AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Wrapping her arms around her knees, Taylor sat huddled as Sebastian lathered a generous amount of shampoo between his hands. The fragrant burst of cashmere seemed to fill the entire room. Her mind tried to focus on his actions as he scrubbed her scalp, working the soap into a thick lather. The gentle, but vigorous, scrub of his fingers felt like heaven. Closing her eyes, she let a contented sigh part her lips as he rinsed her, then conditioned her tresses and repeated the process again. By the time he’d finished rubbing down her body, she felt like a pampered, boneless heap.
Leaning over the tub, he cradled the back of her head, his lips claiming hers in a slow, drugging kiss. Taylor moaned against him. Pain or not, her body still responded with hunger to his touch. He kissed her again, this time his lips curving in amusement against hers.
“Mmm. That’s my girl,” he praised.
Grabbing a towel, Sebastian eased her up and hit the drain for the plug. She clung to his biceps unsteadily, unable to find the strength to stand on her own. After wrapping the fluffy warmth around her shoulders, he scooped her up and lifted her from the tub. Relieved, her arms sought immediate purchase around his neck. His hold tightened in a reassuring squeeze.
“It’s okay. I got you, sweetheart,” he murmured, drawing her against his chest.
She pressed her nose against his neck and breathed his warm, woodsy scent as he carried her out of the bathroom and laid her on the bed. He stripped the wet towel away and peeled the covers back before drawing them up to tuck them under her chin.
“Are you hungry?” he asked, perching on the edge of the bed beside her.
“No. Not yet.”
“Soon then.” Leaning over her, he kissed the top of her head. “Josh will be here shortly and I have a few things I need to take care of. I’ll be downstairs. If you need me, just holler, but I really want you to just take it easy for a bit and try to take a nap.”
“Okay. Can you stay here for just a few minutes though?”
Running his fingers through her hair, he winked. “Absolutely.”
Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her tightly against his side. She rested her head against his chest and snuggled closer into the warm cradle of his body. Toying with the buttons on his uniform, she closed her eyes as he trailed his fingers up and down her back.
“Seb?”
“Hmm?”
“Was Marx upset that you spent so much time at the hospital?”
She could feel the hesitation thrumming through him as he grappled with his words and how much to share.
“Marx wasn’t pleased,” he admitted quietly, “but he will get over it. I don’t want you worrying about these things, Taylor. It doesn’t matter. I’m here and that’s what’s important.”
She nodded, but couldn’t ignore the dread crawling through her. Short of him dying, SKALS locking Sebastian away again topped her list of nightmares. He’d barely made it back to her last time, and she would never forget the array of bruises and burns marring his beautiful skin. Some of those scars still remained. As if sensing the dark turn her mind had taken, he tipped her face up toward him.
His breath fell warm and soft against her skin and carried a faint hint of spearmint as he rubbed a slow circle against her belly. “Do you need anything?” he asked.
“No. I’m okay.”
“You know it’s not going to hurt the baby. The doctor promised the stuff he was sending home was safe. You don’t need to suffer, darling.”
Turning slightly, she traced the strong outline of his jaw. “I know, but doctors say that all the time. All you see nowadays are commercials for lawyers and civil suits against medications doctors used to think were safe. Even Tylenol isn’t as harmless as people once thought it was. It’s not a chance I’m willing to take.”
Capturing her hand, he kissed her fingertips. “I love you, baby, and I admire the fact that you are trying to be strong. Just don’t cause yourself any unnecessary hardships in the process.”
“I’m not, Seb. I promise.”
“Okay.” The indents framing his cheeks dimpled with his smile as he dropped his gaze to her stomach and once again started rubbing lazy circles across her navel.
“I know that look,” she accused. “You’re up to no good.”
His soft laugh rolled through the room and made her heart soar.
“I was just thinking about some other things the doctor told me.”
“Such as?”
“Our sex life can actually be beneficial to the baby. Something about the rocking motion and contractions soothing them inside the womb.”
She couldn’t contain her laughter. The amused shimmying elicited a fresh wave of pain in her battered system, but she rode it out, caressing his face with a mixture of appreciation and surprise. His grin widened and he dropped his forehead to rest against her temple. He turned, leaning his body over hers but keeping his weight braced above her on his arms. Taylor squirmed as his lips brushed the shell of her ear, igniting a fierce spark of desire. It had only been a few days, but she missed his body and his touch.
“I’m warning you right now,” he rumbled. “Argue with me on that one and I am going to dig my heels in.”
“I’m going to have to take your word for it.”
“Such blind faith,” he teased.
“It is. You got to see the baby, hear its heartbeat, and ask all kinds of questions. All I got was some pictures and a bunch of stupid pamphlets.”
“We will get you in again soon, sweetheart. I promise. He gave me the name of a doctor who would be willing to help, despite the inconveniences. They run a family practice and are willing to make house calls if need be, so no one would be any the wiser.”
Sighing, she settled her head back down against their pillows. She stroked the blanket he’d draped over them, using the luxurious buttery texture as a means of distraction. “Do you know if it’s a girl or a boy?” she whispered, trying to mask her disappointment.
“No. It was still too soon for that. Another two months or so and we should know.”
“Do you want to know, or do you think we should wait and have it be a surprise?”
Sebastian blew out a deep breath and his brow creased with thought as he took her hand and twined his fingers through hers. “I’ve never been big on surprises, sweetheart. I, myself, would like to know, just so we can prepare and fill the nursery with things until our hearts are content. Either way, it’s going to be a surprise when we find out. One way is just sooner than the other.”
“True…”
“But,” he said, pausing, “if you want to wait until the baby is born, I will try my best to understand and accept that. I should warn you, though. I can be extremely persuasive when it comes to getting my way.”
Another laugh bubbled up inside her and she leveled him with a look of sarcasm. “No, really?”
“Really, darling,” he whispered, though his attention had already drifted to her navel again.
“Seb?”
“Hmm?”
“You’re worse with the baby than most men are with boobs. My eyes are up here, handsome.”
Laughing, he swung his gaze back up to her face. Her cheeks flushed with a pleasant warmth as she found herself trapped beneath his heated stare. The slow smile curving his lips was both sinister and reproachful as his eyebrow lifted in warning.
“One of these days, that sweet little mouth of yours is going to get you into trouble.”
She colored at the implication and wrested her gaze away from his. “It already has,” she muttered.
“Mmm. So you do remember,” he said, tracing a slow path along the curve of her cheek. His lips followed their path before he leaned in to steal a brief kiss. “We’ve both procrastinated long enough. Get some sleep.”
CHAPTER 3 ~
The whiskey burned like liquid fire going down, but he grimaced and tossed back another shot. Few things dulled the anger and dread inside him, and one of them was sleeping upstairs. It had been a long day between dea
ling with Marx and bringing Taylor home and assuring she was settled. Maybe he was going soft, but he found himself acting extremely out of character and debating whether or not he should ask Rupert to settle into the vacant guest room across the hall. He tried to convince himself it was just a knee-jerk reaction that would pass, but it would almost make him feel better to know there was armed security in the house guarding Taylor when he was away. Almost, but not quite. Cursing, Sebastian scrubbed the elongated stubble still stretching across his chin. Maybe it wasn’t out of character. With all of the shit that was going on, it was a real enough possibility that he’d just gotten that damn paranoid.
Josh tossed back another shot as well and regarded him with a rueful shake of his head. “You look like shit, bro.”
“Yeah, thanks. I’ll be sure to rescind my cover shoot for GQ this month.”
