Page 342 of A Vicious Love

Her blush came back fast.

Good.

“Eat,” I said, placing the tray across her lap. Sienna reached for toast and winced slightly as she shifted.

The smugness left me at once. “Baby.”

“I’m fine.”

I sat beside her. “Don’t lie to me about pain.”

She sighed, then relaxed because my hand was already at her thigh under the sheet. “It’s tender.”

“I’ll get a bath ready after you eat.”

Her eyes warmed. “You don’t have to.”

“I do.”

“You’ll make it too hot.”

“I can regulate water.”

She took a bite of toast, and I watched her eat with a satisfaction that felt absurdly close to pride. Sienna in my bed. Eating breakfast I had arranged. Hair a mess because of me. Body sore because of me. Smiling anyway.

The wrong ring still sat on her finger when she lifted her teacup.

My gaze caught on it.

The morning shifted.

The ring in the drawer downstairs waited with the same heavy patience it had held for days. The one I should have given her before I touched her.

She noticed my attention and lowered her cup. “What?”

I took her hand and kissed the knuckle above the token ring. “Nothing for breakfast.”

“That sounds suspicious.”

“Eat.”

She narrowed her eyes but obeyed, which meant she was either too tired to fight or learning that obedience could be its own game when she wanted to make me insane.

After breakfast, I did run the bath.

Correct temperature, despite slander.

I carried her there because I wanted to and because she muttered only one protest before sinking into my arms with that secret little smile that made me suspect she liked being carried far more than she intended to admit.

I sat beside the tub while she soaked, this time with the curtains closed, windows locked, and no line of sight for any man with a survival instinct. She leaned her head back, eyes half-closed, while I smoked near the marble edge and drank coffee instead of whiskey because she had looked at me with sleepy concern when I reached for the decanter.

Another sacrifice.

I was becoming unbearable.

“You’re staring,” she murmured.

“Yes.”