House of Royale (Secret Keepers #4)(37)

I forgot everything in that moment. I’d always thought it was a cliché when chicks in books and movies said that, but Xander literally had the ability to wipe everything from my mind. I became nothing more than reaction and need.

I’d had sex more times in the past few hours than I had in the past year, and yet I wanted him again. A loud noise echoed at the edge of my brain, but I managed to ignore it.

“Xander, are you in there?”

The shout had him pulling back, and as he did I managed to regain some clarity.

He turned away slightly. “Hang on, we’ll be right out. Avalon was sleeping.”

I snorted, pressing my face into his right bicep. I hadn’t slept for a second, and now I was going to have to pretend to be well rested. I was well satisfied though, which was close enough.

“You have five minutes,” the male voice at the door said, before footsteps echoed away.

“Come on, we’d better get dressed,” Xander said, reaching for the towel and wrapping it around me. He must have used his power as well, because by the time I rubbed it across my body and hair, I was dry.

Xander’s hand landed firmly on my ass, just short of a slap. I narrowed my eyes on him playfully and he laughed. “Put some damn clothes on,” he finally muttered. “Or they will have to break the door down.”

With a shake of my head, I hurried across to the clothes Star had gathered for me. The underwear fit, which was almost unbelievable. How the hell had Star guessed my sizes? I was going to call that Daelighter magic. The rest fit as well: a simple white shirt, tan cotton shorts, and Converse in the exact right size.

“Where do all of these clothes come from?” I asked Xander when we were both dressed.

He shrugged. “Star has always dressed us. She loves it. Lexen said she makes some of the clothing herself.”

That would be a very useful skill indeed.

I started running my fingers through my long hair, silky and untangled from whatever Xander did to remove the water. That and the natural magic of my Royale hair. “Do you use toothbrushes here?” I asked.

“Yep, there’s a spare in the top drawer,” he said, pointing toward the bathroom.

I hurried, deliberately not looking at the huge, steaming bath. Water was almost as enticing as naked Xander, and I had no time for either right now.

There were a ton of spare toiletry items in that drawer, so I grabbed the few things I needed. Within two minutes I had my teeth brushed and my hair pulled back into a loose braid.

“You ready?” Xander said, appearing in the doorway.

“Yep.” I smiled, snapping the band around the ends. “I’m ready to go.”

We didn’t touch as we walked toward the bedroom door, but there was so much energy between us it almost felt like we were. Or maybe that was my nerves. For some stupid reason, I could be naked as the day I was born around him and not feel any unease, but now that our clothes were back on….

I had no idea where we stood when we weren’t sexing.

Before I had time for an existential crisis, Xander opened the door and we were out in the hallway. A group was standing near the end—our friends. As we got closer, I tried really hard to keep my expression neutral. “Sorry,” I blurted out, not sure where to look. “I must have been more tired than I thought. I really crashed after Xander let me use his amazing bath.”

There, that was normal, right? No one would be suspicious.

“No problem!” Maya said, smiling. “Chase had to drag me away from my family. It was so hard leaving them again, especially knowing that this part of our journey might be the most dangerous of all.”

That sobered everyone up.

I took a step closer to Callie. “You look great,” I said. “Are you feeling much better?”

She nodded. “Yep. So much better. Dan got me back in time, thankfully. I had to sleep for a few hours, but now I’m ready to go.”

She looked amazing, her skin golden and flushed with health. She wore all black, with a silver-studded belt holding her boyfriend jeans up. She ran her eyes across me. “I see Star put you in the secret keepers uniform.”

I chuckled because I’d thought the same thing. “It suits me perfectly. I prefer clothes that are lightweight and easy to remove for swimming. Shorts and T-shirt dresses are my favs.”

Maya’s eyes got really wide as she clapped her hands. “One day we’re all going shopping together. I love my casual clothes, don’t get me wrong, but I also love dressing up. Girls’ night!”

Callie grimaced, but she didn’t say anything. Something told me she wasn’t that big a fan of shopping.

“Are Emma and Lexen not back yet?” I heard Xander ask Daniel and Chase. His question drew our attention back to the boys.

Daniel shook his head. “No, but Lexen sent word that they were going to meet us in about ten minutes. So we should start moving.”

Everyone began to walk then, and I waited to fall in at the back of the group. Xander paused, settling in at my side. I didn’t miss the knowing looks Maya and Callie shot us. Xander was right, matchmaking was totally on their agenda, but they were fighting a losing battle. Xander was a Royale, and even though he said the overlord family had a stable family to ensure their bloodline remained clearly identified, he’d also told me on more than one occasion that that was not the future for us.