“Cuddle me,” Vail said, pouting in my direction. “I need it. This reminds me too much of what was happening when... Dad died.”
Immediately, I nodded, kicking off my shoes. I crawled onto the bed after him and wrapped my arms around him, holding him tight.
“Only for a few minutes,” I whispered. “Then I gotta get back out there.”
“Okay,” he said, burying his face against my chest. I winced when I remembered what I’d been doing before I got here, but closing my eyelids for just a few minutes sounded good.
The scent of turkey and gravy tickled my nose, then someone shook my shoulder and I wanted to punch them. I squeezed Vail, but he was half on top of me and I couldn’t get him any closer.
“Tater tot, come on. Did ye eat when we first got back?”
“No. Fuck,” I grumped.
There was a sigh that had me feeling ragey. “Open yer eyes and sit up, love. Now,” Rowen demanded, voice raspy.
Glaring, I did as he said, and I flipped him off when he lifted a fork from the plate he was holding and raised it in my direction. The lamps were lit, and my eyes stung as I blinked them open wider.
“Be good,” he snapped.
I let my finger drop and opened my mouth. The second the gravy and mashed potatoes hit my tongue, I realized I was starving to death and took the plate from him. I barely tasted the food.
By the time I was done with the plate I felt much better, but Rowen was shaking his head while he brushed my hair behind my ear.
“I forgot. I can’t even take care of ye.”
Shrugging, I let him take the plate from me, and he set it on the floor beside the bed. “It’s okay. I’m not dead yet. Have you slept?”
“No,” he said with a sigh. “Do ye have yer insulin kit with ye? Should ye check on things?”
“I’m fine.” I wanted to roll my eyes, but I had no idea where I’d stashed the kit, which was bad. “I think it’s in your car, but I have plenty of insulin right now. I have an extra reader and stuff at our house. We can go over there later.”
We stared at each other for a few long minutes and the silence stretched between us. I reached for him but caught a whiff of myself and shook my head. “I need a shower.”
“Come on.”
We went into the bathroom together and dumped our clothes in one big pile on the floor, which I liked for some reason. My clothes belonged with his. One of Vail’s stray socks was on the floor near the sink, and I kicked it into the pile. I unhooked my insulin pump and set it on the counter.
Rowen laughed. “That’s good.”
I shrugged. “Yeah.”
He held out his hand, and I glanced down his naked body. I loved the red hair around his dick, and I ran my fingers through it while the corner of his mouth quirked upward.
“I’m too fucking exhausted to get a hard-on,” I mumbled.
“Yikes,” he said, sounding like Vail, and I had to laugh.
“Right?”
“Right this way,” he said, gesturing at the glass shower stall in a silly move that had me grinning. He went in first and adjusted the water temperature, and I stood under the spray for a long time, not moving, not thinking, not doing anything.
“Ye asleep?” he asked softly, and I jerked upright from the slump I’d been in, laughing.
“No. Are you?” I cracked an eye open, then the other.
“Not yet,” he said, smiling at me.
Rowen put his arms around me and for a while we stood there, not moving, simply existing together under the hot water. I loved the feel of his wet muscles pressed against mine and how he was bigger than me. I leaned against him and kissed his wet neck. He didn’t say anything as he grabbed a washcloth, probably one Vail had used, and a bottle of bodywash, then turned me around. He started at the nape of my neck, and I groaned as he scrubbed me down, letting him take care of me.
