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Hope sank into the water up to her chin, battling the overwhelming stress trying to take over. The whole reason she’d wanted this bath to begin with was to destress, and now it was looking like the opposite was going to be true. It was her own fault. She should have put the brakes on things until she considered all that was going to change. She hadn’t. Taking it out on Daniel might make her feel better in the short term, but it wouldn’t last.
And it wasn’t fair to him.
“You haven’t been taking care of yourself because of me,” he said. She half expected him to launch in to some self-recrimination—to, God forbid, to start blaming himself for that in addition to everything else again. Hope took a deep breath, ready to tell him—again—that this wasn’t any more his fault than her brother’s death was. That he wasn’t a modern-day Atlas who could balance the entire world on his shoulders indefinitely.
But he surprised her and sank onto the closed toilet. “What can I do?”
She blinked, having prepared her response to how she thought he was going to react. It took her a second to catch up to reality. “Uh, what?”
“There’s got to be something I can do. This is partly because you’ve been dancing around my emotions, and that’s not fair to you.” He gave her a look like he was fully aware of what she’d expected. “So what can I do to help?”
What she really needed was a massage and some of the dreaded pain pills, but neither was on the menu. “It’s okay.” He’d had his hands and mouth all over her body, but there was something about him touching that part of her that made her balk. It was too much, even more personal than having sex. She couldn’t ask that of him. “I’m really okay.”
He opened his mouth like he wanted to argue with her but finally nodded. “If you change your mind, I’m here. If you don’t, that’s okay, too.” He pushed to his feet. “Do you need anything right now?”
It was difficult to wrap her mind around this accommodating version of Daniel. He’s trying to keep this peace going as hard as I am. She didn’t really need anything, but she’d already shut him down once and he obviously needed to feel like he was helping with something, so she said, “Maybe a glass of water?”
“Sure.” He looked relieved. Daniel disappeared, coming back a few minutes later with a tall glass of ice water. He set it carefully on the edge of the tub but didn’t immediately straighten. Instead, his gaze rested on the bubbles partially hiding her from him. “One more thing before I go.”
She barely had a second to process his intent before he slipped a hand into the bathtub, sliding down her stomach to stroke her between her legs. She went ramrod straight, but she wasn’t sure if it was in protest or because—oh, God—he pushed two fingers into her. “Danny—”
“Close your eyes, darling. Let me give you this if you won’t take anything else from me.”
She didn’t fight his order. She didn’t even try. She wanted this too much to push him away, even though distance was the only thing that would save her heart in the long run. Liar. The truth was that her heart had always been compromised when it came to Daniel Rodriguez. Hope spread her legs as much as she could in the tub, giving him access to everything. Just plain giving him everything.
He rewarded her by picking up his pace, stroking her just like she loved, already gathering an orgasm around her, her nerve endings sparking with pleasure. She’d never met a man who knew her body like Daniel did, and the years apart hadn’t damaged his memory any. She hissed out a breath, the sound closer to a moan than an exhale. “Danny, I’m close.”
“I know, darling.” His lips touched hers, a soft, sweet kiss that was completely out of sorts with what his hand was doing between her legs. The innocence of that kiss pushed her into an orgasm that locked up her muscles and drew a cry from her throat. He ate the sound, his tongue sliding against hers as he gentled his touch and brought her back to earth.
It was only when she stopped shaking that he rested his forehead against hers for a long moment and retrieved his hand from the water. His shirt was soaked, but his slow smile said it was worth it. Daniel pushed to his feet. “I’ll see you this evening.” And then he was gone, leaving her wondering what the hell just happened.
Guess he wasn’t joking about fixing everything with sex.
The problem was, as good as being with him felt right now, she couldn’t shake the feeling that they were only administering a Band-Aid instead of actually fixing anything.
