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As he carried me into the bathroom, I curled in against him, feeling, for the first time in a long time, like I was well and truly cared for.
Chapter Eighteen
Gabe
Iturnedonthetap and watched the water begin to flow from the ornate faucet. I’d sat Jenna on the toilet behind me, still wrapped in a blanket, and, in the chilly bathroom, she was shivering worse than ever.
“Please hurry,” she said, and I could hear her teeth chattering.
I cranked the handle to turn the water all the way to hot, but Jenna stopped me.
“You c-can’t put me right into hot water,” she said. “It will shock my system. I have to warm up slowly.”
I looked down at the water, which was steaming, then back at her. “Well,” I said, “we can warm up the bathroom first, then make sure the water is a safe temperature.”
Using the same trick I’d used to heat the day before, I cranked the hot water all the way up and let the steam fill the room, feeling it slowly raise the temperature. Another glance at Jenna, however, told me it was too slow. She was still purple in the lips, and now her eyes had taken on a glassy quality.
Shit.
I adjusted the heat of the water to what felt like it would be a normal body temperature, then unwrapped her from her blanket, eliciting the tiniest whimper as she was once more exposed to the air, even with it being warm in here.
I lifted her and lowered her gently into the tub, and she recoiled slightly, her arms tightening around my neck as the water met her skin.
“Is it too hot?” I asked, stopping before I set her all the way in the water. “Do I need to make it cooler?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “It was just startling. It’s perfect.”
I released her into the tub, then rolled up my sleeves and ran to the kitchen for a bowl. When I came back, her lips were returning to a pink color, and she looked less spaced out.
“Feeling better?” I asked as I knelt down beside her and started scooping up the water and pouring it over the parts of her that weren’t covered by the water.
“A little,” she said, though her voice was still kind of weak.
“Do you think you want the water to be a little warmer yet?” I asked. She nodded, and I pulled the plug at the same time I turned the tap back on, adjusting the temperature to be warmer than before without being too hot. Once the water had warmed up, I plugged the drain again.
“This feels amazing,” she said quietly, swirling her hands through the water.
“I’m glad,” I said, genuinely feeling relieved that she was warming up and feeling better. I reached into the cabinet behind the tub and pulled out a washcloth and some body wash. “Can I wash you?”
She looked at me in slight surprise, but smiled and nodded. I knelt on the floor behind her and put my hands into the water, starting first with her hair—not shampooing it, but giving her a scalp massage with the warm water on my fingers.
“Oh,” she moaned softly. “Thank you. That’s so good.”
“Of course,” I said, moving down to her shoulders. “What kind of Daddy would I be if I didn’t take care of you?” I dipped the washcloth into the water and lathered it up with some body wash, then gently began to scrub. First her shoulders, then lifting each arm out of the water to wash it as well. Then to her chest, which was halfway in the water.
Once I reached the point where I needed her to exit the water for me to be able to properly wash her, I stopped, and she looked at me.
“You could just get in with me,” she said, giving me a coy grin. “It would make it easier for you to reach.”
“I suppose I could,” I said, raising an eyebrow suggestively at her.
I stood up and stripped off my clothes, tossing them to the side. She scooted forward to make room, and I climbed in behind her, feeling the warmth of the water and her smooth, slick skin enveloping me.
She slid in closer to me, a movement that could have easily made me hard if I had been in that kind of a mindset, though I was rapidly approaching it.
But for now, I took the washcloth and ran it over her body, her stomach, her hips, and her legs.
She moaned and leaned her head against my chest, and, without thinking, I leaned down and kissed her hair. She turned her head to look up at me, and I was pleased to see she was smiling. The slightest tilt of her chin told me that she wanted a kiss somewhere else too, and I bent my head to oblige.
