There was a toilet, sink, and—technically—a shower. But I had to tilt my head to the side to be able to fit under the peaked roof, and I’d lost count of how many times I’d cracked my elbows on the tile walls.
Forget trying to jerk off in here.
That meant I was going to have to get creative on just how the fuck I was going to release this tension that always simmered when Willa and I were together. Otherwise, I wasn’t lasting for months here. Hell, I wasn’t sure I’d last till the end of the week.
Ten minutes later, I stepped out in a pair of joggers and scrubbed a towel through my hair. Willa stood on the opposite side of the small room, glancing at something on the floor.
“You better not have wasted all the warm wa—” Her words cut off as soon as she caught sight of me, her gaze dropping to my chest, then lower to my abs, then lower still before promptly shifting to look everywherebutatme. “Did you forget clothes when you packed up the rest of your shit?”
“We live in a silo, wife. I didn’t realize there was a dress code.”
“I didn’t realize you needed to be told to wear clothes.”
After hanging my towel on the hook next to hers, I shot her a grin. “I figured it’d take me strolling around in my boxer briefs to hear that scandalized tone. Which I’m happy to do, by theway. I usually sleep naked, so the whole sweatpants thing is a bit much.”
She narrowed her eyes on me until they were tiny slits. My little angry goblin. “I’m going to take a shower, and if you’ve lost even a stitch of clothing by the time I’m done, I’m going to murder you with my bare hands.”
Then, without another word, she marched past me carrying a pile of clothes and slammed the bathroom door behind her, the lock clicking into place a second later.
Goddamn, she was so easy to rile up. I smirked to myself, thinking of all the fun we were going to have being crammed together like this. Especially if she?—
My thoughts came to a skidding halt and the smirk evaporated from my face when I found what she’d been working on while I’d showered.
In the small nook next to the stairs was a pallet with a blanket and a couple of throw pillows set up on the floor. It was functional, if not exactly cozy, and comically small. Obviously meant for her, not me.
Fuck. No.
Willa and her bad back would sleep on this uncomfortable pile of misery over my dead, shirtless body.
While the shower was still running and I was trying diligently not to imagine her in there, soaping up all that gorgeous skin and scowling at the thought of me in her space while she was at it, I made myself at home on the hobbit-sized pallet.
I’d follow her rules and keep my pants on. I’d even let her bark orders at me all day long. But one thing I was absolutely not going to do was allow her to sleep on the fucking floor. Not when she went through most days with more pain than the average person would have to endure in their lifetime. Not when she was already wincing every time she bent over, which meant it was an exceptionally bad day.
Not when she needed someone to take care ofherfor once.
Unfortunately for my brand-new wife, she’d married the guy who’d been waiting longer than he’d care to admit for a shot at doing exactly that.
CHAPTER NINE
WILLA
Marrying Lincoln Steelehad been a bad idea. Probably the worst idea of my life, to be honest.
I’d known it from the second I’d sent him that text asking if he was serious about his proposition.
Confirmed it this afternoon after that kiss behind the courthouse.
And that gut intuition proclaiming I was an idiot had been screaming at me since I found my brand-new husband on the doorstep of my very small, very much single-occupancy home.
I wasn’t sure closing myself off in the bathroom for twenty minutes was going to ease this freak-out. Hell, escaping to Istanbul probably wouldn’t have helped.
Not when my nemesis was in my home. Tolivewith me.
And sure as hell not when I now knew, thanks to that kiss, the sounds Lincoln made when he was turned on. Not to mention the up close and personal introduction I’d received to his not-so-little friend.
Still. I had to make this work—hadto. I didn’t have another choice.
It was either learn to suck it up and deal with the most insufferable man on the planet day in and day out…or kiss my family farm goodbye.
