I didn’t even fight him on that one. I didn’t have the energy. “Probably,” I said, nodding.
Those concerned blue eyes met mine and then he cradled my head between his hands and gave me the sweetest kiss I’d ever gotten. Thank God I was propped up against the counter, because I sank into those pillowy-soft lips that felt like heaven. I hadn’t thought I’d get a chance to feel him like this again, and it almost didn’t feel real that I was here and we were safe.
If I didn’t have the physical reminders, I would’ve thought the last few hours were nothing more than a nightmare.
“Let’s get these off you,” Shep murmured against my mouth as his hands moved down to the waist of my pants. But then he pulled away suddenly and cursed, and I opened my eyes to see him rushing to the tub to shut off the water. Just in time too, because it was dangerously close to spilling out, and he had to drain a few inches to give room for me to get in.
“Sorry,” he said, running his wet fingers through his hair to push it back before holding his hand out to me. “Where were we?”
“I believe you were trying to get me naked, mister.”
He pulled me toward him where he sat on the edge of the tub. I could see him swallow at the marks marring my body, but it didn’t stop him from unzipping my pants and pulling them and my boxer briefs down my legs.
As I stepped out of them, I realized Shep was eye level with my cock, and even with the amount of pain radiating through my body, my dick still jerked under his gaze.
Looking up at me, he gave me a small smile and then leaned forward, pressing a kiss to my shaft. But that was all the attention it got, because then he helped me into the tub. The feelof the warm water made me want to sink my entire body beneath it.
Only the cuts in my skin didn’t agree with that plan.
I sucked in a breath once the water got past my hips. “That stings like a bitch.”
“Not surprising, but we need to get them clean. The last thing you need is an infection out here in?—”
“The jungle? This hellish landscape?”
Shep scoffed, straightened, and reached for his own shirt. “I was going to say ‘the middle of nowhere.’”
“Pretty sure they all mean the same thing.” My eyes trailed down over his rigid abs as he tossed his shirt aside, and it wasn’t lost on me that while the jungle had beaten the shit out of my body, it had somehow only made his look better.
Every muscle appeared more ripped than the next, his biceps bulging from cutting through thick vines to get to me, and don’t even get me started on his legs. My man had climbed through hell to reach me, and damn if he didn’t look better for the experience.
“You okay?”
“Huh?” I dragged my eyes up to his face to see a frown pulling between his brows.
“You look like you zoned out for a minute there. Do you feel okay?”
“I feel…” I took a deep breath and offered a small smile. “Very lucky that you’re mine.”
Shep’s lips quirked as he crooked a finger for me to shift forward, then he climbed into the enormous tub behind me. As I settled into his arms, he kissed the shell of my ear and whispered, “Yours, huh?”
“Mhmm.” I sighed as Shep ran his hands along my thighs under the water, gently massaging my tired muscles. “You trekked through a deadly jungle to save me,soooyeah, I’mthinking you’re mine. Either that or you’re just a glutton for punishment.”
“What was that you said a second ago? Pretty sure they mean the same thing.”
“You’re hilarious.”
“No, what I am is sorry.” Shep reached for my hands and entwined our fingers. “I’m so fucking sorry, Theo.”
I let his apology echo off the walls of the bathroom and swirl around us with the steam, not to punish him, but to really feel the emotion behind his words, and it was there, as strong as the steady beat of his heart. The strength and conviction were as clear as the actual words themselves.
Shep felt this to his core. He’d taken my kidnapping as some kind of punishment he deserved, and while I’d been angry at first with everything that had gone down, all I felt now was gratitude that this amazing human being was mine.
“You have nothing to be sorry about,” I finally said, bringing his hand up to my lips. “You came for me, you found me, you saved me.”
“Something I wouldn’t have had to do if I’d been open and honest from the second King walked into our bedroom.”
“Ourbedroom?” I turned my head to look at him, a grin on my lips. “I like the sound of that. Can we have one of those in every safe house we own?”
