“Let’s get back to the house,” I said, my voice deep with longing. “I just need to clean up?—”
“Way ahead of you,” Merri said.
I blinked, and we were in my bathroom, the room already fogging with steam from the shower. As I watched, she stripped out of the hot pink sports bra and leggings combination she’d worn to drive me crazy, leaving her naked and ready like she was a gift only for me.
“Take off your clothes and get in the shower, warrior.”
Usually I liked to be the one in control, but right now, listening to her tell me what to do only added to my arousal. If letting her call the shots was the only way I could get my hands on her, I’d gladly play along.
My shirt dropped to the floor first, having already been removed. Then I sort of kicked off my shoes and shimmied out of my shorts at the same time. Merri watched me with obvious amusement.
“You should take that act on the road, big guy.”
“Ha ha,” I deadpanned, stalking toward her. I gestured to the shower with my head. “You first, Red.”
“You just want me to get wet. Joke’s on you,” she said, leaning close and dropping her voice to a whisper, “I already am.”
Fuck. Me.
I reached between my legs and grabbed hold of my already throbbing cock before giving the considerable length a stroke. Precum beaded at the tip, and it was all I could do not to wipe it off with my thumb and feed it to her.
“You’re always wet for me, aren’t you?”
She shrugged noncommittally. “Don’t flatter yourself. It comes with the territory.”
If things were different, I wouldn’t have let her get away with being such a brat, but as things currently stood, I was just too fucking happy to see her, so I let it slide.
“Keep telling yourself that.”
“You’re still not in the shower.”
I gestured to the glass-encased area. “Ladies first. I insist.”
Huffing, she turned away from me, giving me a perfect view of her heart-shaped ass as she opened the door and stepped inside.
If she thought I was going to let her call all the shots without fighting back, without trying to reclaim her as mine, she was dead wrong. I’d take control one step at a time, and remind her how much she loved it when I took care of her. I’d earn my place in her heart again if it was the last thing I did.
She might think of these dreamwalks like showing up at a fast-food joint, but I would never be a hamburger, or whatever the fuck it was she called Malice. No matter what any of us claimed, it had never been just about feeding her or knocking her up before Lucifer. It had always been more.Wouldalways be more.
The water was a warm comfort as I stepped under the spray, my tense muscles loosening as the heat sluiced over my skin.Merri had already soaped up a loofah and wasted no time in her efforts to get me clean, or so I thought. The bright notes of citrus mixed with a deeper scent of sandalwood as she washed my chest, over my shoulders, and down my arms. But she avoided going any lower just yet, and I wondered if perhaps she was trying to torture me.
“Turn around,” she whispered, her voice tight and betraying how much she wanted me.
“Trying to get me to drop the soap?” I teased. “Because I’m not sure you have the equipment for that.”
“I have fingers. And a wicked imagination. Wanna try me, Chaos? I can manifest a strap-on.”
I wish I could say I wasn’t remotely interested in the possibility, but my dick gave a decidedly interested twitch. When it came to Merri, I guess there wasn’t much I wouldn’t explore.
“I’ll try anything . . . once.”
Her brows flew up, and a smile teased her lips. “Noted.”
Turning my back on her, I waited for the touch of the loofah, but was pleasantly surprised when it was her soapy fingers that found my broad back. I melted into the feel of her touching me, a sense of completion washing over me at the contact. I’d missed her more than I’d been willing to admit to myself. But living without the woman I loved was like living without purpose.
Her hands trailed over my shoulders, down the backs of my arms, and across my hands, until she threaded our fingers in a tender gesture that lasted for the briefest moment. Far too short for my liking.
Before I could catch her fingers, they trailed lower, ghosting over my ribs and abs. She pressed her wet body against mine, her chest to my back as she ran those devilish hands over my thighs.
