Chapter 43

Real castles didn"t have luxurious bathrooms and en suite toilets. They had chamber pots. The plumbing in this place was part of the expensive renovation. Well, a lot of things were. As we padded across the whisper-soft carpet and slick hardwood of the large bedroom, the lights went on in the glass candle flames of an electric chandelier.

They were set on the dimmest possible setting to allow us to see where we were going.

Motion-activated, I thought. But also trying to be romantic.

Had we seen the chandelier earlier? If so, I"d been too exhausted to let it register.

The low light caressed the lean muscles of Noah"s naked frame. Shadows suggested places where I"d like to flick my tongue.

And my hardon.

As we approached a pair of wide doors, they split apart to automatically disappear into their respective pockets. A brighter light from a smaller chandelier blinked on in a large room made of malachite, glass, and gold leaf trim.

I touched a too-sleek wall. Reconstituted malachite, not a natural slab. Even the American taxpayer has their limits.

"Nice place," Noah murmured.

"No kidding," I said. "You could film a pretty good porno in a place like this."

We had our pick of ways to get clean. The tub doubled as a four-person whirlpool bath. The shower stall had more gold faucets and hoses than I cared to count. It could have hosted the entire team within its frosted walls.

"Hell," Noah said. "You could film a big-budget Hollywood movie if you wanted."

His naked body was beautiful in the light. It took an effort of will not to tackle him right away.

But it felt good to shave side-by-side at the gleaming malachite double sinks. It felt even better to run my fingers and then my lips over Noah"s slick, fresh chin.

We left the twin taps running.

"You"re not mad I led them to you?" I whispered. "I didn"t want to leave you in their clutches. I couldn"t leave you."

"Of course I"m not mad. You were doing what you had to do to get me safe." He shuddered. "I was knocked out so frequently that I was never going to be able to get out of there on my own."

"Mitchell"s going to have a lot of questions for you."

Questions Noah couldn"t answer. Because he mostly couldn"t remember what happened to him.

But maybe also because he"d been involved in criminal activities.

My heart sank. I could not lose him when I"d only just found him.

The reality was that Noah could be in a lot of trouble. Had he done crimes? If he had, did he even remember doing those crimes?

Or had he been brainwashed? Under the control of some unknown terrorist using drugs and psychology to manipulate his mind?

How could you hold a person responsible for things they didn"t remember saying or doing because they were on drugs?

And yet I knew the law could and did hold you responsible. A buddy from high school was still in jail for a drugged driving accident, and he didn"t even remember getting in the truck that night.

I forced my thoughts away from the negative. We were here. We were safe. Bill Mitchell was on notice that he had to get me home before the semester started.

Yay, me.

Also yay that I"d gotten the information without needing to reveal I"d lost so much memory that I wasn"t sure how long I"d been gone. If Mitchell had known how serious my memory gap was, I wouldn"t put it past him to use that confusion to screw with my head.

I"m going to be fine. Everything"s going to be all right for me.

I hadn"t missed school. I wasn"t going to lose my scholarship or my place on the team.

Noah was my concern now.

"Did somebody say something about team showers?" I hid my worry under a flirtatious smile.

"Oh, yeah," Noah said. "I can"t wait to try out all the hoses on all the body parts." He licked his lips with plenty of visible tongue.

My whole body vibrated with desire.

Mine. He"s mine to keep.

No one will ever take him from me again. I won"t let them.