Ruvon closed the bathroom door behind him and groaned.
What a coward he was. He'd left Arezoo standing there in her white bra and panties. On their wedding night, he'd left his bride standing nearly naked in their bedroom while he fled to draw a bath, as if that was the most important task he had to perform tonight.
She was so beautiful.
And so brave.
She'd dropped her arms to her sides and let him see her, which he hadn't been sure she'd be able to do. The girl who'd flinched at the brush of his fingers not too long ago had stood in his bedroom in skimpy white lace underwear that covered next to nothing, and instead of telling her how beautiful she was a thousand times and pulling her into his arms, he'd said it only once and then asked if he could draw her a bath.
He should have taken her in his arms and kissed her. That was what he'd been supposed to do in response to her courage.
Instead, he'd fled to the bathroom.
Ruvon leaned over the bathtub and turned the tap, adjusting the temperature until it was just right.
He should go back and apologize for fleeing, and then he should kiss her. It was a simple plan, and all it required was to remove his hand from under the spray, straighten up, and walk out of the bathroom.
Ruvon didn't move.
The door opened.
He turned.
Arezoo was standing in the doorway, still in her white underclothes, with one arm now across her stomach, looking uncertain.
"I'm sorry," he murmured.
"For what?"
He got up and crossed the bathroom in two steps before his brain could stop him, and took her hands, lacing his fingers through hers.
"You are so beautiful. I should have told you that over and over again. I should have kissed you instead of rushing to fill the tub. I'm sorry."
Her eyes went wide. "You did tell me that I was beautiful, and I asked you to draw the bath for me."
He'd been the one who'd offered to do so, but he was not going to argue about semantics.
"It could have waited for a few moments while I told you all the ways in which you are beautiful. You're beautiful in your white dress, you're beautiful out of it, you're beautiful with your hair down, and you're beautiful with it up. There is not a single moment in all the time I've known you that you were less than perfect."
She opened her mouth, probably to say something about not being perfect, but he didn't give her a chance to do so. He leaned down and kissed her.
It wasn't a careful kiss. It wasn't the polite, contained kiss they'd shared at the altar that afternoon in front of their guests. This was the kiss he'd been holding since they had stepped out of the cart in front of the house that they were going to share as a married couple.
Arezoo made a surprised sound, her hands threaded into the front of his shirt, and she pulled him closer.
He hadn't expected that, and it undid him.
Letting go of her hands, he circled her waist. Her skin under his palms was warm and soft, and she kissed him back with just as much enthusiasm. Her mouth opened under his. His tongue found hers. One of his hands slid up the line of her spine, and she shivered, and he felt the shiver in his chest more than in his hand.
"Ruvon," she whispered against his mouth, and it didn't sound like a request to stop.
"Yes."
"The water."
The water?
The haze parted just enough to register the sound that had been building behind them while he'd been busy losing his mind. The bathtub had overfilled, and the water was lapping over the rim and onto the bathroom floor.
