“Of drowning?” I ask as I sit up. He’s probably not wrong about that. Today was jam-packed with excitement, the goodand the bad kind. I should’ve brushed my teeth, washed my face, and gone straight to bed.
His gunmetal-gray gaze, which hadn’t moved from my face, dips, and his throat works as he swallows hard. All the light pink foam that obscured my naked body melted away while I slept. Through the water, Murph can see every part of me, from my bare breasts to the dark triangle between my thighs.
He gets to his feet before I can think of covering myself, grabbing a large white towel I left beside the bath. He holds it up. “Up. Water’s cold, sweetheart. You’ll get sick.”
I hesitate, then get to my feet, expecting at least one glance at my body. I’m not sure I’d be able to stop myself from looking at Murph if he were standing naked in front of me.
His jaw hardens further, his eyes on my face as he wraps the towel around me and lifts me out of the bath. I feel utterly weightless in his arms.
I shiver, colder out of the cool water than I was in it. As he steps back, I grip the towel, tying it firmly around myself and brushing away damp strands of hair clinging to my forehead. “Thanks for checking on me.”
He nods. “I didn’t want to wake you, but I couldn’t leave you sitting in cold water.”
I’m not usually this tired. Give me five minutes of quiet, somewhere comfy, and it’s lights out. I let out a sigh and turn to drain the water from the tub. “A bath was a bad idea. Sorry for keeping you from bed. I keep falling asleep everywhere.”
No sooner have I finished and turned around than he’s clasping my hips and urging me against his flannel-covered chest. He presses a soft kiss to my forehead. “Today was stressful, and you’re growing a little human. Rest when you need it. You and Ben will always be safe with us.”
“I know.” My hand rises, my fingers skating over his hard jaw, the slope of his nose… his fuller lower lip. He leans into mycaresses, eyes fluttering shut, thick dark lashes casting shadows on his cheeks. He lets out a soft, almost anguished groan, closes his hand around my wrist and gently pulls my hand from his face. As if in pain. As if he can’t take any more of me touching him.
“A kiss is one thing,” he says, his voice a deep rumble that vibrates against my breasts. His hungry eyes fix on my mouth, a man starving. “What comes after won’t be so easy to walk away from.”
He said I was in danger when I woke up in the bath. The intensity of his stare warns that he wasn’t talking about drowning.
The pull between us has never gone away. Gossamer threads formed of spider silk and the strongest iron wrap around us, pulling us closer, tightening a bond that snapped into existence the moment I caught his scent and he caught mine. He’s right to warn me that this kiss would lead to something more, with me wrapped in a towel and bare beneath it. He’s afraid to start this because he knows he won’t be able to walk away. I’m not sure I could either. Or that I even want to.
Sliding my arms around his shoulders, I rise onto my tiptoes to brush a kiss across his shadowed jaw, the soft bristles tickling my cheek. “I like you with stubble.”
His eyes widen. “You do?”
I nod. “That day on the back porch, when you apologized for not shaving, I wanted to tell you I prefer you with stubble and not clean-shaven.”
He clasps my hips and draws my body closer to his. Hip to hip. “Then this is how I’ll always keep it.”
I told him what I liked, and he said it’s mine to have. I think I like being the center of this man’s world, and he looks at me as if I truly am.
He gives me the confidence to admit to something else I’ve secretly wanted but didn’t believe I could ever say. “You promised that I get to ride whatever I want.”
His fingers spasm on my hips, but he doesn’t say a word. He just stares down at me, his expression unreadable.
I move my arms from his shoulders and back up. “If you’ve changed your?—”
I gasp as he yanks me back to him, my breasts colliding with his hard chest.
“Not so fast. I was processing the impossible.” A darkly seductive smile tugs at one corner of his mouth, and I gasp again as he lifts me. “I’m going to need those beautiful legs wrapped around me.”
“What do I get if I do?”
He fists my hair and slants his head, giving me the sexiest, luscious kiss that fries my brain. “The ride of a lifetime.”
I wrap my legs around him, and his lips tilt up, pleased. He turns and starts walking to the bathroom door as my lower belly tightens in anticipation. “Hard or fast?”
He walks into the doorway, his hand on my back, cushioning me from the impact. When he looks down at me, I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. “Um, sorry.”
His arched eyebrow tells me I need to work on hiding my amusement better.
“Sweetheart, you did that on purpose.”
“I did not.” I lie.
