I looked up at a noise. David leaned in the doorway, concern etching his features as he watched me in only his underwear.
He’s worth it.For him, I would give upeverything.
My body tensed at the unbidden thought. I had this strange feeling that he meant more to me than anything ever had, even though we’d known each other for such a short time. If I hadn’t known before, I knew now—I was desperately in love. It was a kind of love I didn’t recognize, one that changed a person. A kind of love I’d fended off my whole life. As I stared at him, this man who filled the doorway . . .
Cold, stark fear struck me in the gut.
He walked over, pulled me to my feet, and kneeled in front of me. I gripped his shoulders as, one at a time, he lifted my feet to remove my booties and socks. Next, he pulled down my pants, taking my underwear with them. He rose and removed my sweater. I lifted my arms so he could pull my t-shirt over my head and unfasten my bra.
“Step,” he said, and I did, leaving the pile behind. With a hand on my lower back, he guided me into the bathroom where he’d drawn a luminous bath with overflowing bubbles and soft candlelight. The thought of David owning, dusting off, and lighting candles for me made me smile.
“Get in and try to relax,” he instructed. “I’ll be right back.”
Happy to be told what to do so I didn’t have to use my mushy brain, I eased in one limb at a time. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d taken a bath, and I’d forgotten how healing it could be. I sank down slowly and let the bubbles swallow me, so deep that I heard, rather than saw, David return.
I waved bubbles away to see him holding a bottle of red wine. “Last thing,” he said. “It’s Merlot. But if you need chardonnay in this moment, I’d understand.”
I half-smiled. He didn’t want me resorting back to my old self, but he was willing to allow it if I needed that. I didn’t. Not when kind, comforting, beautiful David offered me a different future. “Merlot sounds good,” I said.
He poured a glass, handed it to me, and turned. “If you need anything—”
“You’re not getting in?” I asked, sniffling back a rogue tear.
He looked back, chewing the inside of his cheek a moment. “I . . . I haven’t kept my hands off you since the moment you got here,” he said. “You need some time alone.”
“I needyou.”
“I want you to feel comfortable here,” he said. “To have your own space without me all up in your business.”
“Please get in my business?” I asked, biting my lip.
He shifted on his feet. I was beginning to notice that he was prone to do so when he was fighting himself.
I gave him my best, most exaggerated pout, preying on the indecision in his eyes. “I don’twantto be alone,” I said.
“How can I say no to that?” He pulled down his underwear. Presented with his glorious, naked form, which had given me so much pleasure the past few days, my pout vanished, replaced with a smile.
“Like what you see?” he teased.
I splashed him, laughing as he, in one quick movement, submerged himself in the water across from me. His long legs hit the back of the tub behind me, and he broke down the bubbles between us. He found my ankles, circling them in his fists before running his palms along my calves.
“I don’t even know your mom’s name,” he said.
“Leanore.”
“She still drinks, I gather.”
I nodded. “I don’t know how often. We don’t talk much. Last time I brought up her drinking, she got angry and said she wasn’t an alcoholic because she only drinks when she’s stressed.”
David sat forward and placed his hands on the outsides of my thighs. His gaze narrowed, and I knew what was coming. I’d heard it before, mostly from Bill. Lectures on how I needed to be there for my mom, to help her through hard times. How she deserved more from me because she was my mother, and family always came first.
“Olivia,” he started sternly. “I’m sorry that she called you a slut.”
“Heard that, did you?” I asked.
“It’s not true.”
I shifted against the back of the tub and looked down into the bubbles. “I know.”
