Free Captivated by Lauren Dane Page A

returned.
    “Hey.” Vincenz simply pulled her into his embrace. “Would you like to talk about it?”
    “No.” She tried to shake her head, but he held her so tight she couldn’t move. And that’s when a rush of pleasure brought a gasp from her lips. So much sensation to be held so tight. So much dark sweetness that she could struggle in his hold and it wasn’t fear. It felt so
good
to be totally surrounded. The sheer amount of sensation was ramped up a thousandfold. Gooseflesh broke out.
    She was wrong to feel this way. Wasn’t she?
    “Are you all right? Did I hurt you?” He pulled away, examining her flaming face.
    “No. No.” She licked her lips and he looked, just a little too long. Was it too long? Did she imagine? Yes. It was the treatment stirring stuff up, had to be.
    Hannah shook her head again, this time firmly. “You didn’t hurt me.” She could still see the way they looked together. He wasn’t interested and she was not a good bet anyway.
    She needed to learn how to live again. On her own.
    “I’ll run my own bath.”
    Julian looked to Vincenz and it annoyed her enough to get out of bed.
    “Do you want company?” Julian looked at her carefully.
    That was a good question and one she didn’t know if she could answer. She did, of course, like it when they were around, but she wouldn’t be there forever.
    “I can do things on my own.” She stomped to the door and turned, sorry. “I apologize. You’ve both been so good to me. I’m out of sorts right now.”
    Julian snorted. “You’re entitled, you know.”
    “I’m not an animal. I’m capable of acting like a human being. Eventually I’ll have to go about my life. When my parents are contacted I’ll go to them. You can’t possibly keep me here much longer. I know you have jobs to do.” Watching them together showed her they had a life. They’d let her share in it, never made her feel excluded. But the fact was, she wasn’t a soldier and they were at war.
    And she felt fragile, brittle in places. To go depending on these men when that wasn’t how things worked would be stupid.
    “Are you unhappy here?” Vincenz asked, simply following her into the bathing suite and opening the taps to fill the tub.
    “I’m all sorts of things,” she mumbled, standing motionless in the doorway.
    “This is your home as long as you wish it to be.” Vincenz walked back past and retrieved a drying cloth.
    She sighed and pulled her clothes off, not thinking about it until she stood naked and his eyes skated down her body. Then she blushed. Again. “I’m sorry. I say I’m not an animal and then flash you.”
    His smile settled her jangled nerves a little. “I’ve seen a lot of animals.” He shrugged. “None of them look like you.” He put his hands on her shoulders and kissed her lightly. “Get in and soak. We’ll be just outside getting a meal together and working. Come when you want to.”
    She stepped into the tub and sighed at the warmth. This was something else she couldn’t seem to get enough of. Baths and showers had been totally absent while she’d been in the lab. Her entire body submerged in nearly scalding hot water was a delicious treat. Julian joked she was going to grow a tail where her legs used to be and turn into a sea nymph. She found some peace in the large bathing tub. Weightless, she could close her eyes as the water supported her, surrounding her. Like a warm, full-body hug.
    She knew they’d ask her how she felt. How she thought the treatment was going. Or worse, that they
wanted
to ask but thought she was too fragile to say. But really she just didn’t know. She hadn’t felt normal in so long she wasn’t sure she’d even know it again. But the anger that sat in her belly like acid seemed to have lessened enough for her to take a deep breath.
    She did, filling her lungs and then falling beneath the waterline to listen to the world that way. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears until she came back up. Alive