Page 107 of Healed

“You never rinse conditioner out with bathwater. You always use fresh. Honestly, Gabby, don’t you know anything?”

He shot me a small wink to show he was teasing, and then he was pulling the plug and unfolding a large, fluffy black towel.

Without a word, he bent over the bath and scooped me into his arms, wrapping the towel around me until my body was covered. And then he curled me back against him, my head buried under his chin before carrying me back into the bedroom.

A girl could get used to this type of treatment.

“Hey, Luke?” I asked as he went to lower me onto the bed.

“Hmm?”

“Thank you,” I whispered.

He paused, almost flinching, but I knew he would know what I meant.

I wasn’t just saying thank you for today. I was saying thank you for not giving up on me. For wasting over ten years obsessing over me. For all the years before that. For rescuing me.

Honestly… for just being him.

“Thank you for coming back to me,” he whispered in return and then lowered me to the bed.

My eyes shut almost immediately, though I was vaguely aware of him leaving the room and then coming back.

“Gabby?” he whispered, placing a kiss to my shoulder. “Are you awake?”

“Hmm.”

“I need to apply some cream to you, sweetheart. I don’t want you to wake up and be sore.”

“Okay.”

“Try to relax,” he said, and then I felt the towel lift from behind me. I took a deep breath as his cold, cream-covered fingers slipped between my ass, applying the numbing salve to me, and then the towel was lowered back into place.

My cheeks flamed, but it was more out of awkwardness than embarrassment. And that soon disappeared when Vienna returned from washing his hands. The bed dipped under his weight, and the next thing my back was pulled against his front, and he was murmuring words of praise and adoration in my ear until I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

Chapter 34

Gabriella

The next morning I was sore in all the right ways.

I’d woken up many times with a familiar pain, where abandoned muscles had been used and abused. But it had never felt like this. It had never felt so… perfect.

It reminded me of the old days. When things had seemed so complicated, and yet had actually been the easiest times of our lives together.

And Vienna… he had been. Just…

Wow!

He was everything I remembered and more. He pushed my body to the limits, but rather than getting off on it, he was there with me, along for the journey, exploring new avenues with me.

The words he spoke… the things he did to me.

The backs of my hands came to my cheeks as they flamed, remembering everything he had done, the words he had uttered.

And it was as I was reminiscing that I heard a buzzing sound coming from next to me.

Sitting up, I looked at the familiar black device on the table, which was buzzing wildly, and looked at it as though it was carrying the plague.