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Luce’s hand wrapped around my wrist, bringing me back to the present.
“Let me.” It wasn’t a question.
He tugged my purple body sponge from my
hand and gently began to wash my back.
His breath fanned onto my neck, tickling and causing all the tiny hairs to rise. I had never been ashamed of nudity or my body, but I hadn’t ever had the chance to be this free with who saw it, either.
I was comfortable with Luce. I didn’t have to hide behind a demure demeanor or risk him tying me to a cross when he got upset. He hadn’t shied away from my flaws or belittled me for them like others had done. None of the Savages had, but it meant more to me that he hadn’t.
His thumb brushed over the barcode on my hip. “This has to go.”
I glanced down at it. “You’re not cutting it off me.”
“I’ve got a small amount of decency,” he refuted. “I have the perfect replacement in mind.”
“Feel free to share. I don’t like it either.”
He brought his fingers to my back, tracing the outline of my scars, careful with the way he touched the most recent lashes. “Do they hurt?”
“Only for the first few days. Some have been deeper than others. It depends on who’s holding the whip and what I did.”
He paused for a second and expelled a deep breath.
“No one’s ever going to touch you again.”
I turned to face him, replacing his touch with the spray of water.
“How can you say something like that and know for sure?”
“I’m not just saying that, dove. I’ll kill any motherfucker who lays a hand on you.”
He snaked an arm around my waist and pulled me flush against his hardened frame.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me for doing what I promised I would.”
I gave him a small smile, bringing my hands up to cup his face. He was so ridiculously gorgeous, all the way down to his dark and dirty soul. I wished I could have frozen time so we could stay just like this. I had to choose reality over fantasy, though.
Whatever this was between us, it was as intense as it was fragile.
If he truly meant what he’d said the previous night, we had a very long road ahead. We had to learn who the other was and how to co-exist. Things wouldn’t be easy or blissful between us, but being right here in his arms? It felt right.
There was a frequency between our souls that couldn’t be explained. I wanted to see this through. I had to.
“What I said a while ago… I didn’t mean it how it came across.”
He ran a hand up my back, then down. “Explain that.”
“I don’t care if that—”
“You should care.” He tried to pull away from me. I wasn’t having that. I wrapped my arms around his neck to keep him still. Or, I tried to. Holding Luce in place was like trying to hold onto a tank.
He unwound my arms and leaned back slightly, keeping hold of my wrists. “What the fuck was that?”
“You didn’t let me finish! Stop being such a moody asshole.”
