His lips curled into a tender smile. “Always yours.”
I leaned down and kissed him, slow and sweet, our mouths moving with none of the hunger from before, but all of the knowing.
We stepped into the bathroom, steam already beginning to fog the mirror as Elliott turned the faucet on.
“Hot enough?” he asked, testing the water with his hand, glancing at me.
I nodded, stepping out of his sweater and into the warmth of the room, my skin still tingling from everything we’d just done. “Perfect.”
We climbed in together, sinking into the deep tub, the water enveloping us. I sat between his legs, my back resting against his chest, his arms hugging me tightly.
“Would you do it again?” I gently asked after a minute.
He kissed the top of my head. “If you’re with me? In a heartbeat.”
I smiled, letting my head tilt back against his shoulder. “I didn’t expect it to feel so…easy.”
“How so?” he asked, his hands smoothing slowly over my arms beneath the water.
“I thought I’d want to keep you to myself,” I murmured, my eyes half-closed. “But watching Hana with you—it was so fucking good. You didn’t stop being mine. I think that’s what made it okay.”
He squeezed me gently. “You didn’t stop being mine either.”
We soaked in the quiet for a while longer. Outside the frosted window, the snow had stopped falling, but everything was still coated in a thick white blanket.
“I can’t believe we’re just casually gonna eat dinner with them now,” I said with a little laugh.
Elliott chuckled, his breath brushing against the curve of my neck. “Yeah, ‘pass the potatoes, also great job fucking my wife’ might be a weird vibe.”
I laughed harder than I meant to, splashing water, and he kissed the side of my face again, smiling into my skin.
Eventually, the water started to cool, and we pulled ourselves out of the tub, still wrapped in each other’s warmth.
We dried off, got dressed, and I caught his hand as we walked out of the bathroom. “Thank you.”
He looked at me, brows raised. “For what?”
I stared into his deep blue eyes, down to the dip of his chin, to the stubble on his jaw, and my heart fluttered. I loved him more than ever.
“For trusting me. For being the kind of partner who makes something like tonight feel safe.”
He leaned in and kissed me one more time. “Always yours,” he repeated. “No matter what.”
And hand in hand, we made our way to the kitchen.
Dinner was waiting.
8
Hana
Jack shut the door behind us. After everything—every moan, every shared look, every touch—we were finally alone again.
I sat on the edge of the bed, back in my plush robe, crossing my legs as I watched Jack; he peeled off his shirt and ran a hand through his hair, pacing a little before he stopped and looked at me.
His expression was open, a little unguarded. He was still processing. So was I.
“You okay?” he asked, his voice a little hoarse.
