The Seer Rowan McAllister (top inspirational books .TXT) 📖

wouldn’t mention that either. Best to keep quiet and hope everyone forgot he was there.

The sun had sunk low in the sky by the time they crossed the shallows of the Bael river a few hours south of Traget. When Daks dismounted on the far bank and said he was going to head upstream to wash and change, Ravi followed him. He wasn’t looking forward to the frigid water, but the promise of clean, dry clothes gave him courage.

He kept his hood up and trudged along silently, lost in his own thoughts, until Daks stopped abruptly and began stripping. Ravi stood rooted to the spot as Daks removed each piece of muddy clothing and tossed it into a small pool of water nestled among the reeds and rocks, seemingly unconcerned or unembarrassed about having an audience. Biting his lip, Ravi turned away, wondering if he should find his own bathing place, but the sounds of splashing drew his gaze back to Daks like a lodestone.

The man was undeniably well put together. Barrel-chested and broad shouldered, with thick arms and thighs—everything about him was thick. Ravi swallowed against a suddenly dry throat. When Daks caught him staring, the frown he’d sported for hours morphed into that infuriating grin, and he winked and quirked an eyebrow, making Ravi flush and turn his head away again. The man was impossible.

“Should we, uh, do something about that?” Ravi asked, waving a hand behind him in the general direction of Daks’s midsection. Daks snorted and Ravi’s cheeks flamed hotter.

“Your bandage. Your stitches,” he qualified.

“You could come check it out for me if you’d like,” Daks replied with a smile in his voice.

Ravi tried to glare at him, but Daks just shrugged and lowered himself into the pool with a hiss and shiver. He began washing himself and his clothes while Ravi hovered uncertainly on the bank.

When minutes passed and Ravi still hadn’t joined him, Daks let out a heavy sigh and said, “If you’re feeling prudish, find another pool upstream and set to. The sun isn’t going to get any higher, and we have a few more miles to go before we reach any settlements around Traget. We’ll miss the last ferry tonight, but I’d like to find Vasin’s cousin, drop off the horses, and find somewhere to settle before true dark sets in.”

“Fine,” Ravi huffed, lifting his chin stubbornly, “but at least turn around and give me some privacy.”

Daks’s mocking smile faded as he shot an odd glance over his shoulder at the river before rolling his eyes and turning his back to Ravi. The man had churned up the silt a bit in the pool where he was, so Ravi should try to find a cleaner spot upriver. But with his luck, he’d have a Vision and drown, or something else equally horrible would happen.

At least that’s what he told himself as he began to disrobe.

He brought his soiled clothes with him into the water to try to wash the worst of the muck off, as Daks had done. The water was cold enough to make him gasp, but he gritted his teeth and plunged in anyway.

Without soap, his clothes wouldn’t be anywhere near as clean as when he’d received them, but they’d be slightly more presentable. When he turned back after pounding a particularly difficult stain on the rocks, he found Daks watching him as he the man bobbed lazily in the water nearby.

“It’s not as cold, once you get used to it,” Daks murmured.

His eyes had gone a little heavy-lidded, and his voice had deepened and softened somehow. Feeling uncomfortable and a little short of breath, Ravi shook his head and turned his back again.

“You’re crazy. It’s still freezing.”

Small waves lapped at his hips as he felt Daks approach, but Ravi didn’t turn around.

“I could help warm you up if you like.”

Daks’s voice was downright husky, and a shiver ran down Ravi’s spine that had nothing to do with the icy water. If he weren’t already covered in goose bumps, he would have been now, and his sudden difficulty breathing had nothing to do with the line of bruises across his chest.

He stood frozen, clutching his wet clothes, the air heavy and silent but for their breathing and the rush of the river beyond their quiet, secluded little pool.

Why not?

This hadn’t exactly been what he’d dreamed of for his first real sexual encounter as an adult, but when had reality ever lived up to his dreams? Daks was big and warm. He was also handsome in his own peculiar way, despite being a little rough around the edges. Ravi had wondered more than once what his skin felt like, how his mouth tasted, and what those big hands would feel like on his body, touching sensually rather than clinically.

It had been so long since he’d been able to really touch anyone. His hands suddenly ached to map the planes of Daks’s body, to feel the ridges of muscle and bone and trace the scars with his fingertips, but he gripped the clothes tighter in his fists and swallowed against the need vibrating through his body.

Why not? Because I can’t risk it. That’s why not.

Not yet anyway.

He didn’t have the strength to actually step away from all that offered heat and comfort, but he had enough to clear his throat and say, “I thought you said we needed to get going.”

“I suppose a couple of minutes here or there wouldn’t hurt,” Daks replied, the shrug obvious in his tone.

That note of indifference broke the spell. This was not what Ravi wanted. A couple of minutes of stolen pleasure with a virtual stranger wasn’t worth the risk. He wanted more… at least a bed, for Harot’s sake. Besides, Daks had either ignored him or growled at him all day—except for the part where he jumped in the bog and rescued him from drowning.

Why did the man have to be so confusing?

With an enormous exertion of willpower, Ravi stepped to the side and climbed