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She was going to end up owning him, if she didn't already. And he couldn't even find the strength to let it concern him.
He would know soon if she could handle the darkness in him. A few days, a week, if she stuck it out, then there would be hope for it. Because possessiveness was nothing compared to what he was feeling for her. He had nearly lost her the other night. He couldn't chance that ever happening again.
As she dozed against him, the warm water rising around them, he washed her gently, kneading her trembling muscles, washing the sweat from her body.
He detached the handheld shower, washed her hair, and let a grin tug at his lips as her expression became sensual, almost catlike in her pleasure.
As he finished, the water was lapping at her breasts, warming her as she snuggled against him. He kept her there, holding her, careful not to arouse her. She would be sore tomorrow, and he wanted to ease the worst of the effects of the loving he had given her.
The loving. Damn, that thought should have had him panicking. Instead, it filled him with contentment.
"Ready to get out?" He let his lips caress her brow as he whispered the question.
"Hmm. Only if I have to. " Amusement lightened her voice, made it sparkle around him. Damn, he was a goner, that was all there was to it.
"You'll turn into a prune. "
"So will you. " She smiled, her fingers threading through the damp hair on his chest as he grunted at the reminder.
"Come on, vixen. " He lifted them both out of the water, wondering which was getting more important, that nap or the need for food.
"You're treating me like a baby," Kia told him as he helped her out. He dried her hair with a towel before bending and drying the rest of her body.
"You deserve it. " He stared at her as he dried himself quickly.
"Why? All I did was lay there. "
He looked too sexy, standing there naked, still half aroused. Hell, maybe he had stayed aroused. He was definitely fine to look at with all the muscle and bronzed skin. Black hair fell around his face and sprinkled over his chest and thighs. He looked the way a man should look, she thought. Sexy, dangerous, and completely confident.
He shook his head at her comment. "You did more than lie there, Kia. "
"Yeah, I came like I was dying. " She laughed as he lowered his head and whispered a kiss over her lips. "I should be bathing you for the experience. "
He shook his head as it lifted. He wanted to tell her exactly what she had given him, but he couldn't find the words. He felt strangely helpless, and that was a feeling that didn't sit well with him at all.
"You pleasured me," he whispered instead. "More than you know. "
Her eyes brightened, the gemlike glow deepening as pleasure flushed through her.
"I can feed you then. " She smiled. "I'll find my legs again in a minute. I can cook, you know. "
Chase nodded. "After we eat, we'll get some of your stuff and start moving you in here. "
Kia paused. She froze, actually, and watched him carefully. She wasn't certain now that that was a good idea at all. It had taken her too long to find her balance in the face of his disregard to start with. She had finally settled herself into the idea of being alone, living alone, sleeping alone.
And she didn't fully trust him, she realized. Not with her emotions.
"I was just learning to do without you. Now you want me to move in here?" She pulled a towel around her, suddenly uncomfortable with her nakedness. "Isn't this a bit quick, Chase? Weren't you the one who told me just last week that I didn't want this with you?"
She was scared, she realized. Afraid to let herself believe and to risk his changing his mind in a day, a week, whenever.
She couldn't do this. She could feel the panic rising inside her. The risk to her heart was too great right now.
"It's not negotiable. " His expression hardened as he stared down at her, obviously more comfortable in his nudity at this moment than she was.
At his statement, her brow arched. "Not negotiable?" she asked him softly. "Then it had better get negotiable, Chase, because this isn't happening. I'm going home today. Period. "
She moved to sweep from the bathroom, determination welling inside her. She was willing to be his lover; she wanted to be his lover. But the past weeks had been brutally hard on her. She wasn't willing to chance that sort of upset again. Not this soon.
