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If I try to coax Juliette into the water, we’ll be here all day; in some cases it’s simply better to lead. There’s also the added bonus of giving her something to look at… Well, that’s a side effect I’m more than happy to cultivate.
“What are you doing?”
“I think that is self-explanatory.” I disarm myself, removing the knives tucked away in various places and carefully unbuckling my scabbard so I can lay it down. Strange how I am still fully clothed but feel naked without a bit of steel on me.
This is Juliette, though. The only danger here is to my heart.
My shirt is next. I pull it over my head and drop it next to my weapons. If I take my time pulling off my boots and working my pants down my legs, it’s only because I can feel Juliette watching me. Her gaze is like a weight upon my skin, a featherlight stroke of her fingertips down my spine. Every time I think I’ll get used to wanting this woman, we spend several seconds alone and I desire her all the more.
Once I am fully naked, I turn to face her.
Juliette grew up in one of the richest and most beautiful courts in our realm. People there make beauty into a weapon and an art form by turns. I know what I look like, scarred and weathered from my time as captain of The Kelpie. What traditional beauty I possess has been sharpened until I’d stand out in her perfumed court like a barracuda among rainbow fish.
Juliette’s not looking at me like that. Her eyes are large in her face as she takes me in, shock turning to liquid heat in those big eyes. “Maura,” she says slowly. “Are we bathing, or are you trying to seduce me?”
“Why not both?” My voice has a careless edge that is purely a lie. As if I don’t care one way or another. As if I’m not holding my breath while her gaze travels over me. “Like you said…it’s a big tub.”
She presses her lips together and exhales shakily. “I’m still very angry with you.”
“I know.” I can’t pretend I’ve had a single clear thought from the moment I got her distress call.
“I’m not going back to Ashye.”
“I know that, too.”
She keeps worrying her bottom lip until I want to reach over and soothe it with my thumb. I have to actually clench my fists to keep from reaching for her. This needs to be her decision. I can’t wipe the slate clean—no magic exists to do that—but I can start making the right decisions now.
The decisions that result in Juliette permanently in my life.
It’s amazing how good it feels to stop fighting my need for her. It’s as if I spent my energy keeping myself from her, and now there’s no more reason to do that. Cai will give me shit for pivoting on a dime, but I feel like I’ve been turning in this direction for ten damn years.
“No point in letting the water get cold.”
Juliette raises her brows. “Pretty sure that water is spelled to keep warm.”
It is. I can feel the magic in the water, the careful balance that keeps it the perfect temperature for bathing. I shrug. “The point stands.”
We’re doing it again. The thing where we talk in circles around each other when I think we both want the same thing. We’re too damned prideful. It’s amazing how much clearer I see things now that I’m not fighting myself.
I climb into the tub. The water is warmer than I initially thought, and I hiss out a breath as it hits my skin. It takes all of a second to get used to it, and I slip down into the groove designed for sitting with a sigh of relief. I can hear Juliette moving, but I don’t look over. I just rest my head on the lip of the tub and close my eyes.
“I’m only doing this because I’m tacky from the salt water and desperately need to wash my hair.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“I’m serious, Maura.” A rustle of fabric as her dress hits the floor. “You have been an unbelievable ass since you showed up. I realize I called for help, but that doesn’t change the fact you hurt me.” She stops short, as if she didn’t mean to say that aloud. When she speaks again, her voice is softer, more like the teenager she used to be. “No one wants me. Not my father. Not my city. Not my kingdom. I thought you’d be the exception, and finding out that you aren’t…”
Oh fuck. I can’t let that stand.
I open my eyes and turn to look at her. Juliette stands a short distance from the tub, completely naked. My words dry up, faltering on my tongue. Gods, but she’s beautiful. She’s so devastatingly soft. Round breasts capped with brown nipples. Her stomach curved like the rolling hills of her homeland. Wide hips with a scattering of stretch marks that I crave tracing with my fingertips. Soft thighs dimpled in a way that catches the light. She’s not perfect, but so real, it hits me that this isn’t a dream. She’s not going to slip through my fingers the moment I wake up…as long as I don’t fuck this up.
