Robin woke up in a bed, but she had no idea where she was. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, and the scent of Hal filled her nose. Her pulse slowed, and she rolled over in bed, luxuriating in the super soft sheets and the weight of the comforter on top of her. She knew she should kick it off because she was overheating, which was probably what woke her up, but it smelled delicious. Her brain deviated from her normal wake-up routine and was laser focused on what Hal would look like in bed, sheets pushed down so they barely covered his hips.

Her mouth went dry at the thought.

She remembered coming to the cabin and having some tea, but she must have fallen asleep on the couch downstairs before she was somehow transported to the bed. Stretching, she realized just how soft the mattress was. The single bed that she’d been given at Eclipse barely even moved when she sat down on it. She pushed herself up on her elbows and took in her surroundings. Well, she tried to. Her contacts were drier than the Sahara right now, and she was fairly sure that Hal didn’t have any contact lens solution hanging around.

Blinking furiously, her eyes began to water, and the contacts unstuck themselves from her eyeballs. She could not wait to get her glasses back. Seriously, she was never going to wear contacts again.

Now that she could see what was around her, she realized she was up in the loft of the cabin. The bedroom opened out onto the living area below. She could look straight out of the windows and see the sun starting to rise on the horizon. The light was that weird gray where shapes faded into one another, and she couldn’t distinguish anything without really concentrating on it. She knew that soon enough there would be pinks and yellows and oranges slicing up over the water, heralding the oncoming sun.

She was tempted to stay in bed and watch the sunrise from this vantage point, but she had to pee, so that wasn’t really an option. She slid to the edge of the bed and quickly pulled the blankets off, suppressing the inevitable shiver that shook her body when the cooler air hit it.

Swinging her feet down, she tentatively put some weight on her bad ankle. It wasn’t good news. She looked down at it more closely and realized it was swollen, with a lovely purple bruise spreading from the base up and around the arch of her foot.

Great. This was just what she needed.

She pushed herself up, balancing with most of her weight on her good ankle, and hobbled over to the railing of the balcony. Reassessing the layout of the loft, Robin realized that there wasn’t a bathroom up here. It was just a bed, albeit a huge one, and a couple closets. Downstairs it was. She looked over the railing, only to find the vision that her brain had presented her with when she had first woken up almost completely recreated on the couch below.

Hal was sprawled out across the cushions, his legs sticking up and hanging off the armrest on the far side. His smooth oh-so-touchable skin was bared to the night, with a scrunched-up blanket around his hips. Hair was strewn all around his head as though he had been tossing and turning. The position he was in combined with the slight part of his mouth made him look so at peace, she almost envied him. Robin didn’t want to wake him up, but she also had to get downstairs.

Hopping down the first two stairs almost led to her falling on her face, so she sat and slowly slid from one stair to the other while holding her leg out in front of her. The only trouble she had was when the stairs turned. She did an awkward crab-walk-hop thing that got her around the bend. Of course, she hit her ankle a couple times, barely able to hold in the grunt of pain that shot through her as her heel made contact with the ground.

Finally, she was on the ground and pulling herself back up into a standing position. The bathroom had to be one of the two doors to the side here. The trouble was, there was nothing to really hang on to between the bottom of the stairs and the doors. She hopped over as best as she could, but she almost lost her balance and had to put weight on her ankle.

A sharp gasp from the pain escaped her.

She froze, praying she hadn’t woken Hal up. When she didn’t hear any movement, she continued her hopping to the first door. Cracking it open, all she found was a workout room. A quick glance showed her a heavy-duty treadmill, a punching bag, a rowing machine, and rows upon rows of free weights going up to sizes she’d never seen before, which was saying something since the gym at Eclipse was professionally stocked.

The second door yielded her goal. She hopped into the bathroom, silently closing the door behind her and turning on the light. The room was bigger than she’d expected. A large shower was next to a sauna and a monster-sized tub. The only bathtubs she’d seen outside of movies were the kind that had the walls built in for the showerhead to sit up top. This was not that. It was big enough for Hal to lie down, and stood on massive clawed feet. A big vanity and a mirror were positioned opposite.

She had no idea how he’d built all this himself. Sure, the appliances and the tub weren’t his, but the chairs in the dining area, the table, the bar stools, and the vanity cabinet had the same feel of craftsmanship to them. Robin would bet the clothes she wore that he had made it all by hand.

As she finished up and hopped out of the bathroom, an awake Hal greeted her. All her effort not to wake him up had failed.

“Hey, sorry I woke you.”

“No worries. I’m an early bird, anyway.”

She began to hop toward him but didn’t even make it three steps before he was there swinging her into his arms once more.

“A girl could get used to this.” She smiled up at him.

His dimples popped out as he grinned at her. “I’ll carry you wherever you want, my lady.”

“The couch would be good for now.”

“That’s where I was going. I want to take a look at that ankle.”

“I think it’s sprained.” Looking at it now, she realized it was the same ankle that she had twisted when Randall had taken her to see Nimue. Maybe her fix had only been temporary? Or maybe the initial injury was worse than Nimue had thought.

Hal set her down and lowered her carefully to the couch before sitting on the cushion next to her and pulling her leg into his lap. His fingers delicately explored the swollen skin of the joint, pressing in certain places, none of which hurt, surprisingly. As he explored her foot and up her calf, her skin broke out in goosebumps. The touch was luxurious.

It had been so long since she’d felt a kind hand that it made her feverish for more. His light gentle touches were like feathers on her skin, and she wanted the whole damn bird. Each time his fingers traced the joint, the flames of her need for his touch rose higher. Her heart rate had skyrocketed, and she struggled to keep her breathing under control. She didn’t want him to stop touching her, but both her emotional and her physical reaction to his touch scared her and excited her all at the same time.

“I can heal this, if you want.” His voice rumbled through her.

Robin didn’t realize she’d closed her eyes and let her head roll back. As she refocused on the world in front of her, she saw the naked desire in his eyes, and it turned her fever into a full-on inferno. Belatedly, she realized the position she was in had her breasts pointing skyward, straining against the thin fabric of the T-shirt. A blush suffused her cheeks.

“How?” She managed the one word without her voice betraying her too much. The need he had created in her was so strong, it was like its own living thing thrashing about inside the confines of her body.

“My brothers and I inherited some of Poseidon’s powers from when he blessed our father. Mine manifested partially as using water as a healing tool, so I can fix your ankle. If you want, that is.”

Hal’s eyes were dark, and while she didn’t doubt the words he said, she also knew on some instinctual level that he was enjoying watching her reactions to his touch. The curiosity in his gaze was only matched by the lust she saw there, and when that was combined with the huskiness of his voice, she was unable to resist.

“Yes, please.” Her voice sounded throaty to her own ears, causing even more blood to rush to her cheeks.

The lust and need vanished then, replaced by concentration and diligence as he pulled water from a glass sitting on the coffee table. Robin marveled at his control. She’d known people with these kinds of powers existed in the world, but she’d never seen one in person.

The water formed a barrier around her ankle, and the cool liquid pressed against her skin, slowly sinking into her. At first it hurt; not as badly as the scar on her back, but enough that it was uncomfortable. The pain slowly narrowed to a small pinprick right on the outside of her ankle. She felt a slight pop, and then the pain was gone.

“Good as new.”

“Thank you.” She wasn’t exactly sure what to say.

“Try and put some weight on it.”

Robin stood slowly, waiting for the pain to hit, but it never came. A smile spread across her face. “That’s incredible!”

Hal beamed at her as she walked around a bit, doing a little happy shuffle; at least, until she tripped on the rug and landed on Hal.