand during the day and come out at night. And I found one. But then the wave…” I trailed off, trembling so badly my balance started to falter. “I-I’m s-sorry.”

“Jesus,” he cursed, pulling the black fabric. This time, he didn’t go slow—or it didn’t feel like he did.Was time distorting, too?“It’ll be better in a second. Just have to get you out of those freezing clothes.”His rough voice coursed over me, but for the first time, it didn’t sound abrasive; it sounded husky with concern… and something else… but I was too foggy to put my finger on it.

I stared at him, kneeling in front of me. And then it hit me.Freezing clothes. I was still wearing clothes.

“I can help,” I mumbled and maneuvered my lead-weight arms behind my back, my fingers fumbling for the hook of my bra.

---