I glance down at myself and grimace. “Ugh. I am a human sponge.”
“Come on, little mouse,” he murmurs, and the warmth in his tone slides under my skin. “Let’s get you naked and into the shower.”
I gasp like he’s confessed to a conspiracy. “Oh my God, you trained them—your bat army—to get me naked.”
“Did it work?” he asks, deadpan.
I swat his chest as I pass, intending a light reprimand and getting a handful of sculpted muscle instead. The shiver that runs through mecouldbe from the cold clothes.
It’s not.
He catches my wrist, easy and sure, and steers me down the hall to the bathroom.
The water hisses to life, steam blooming across the mirror. When he turns back, there’s that look, lion to its prey.
He lifts the hem of my soaked shirt, and I obediently raise my arms, which turns out to be a tactical blunder because suddenly my face is a fabric burrito. I’m tangled to the shoulders, elbows pinned, dignity optional.
“Can I name them?” I ask from inside my cotton purgatory.
“Yes, baby,” he says, voice dipping on the word like it’s been waiting there all night. “You can name them. Now hold still, or I’ll leave your arms exactly like this.”
Baby…
I give my arms the customary tug. Wow, I’ve really gotten myself into a predicament here. I wouldn’t say it’s a bad predicament…
“Really?” he says in disbelief.
“What? I was just weighing my options.”
“Your lips are turning blue. You have no options. Naked, now.”
“Ugh, fine. But maybe later you could…?” I say and give my arms another tug.
“Yes, I will tie you up later.”
He peels the cotton over my head and finally sets my arms loose. Air tastes better than it did two seconds ago. His fingers find the button of my jeans, pop it, and then slide the zipper down with calm efficiency. I step out of the denim with all the grace of a newborn foal.
In an act of self-preservation, I straighten my spine, tip my chin, and let a slow, dangerous smile unfurl.
Time to pivot.
“That’s what you said about the edging,” I point out.
“That’s why they call it edging.”
It takes me less than sixty seconds to get my shirt up over my head and my jeans down around my feet.
Beckett glances back, winks, and sticks his ass out like a dare. “Coming, sir?”
I hold in a rumble that’s dying to spread throughout my chest as I focus on stepping out of my jeans and following him into the shower. My cock thickens just watching him.
He grabs the loofah, pumps soap into the mesh, and starts on me without apology. I let him. He turns me where he wants, scrubbing my back and arms with slow, thorough strokes that say I’ve got you.
My stomach flexes when he moves to my chest, reaching up to play with my nipples. Every twist sends a jolt straight to my dick, which is hard and leaking under the spray. I kiss him, wanting to taste him, and when I pull away he whimpers, causing me to chuckle.
All the laughter is gone when he reaches around and I feel the rough swirl pass over my hole. A sharp breath hisses through my teeth, and I reel him in, this time frantic with need as I grip his jaw,taking his mouth in a kiss that burns through every last thought. I’m hard and aching and a little desperate.
A desperation I have never felt before.
