“We can, but I’d rather not have to visit any more of them for a while.”
“Good point. But seriously, Shep, you don’t have anything to apologize for.” I swept my eyes over his stunning features, stopping on the cut by his cheek. I couldn’t help but reach up and stroke my fingers over it. “Plus, it’s not like you came out of this without a few cuts and scrapes to show for your effort. I think we can call it even.”
“Then that blow to your head must’ve rattled a few brain cells loose. I have plenty to atone for?—”
“Shep—”
“—starting with how I spoke to you when King…interrupted us. I should’ve taken a moment to get on the same page as you. You were right. King could’ve waited,should’vebeen made to fucking wait whileweworked out whatwewanted to tell him. My only excuse is habit. I’m so used to falling in line, doing what I’m told that I never questioned it. Not until?—”
Shep abruptly stopped, and while I wanted to demand he continue, I could sense he needed a moment to get his thoughts in order. A moment to process all that had happened. A moment to realize the nightmare was over.
“I never questioned it until you were gone. Until you were taken from me.” Shep wrapped his arms around me, pulling me gently back against him, until his lips were pressed against my temple. “No one could’ve stopped me from getting to you after that.”
I closed my eyes and relaxed back in his hold. “I knew that. Felt it somehow… Is that crazy?”
“No. I felt it too. That you were alive. That you were out there.”
I wasn’t one for overly soft moments or deep introspection, but as I lay there in the tub with Shep’s arms warding off any and all danger, I felt a soul-deep connection to him unlike anything I’d ever felt before.
“I don’t want to hide this anymore.” Shep’s words floated over me, making my heart skip and my pulse skyrocket. The last however many hours had been such a whirlwind of emotions that I wasn’t sure I trusted myself to decipher what he was saying.
I needed to hear it in words. I needed him to be clear. Ineededto know we were finally on the same page.
“Meaning…?”
“I almost lost you tonight.” Shep brought a hand up to gently cradle my cheek. “I almost lost you before I ever really had you. I’m not going to risk that again. I’m never going to risk it again.”
I leaned in to press a soft kiss to his perfect lips. “Are you asking me to go steady, Mr. Winchester?”
Shep’s chest vibrated behind me, his low chuckle a seductive whisper across my damp skin. “Steady?”
“Isn’t that what you Americans call it?”
He snorted, and it was so nice to see his face relax a little. It made me happy to give that to him.
“Maybe back in the fifties. But yes, I suppose Idowant to go steady. I want to tell the rest of the guys. I want to date you—publicly. I want?—”
“Me,” I said, a smug grin stretching wide across my lips. “You, Shepard Winchester, wantme. And you know what?”
“What?”
“I’m okay with that.”
He busted out a loud laugh at that, andDieu, it sounded magnificent.
“Is that right?”
I nodded, moving back into his embrace. “Because I just happen to want you right back.”
Shep hummed as the water sloshed around us, lapping at our bodies, relaxing our aching muscles. “This is going to be complicated.”
It was my turn to laugh. “Oui, in every way. But you always did say I was a royal nightmare.”
“Maybe so…” Shep pressed a kiss to the top of my head, tightening his arms around me in a way that said he wasn’t about to let go anytime soon. “But I’m starting to think you’re my royal dream.”
7
SHEP
