“I’ve been known to have good ideas on occasion,” she laughed, rocking side to side.
He slapped a hand to her ass once, a sharp, stinging slap that made her gasp and her inner muscles clench up tightly in response. “Turn on the water. Get naked. Get in. I’ll get food ordered and then I’ll join you.”
Fifteen minutes later, the jacuzzi tub was filled to the brim with warm water. She turned the jets on, which sent the water to frothing bubbly. Setting the lights overhead to dim, it lent an intimacy to the room. Stripping, she let her clothes fall where they lay, then stepped gingerly into the warm water, sinking upto her neck and leaning against one of the sloped sides. The jets massaged her aching muscles, and she closed her eyes, leaning her head back.
Travis stepped back into the bathroom, eyes finding her where she was reclined in the tub. She watched him as he stripped, first his shirt up over his head, revealing the wall of tattooed muscle that was his chest and abdomen. And then his jeans, shoving them down his thighs and off his feet. His boxer briefs came next, and then he stood, fully naked, half hard before her. He stepped forward, then said gruffly, “Food will be here in half an hour. Lean forward, baby girl.”
She did as he asked, sitting up and moving forward so he could slide in behind her, and then his arms closed around her, pulling her back flush against his chest in the warm water. The jets whooshed around them, keeping the water’s surface a roiling, frothy bank.
His tattooed knees poked out of the water on either side of her, and she traced the black and gray shaded markings along his skin. “Did they hurt?”
“On my knees? Like a bitch,” he laughed, and she loved the honesty she heard in his voice. He was always honest with her. “The backs of my knees were rough, too. That skin is so sensitive. I think the worst to cover was the scar tissue, though.”
Leaning her head back against his chest, she looked up and back at him. “Scar tissue?”
He nodded, though she sensed him tense behind her. He swirled the frothy bubbles along the surface of the water around with his hands. “I was stabbed sixteen times. A very long time ago. I had them covered so I wouldn’t have to see them. At least, not as easily as before.”
Sitting up, she spun in the water slowly so that she faced him, her eyes wide and mouth dropped open in horror. “You werestabbedsixteen times?” When he nodded, she let out a soft, sad exhale. “Travis.”
“It was a very long time ago,” he murmured quietly, taking her hands in his and bringing them to his mouth. He pressed a kiss to her knuckles, but his eyes were wary over the tops of them. “I was never the same after that night. And for a long time I was a bitter, angry shell of a man. It took me years to find my way out of that darkness.”
Licking her lips, she inched forward until she knelt between his thighs. “Can I see them?”
Without answering, he lowered her hand to his chest, guiding her fingers over his skin, until she gasped, tears stinging her nose and eyes when she felt the first one. Raised and smooth, it was nearly invisible to the eye beneath the ink; but she could feel it. He silently guided her hand along the left side of his body, allowing her to touch all of them. Some were wide and short, others long and thin. Along his ribs, his chest, his arm, even his thigh.
She blinked as the tears spilled over her lids. His eyes were gentle as he sat forward, bracing his wet, warm hands on either side of her face, drawing her to him. He kissed her, light, chaste brushes of his lips against hers. Sweet and gentle.
“The—the man you killed. Did he do these?” she asked on a whisper, her lips barely moving against his. He nodded slowly. “Then he deserved whatever you did, Travis.”
“I didn’t do what I did for me, Roxy. I was blind with rage, with grief when I killed him. I’m no better than he is.” His tortured whisper nearly broke her. “I still have nightmares of that night. Not because of what happened tome. Not because of what Idid… I’d do it again. Without a moment’s hesitation, without remorse, without regard to what would happen to me all over again… I’d do it all again if it meant I wasn’ttoo late.”
Sliding into his lap, legs braced on either side of his hips, she curled her arms around his neck. He’d pulled his long hair up into a bun on the back of his head before getting into the jacuzzi with her. His arms banded around her waist, holding her as close as she could get, his head resting against her chest as she stroked his hair gently.
And it was then that she knew without a doubt that she had fallen in love with him. With every beautiful, gentle, broken part of him. Because she recognized herself in all those pieces of him.
Thirty-Five
Travis had turned Roxy back to face forward, putting her back to his chest again. He’d unloaded a lot of himself with that conversation, though he’d still kept some of it to himself, not quite ready to share everything just yet. She had held him so tightly, so gently, he’d known he would never be the same. Knew it in his bones that there was no way he was going to be able to say good-bye to her in a few days. He’d rather cut out his beating heart and hand it over to her. It already belonged to her.
But that was a conversation for another day, this had been heavy enough for one night. So he nibbled on the soft skin at the crook of her neck where it met her shoulder, biting lightly, scraping with his teeth, before loosening. She moaned, dropping her head to the side to grant him better access. Fuck she was so receptive, so trusting, so willing to follow his lead.
“You seemed very excited to see this jacuzzi tub,” he murmured against her neck. His hands ran along her waist, fingers strumming along her abs, before sliding up to cup her breasts in his palms.
“I love taking baths,” she admitted breathily, pushing her chest out, filling his hands with her tits. He squeezed them gently. They fit his palms perfectly. So soft, so round. Not toobig. He fucking loved these tits. “I used to take them every night after work. But I hadn’t in a while.”
“Why not?” he asked, running his nose under her ear. He scraped his teeth along her neck again, making her moan and shiver. His cock was hard as steel at her back, he knew she could feel it, because she kept rubbing against him.
She stilled, just for a heartbeat, and he stopped, too.
One hand released her breast and rose out of the water to collar her throat, turning her head up and back to look at him. “Why not, Roxy?”
She swallowed, and he could feel her throat shift beneath his palm. He wasn’t squeezing, just holding. He’d never hurt her. “I fell asleep one night, in the bathtub after work.” He growled low in his throat, and she rolled her eyes, muttering, “Yeah, yeah, I know. I was exhausted, and listening to an audiobook with my earpods in. When I got out, I realized that… that Neal had been inside. While I was asleep.” Every muscle in his body went taut, fear and rage battling for supremacy within him. Her hand came up and covered the back of his, where he was still collaring her throat. Her touch was gentle, a grounding. “I don’t know how long he was inside, if he’d been watching me in the bath… but it scared me enough that I wasn’t comfortable taking baths anymore. I stopped sleeping well at night after that. Worried he’d come back. But I didn’t know for sure it was even him. I thought I was losing my mind.”
“God dammit, Roxy,” he growled low, shaking his head. “I’d love nothing more than to kill this motherfucker.” He tipped his head back, lost in thought for a moment. “The day I yelled at you for not paying attention at class…”
She shrugged, water lapping at the sides of the jacuzzi with the movement. “It had happened the week before. Like I said, I wasn’t sleeping. And then the notes started showing up… Youread me like a book, even then Travis. You saw everything, somehow.”
“I’m never letting you out of my goddamn sight,” he muttered darkly, that primal, possessive, protective instinct taking hold deep inside him and holding on like gangbusters. He’d known something was wrong and he’d damn near let her push him away. Dropping his forehead to her shoulder, he tempered his raging fury and whispered, “I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you, Roxy.”
