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“I’ve ‘cleaned your house’ a lot lately. I don’t know how thorough I can be this time.”
“Make it happen and you’ll have an extended vacation from me,” I tell him. “There might be a bonus in there for you, too.”
Rooney whistles. “Wow. You really are in a good mood tonight.”
“Do your part to make it last.” I hang up and go to check on Piper and Benjamin.
The curtain to the shower is open, and Piper is standing just outside of the spray, shivering as she wraps Benjamin in a white towel. Streams of water twine around her hips and slip down her thighs.
“He’s clean, but exhausted,” she says, drawing my eyes back to her face. “The warm water put him right to sleep.”
Blood is still smeared across her cheeks and dotted on her neck. I gently take Benjamin from her arms.
“I’ll dry him off. You take care of yourself now.”
She smiles down at Benjamin’s pink face for another second before she can pull herself away and step back into the shower.
He really is exhausted. He barely moves as I take him. “Get your rest,” I whisper. “You’re safe now.”
He yawns and then settles into a nest of clean towels I set up on the floor.
Once I’m sure he’s content, I go back to the shower. Really, I’m drawn there. It’s a compulsion. A better man than me might have given Piper her privacy, but I lean against the tiled doorway and watch her shower.
When she sees me, she blushes. “Is Benjamin sleeping?”
I nod. “He’s as tired as I feel.”
“He had a big few days. I doubt anyone was sticking to his sleep schedule.” She frowns as if the idea just occurred to her. It probably did. Worrying if he was alive took precedence over whether he was napping. “I just hope he doesn’t remember any of this.”
“He won’t.”
Her brow pinches. “You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do.”
“How?”
There’s a haze of anxiety around her like heat off an asphalt road. All I want to do is clear it.
I step closer, the spray from the shower misting onto my face. Piper leans her head back to look into my eyes. I can’t help but wrap my hand around her delicate neck, rub my thumb along her pulse point.
“Because we are going to give him a life filled with miraculous, beautiful memories,” I whisper. “There won’t be room left in his head for the chaos he saw here today.”
Her eyes flood with tears. “I can’t believe I ever thought you were the wrong choice to be his father. Timofey, you’re… He’s going to love you so much. I know I do.”
I smirk. “I caught that earlier. I hoped you weren’t just saying it for Kreshnik’s benefit.”
“Fuck him,” she hisses with a shocking amount of animosity. “That was for you, Timofey. I wanted you to know the truth just in case…”
I lean forward and press my lips to hers, ending the terrible thought before she can voice it. Her naked body arches into mine. I feel dampness soaking through my clothes, but I could care less.
I slide my hands down her arms, gripping her elbows. When I draw away, there’s blood on my hands.
“Oh no, I’m sorry.” Gently, Piper tries to scrub the blood from my hands.
But I shake my head and turn her to face the shower head. “Let’s take care of you first.”
I want to say I’m being selfless by washing the blood off of her, but there is no sacrifice at all involved in running my hands over her supple skin. She is warm and delicate in my large hands, and I never want to let her go.
