Page 142 of For Your Consideration

At least for now.

I waited a few beats, deciding that perhaps she was ready to talk. “How are you feeling?”

“I don’t even know how to answer that question.” She looked over at me. “I mean…this can’t be good for his custody case. But…I just never expected him to attack me like that.”

“All of your feelings are valid here, Sutton. What you experienced tonight…you’re not just going to get over it. But we’ll sort through it all together.”

She nodded, sending me a grateful look. “I like the sound of that.”

Sophie started crying, spurring both of us into action. Twenty minutes later she was in her onesie, the sound machine on as she slow-blinked in her crib.

Sutton was holding the monitor, standing in the doorway with me behind her, my arms wrapped around her waist.

“Come with me.” I kissed the back of her neck and then unlocked my arms from around her, threading our fingers together.

“Another bath?” she asked as we went into the bathroom.

“You don’t look like you’ll stay awake that long,” I muttered as I turned the water on in the shower.

I looked back at her, clenching and unclenching my fists. I needed to do something to make her feel better, to take care of her. This was the only thing I could think of before tucking her into my bed.

“It’s going to hurt,” she murmured as she touched her forehead. I knew she would still have blood in her hair.

“Only for a minute.”

“Had a lot of cuts?”

“Knight and I got in a few scraps back in school and I split my knuckles when I first started boxing.”

She made a sound as I came to where she was leaning against the counter, her eyes looking heavy. I reached out, my hands pausing just before touching her, as I looked up at her with a raised brow.

“I’m not scared of you,” she said as she reached out and grabbed my hand.

“You’ve had enough taken from you today.” Her eyes softened as I kissed her hand and turned around. “Get in the shower.”

I went to the walk-in closet and grabbed one of my shirts and a sweater before taking a breath and returning back to the bathroom.

The steam was fogging up the glass but I could see Sutton’s outline. “Are you going to join me or just stand there?” she asked, wiping a hand on the glass so she could see me. “I want you in here with me, Ash. I want you close. You make me feel safe.”

I stripped quickly and then stepped into the shower. When I came up to Sutton, she looked me up and down but instead of leaning in, I turned her around.

“What are you doing?” she asked as I reached over her shoulder to the shampoo she kept here.

“Taking care of you,” I muttered as I squeezed shampoo into her hair. “You’ll tell me if anything hurts.”

“You don’t have to do this—” Her objection was cut off when my hands gently went into her hair, lathering the soap.

“How do you get this scent to stick to you all day?” I asked as the coconut smell that made me think about her filled the space. She shrugged as I kept washing.

I could feel the tension loosening in her chest and body as I washed her hair. I moved her under the water to rinse out the shampoo, letting out a hiss when the spray touched me. “Did you turn the heat up?”

She let out a small laugh as I went back to rinsing her hair. “Yeah, it was lukewarm at best.”

“Well, it’s your call if you want to burn your skin off.” I shook my head and moved her out of the spray once again. I repeated the head massage, this time with conditioner.

I focused on her, being as gentle as possible. When I finished rinsing out the conditioner Sutton wrapped her arms around me and pressed a kiss to my chest before resting her head there.

We may have both been naked but there was nothing sexual about the moment. This was about taking care of her. Except for the fact that I was a little hard, but that was because I was attracted to Sutton in any situation. Being in her presence turned me on.