AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I know. I just don’t want to.”
“How are you going to clean all your… hidden parts?”
“That is none of your concern,” she said with a haughty air, and Blake laughed.
“Fair enough.” He took some soap and dipped it in the water.
He soaped his hands, moved closer to her, and started gently soaping her neck and shoulders. His hands tenderly glided down her arms. He took her hand and ran his thumb over her knuckles, studying it as if mesmerized.
“Blake?” Annalise raised a brow at him.
“Your skin is so soft,” he said in wonder as if speaking to himself. “I missed the feel of your skin.”
He smiled and winked at her before gently washing her wrist, her palm, between her fingers, tickling her skin and sending shivers up her arm. Goosebumps covered her skin, and his smile turned wolfish at the sight.
“When I was”—he cleared his throat—“away, I used to imagine your touch, your smile, the sound of your voice. I thought I remembered it quite vividly. But nothing comes even close to the real thing.” He gave a self-deprecating laugh and turned to wash her other hand.
Annalise studied her husband’s thoughtful features as he concentrated on washing her. “Will you tell me what happened to you?” she asked quietly.
Blake shook his head before she even finished her question.
“But you said you’d do anything I asked. So I am asking.”
“Anything but that, love. I promise you it is nothing that would affect our relationship. You know the most important part.”
“I know only that you were taken. Not why and how. I do not know what you’ve endured.”
“I-It is painful for me to remember,” Blake said, his voice hoarse.
“Please, let us not speak of the past.”
Annalise furrowed her brow. How was he expecting to build the future without talking about the past? Without resolving their past issues? She opened her mouth to say just that, but Blake raised a staying hand.
“Please? Let us concentrate on the present and the future. I don’t want the past to distract us from enjoying today. You’ve had a hard day as it is. Shouldn’t we at least try to have a worry-free afternoon?”
Annalise pursed her lips. Perhaps an afternoon without worries, without the past hindering them, was exactly what they needed.
What Annalise needed.
She conceded, “All right. Just for today.”
Blake grinned at her before shifting to the other side of the bath, across from her. “Lift your foot,” he said, all seriousness.
“Pardon me?” Annalise clutched the chemise closer to her thighs in a valiant attempt at covering up.
Blake just raised a brow. “You do know that the fabric of your chemise is very translucent in the water. I can see everything I could wish for and more.”
Annalise gasped in outrage and covered her body with her hands.
Blake laughed, then came back over to her and planted a kiss on her forehead. “It’s all right, my innocent wife. You don’t have to be embarrassed.”
“Don’t I?” Annalise breathed, staring into Blake’s unfathomable, dark eyes.
Blake brushed a lock of hair back from her forehead, still gazing into her eyes. “I don’t have to look at your naked form to be aroused by you. Simply being around you does that.” He swallowed. His eyes darted lower, then back to her eye level. “I want to see you naked. All of you. But if you don’t wish me to, I shall turn away.”
Annalise’s heart pounded so loudly in her chest that she thought it was about to burst. Being naked around Blake would be too intimate. An intimacy the level of which she had never experienced with him. With anybody. She wanted it more than anything. Perhaps today would be a perfect time because it would be on her terms.
He’d said he would do anything she asked of him. He wouldn’t force himself on her, and he wouldn’t act in any way she didn’t wish. Perhaps now was the time to be a little daring.
