Sliding a finger over it, she traces the raised edges of the triangle and the letters that surround it that spell:To Thine Own Self Be True.
“This is beautiful.”
My gaze roams her naked body. Her pale, freckled skin, the curves of her hips and waist, and the heaviness of her dusky-nippled breasts. I want to tell her that nothing is more beautiful in my eyes than she is.
“I haven’t seen you wear it before.”
“I don’t wear it every day like I used to. But sometimes, I need the reminder, so will put it on.”
She pushes her thick mop of wet hair off her forehead, and her eyelashes blink up at me through the falling water. “You weren’t wearing this earlier…Oh, Jordan. No,” she whispers, and it makes me feel like complete shit.
I’m quick to assure her, “I didn’t.”
“But you wanted to.”
Did I? I ponder over that for a second too long because she defeatedly asks, “What are we doing?”
My head cants, causing water to drip in my eyes. “I don’t understand.”
She moves away until her back hits the wall behind her, and I don’t like that she’s putting distance between us.
“We’re two broken and damaged people. There’s so much bad marring our past already. Amelia. That night. Chase. Mason. Your drinking. My bulimia and—” She holds her wrist up, the stack of bangles she uses to hide her scar clinking down her forearm, one by one. “Are we just setting ourselves up to hurt one another? It would kill me if I was the reason that pushed you to pick up a bottle.”
Not able to stand the foot of space keeping us apart, I crash into her and grip her face with desperation.
“You are not my weakness, Douglass. You are my strength. Yes, I’m a recovering alcoholic. The lure of the bottle will always call to me, but I won’t succumb to it. I’ve got too much to live for. I’ve got my brothers and sisters and Mike. And now I’ve also got you. So, don’t you dare walk away from me, thinking you’re doing it to save me. I fuckingloveyou, you hear me?”
Tears intermingle with droplets of water and trace down her cheeks.
“I love you too,” she speaks against my lips when I go to kiss her.
Four simple words that mean so much. As quickly as my heart was ripped in two when I saw her in Mason’s arms, it stitches itself back together using her words as the thread.
With a pool of swirling green floating in a sea of slate-gray, her eyes lift to mine once again. “What if love isn’t enough?”
I align my body with hers and press forward, skin to skin, until nothing is between us.
“It’s everything,” I promise her.
I can feel the tremble rippling through her body. “I’m scared, Jordan.”
“Me too, baby. What I feel for you is so massive, so intense, it scares the shit out of me.”
My rock-hard cock throbs against her stomach, but I refuse to give in to its demands. As much as I want to fuck her, I want her heart more. I want her love and to give that love back to her a thousand times over.
Reaching for the bottle of shampoo from the inset shelf, I pour some in my hands. Pulling her away from the wall, I guide her under the rainfall of water. With tenderness and care, I lather the silky, soapy liquid into her hair, taking time to massage my fingers into her scalp. Her eyes flutter close on a moan as I tip her head back to wash out the suds.
“That feels incredible.”
She’ll smell like me for the rest of the day, and I grin. Fuck you, Mason.
I run my hand down the length of her long hair and she arches her spine, plumping her gorgeous tits up for my eager mouth. Not able to resist, I take a peaked nipple, sucking lightly, and her breath hitches.
“Jordan.”
“Shh,” I hush her. “Let me take care of you. Let me love you.”
I spin her around and pull her back to my chest, letting my hands explore and tease her body as my mouth seduces the column of her neck.
