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Drifting for a while longer, I felt the mattress dip near us, and someone kissed my shoulder. “You awake?”
“Barely.”
Joel pulled me so I looked up at him. “Want to take a bath with me?”
A bath did sound nice. I glanced at Vaughn and found him grinning. “I’ll be just fine.”
It felt weird to separate from him after the intensity of our night, but he wasn’t wrong. I wanted a different kind of softness, and I wanted to know what Joel would do. So I looked back at him. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
“Perfect. Stay here, and I’ll start the water.”
Vaughn rolled over me, pinning me to the bed and reminding me exactly what he’d done. “Thank you for letting me chase you,” he breathed, kissing me.
“Thank you for doing it. I don’t think I’ll ever do anything like that again.”
“I hope that’s not true, sweetheart.”
“Me too.”
Easing off me, he helped me sit up and be at the edge of the bed when Joel came back for me. I blinked. “Shit. The bachelorette is tonight.”
“You’ll be more than ready by then,” Joel said, lifting me up and carrying me into the bathroom. “And there’s plenty of time.”
“Are you going to the bachelor party?”
The giant tub was already filled with bubbles, water steaming. Joel helped me in before stripping his own clothes off to get in with me. I scooted forward, happy to let him get behind me.
“I don’t think so. Warren is a good guy, but we’re not his friends. And,” he tugged me back against his chest, lifting up some water to drizzle it over my shoulders. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for any of us to be in the same room as Beau. Warren might lose his best man.”
“You wouldn’t really kill him.”
Joel’s arm came hard around my waist. “Don’t be so sure about that. I get the feeling what you’ve told us and what we’ve seen is barely scratching the surface.”
That same hand stroked down my body to the insides of my thighs. “But I don’t want to talk about him. He’s not worth your time. This might be, if you’re not tired of being fucked.”
“Does anyone get tired of that?” My body chose that second to yawn, making us both laugh.
“It’s okay if you’re tired.”
“I am tired,” I admitted. “But I also want you.”
A warm kiss on the side of my neck followed by his hand lifting my leg to one side of his. “Only comfort, Isolde.”
I leaned my head back on his shoulder. When he said it, it sounded easy. But lying here with him, even though it felt amazing, was hard. They were here for me, and while it was quiet, it was hard to just exist in my thoughts. I should be doing something.
“Can I ask you something?” Joel’s voice was low and soothing, along with his tracing fingers, which hadn’t touched me where I wanted him to.Yet.
“Sure.”
“You were in a relationship for a long time where you weren’t appreciated. Then you were on your own, making ends meet. Now you’re here, and... you didn’t want to let us help with the little things like the doors.”
I pressed my lips together. My words came out harsher than I intended. “That’s not a question.”
“How long has it been since you actually allowed yourself to let go?” Joel kept speaking before I could. “And I don’t mean when we’ve pushed you into it. We can guide you into relaxing or having a good time, but it won’t help you if you don’t allow it.”
And how was I supposed to do that?
The words were on the tip of my tongue, ready to lash out and snap. But Joel hadn’t said anything untrue, and the fact that I had such a strong reaction to them was on me.
