She shook her head and stood, as well. Ezra helped her from the tub and handed over a towel for her, too. She wrapped it around herself. “It turns out youdidn’tsay anything,” she argued. “You kept the truth from me for months while you took over every single duty of every servant who had departed. From cook to household manager.”
“And I should have continued to do so,” Oliver insisted. “What bloody good does it do anyway?”
She moved forward and caught his damp arm, forcing him to look at her. When he did, his expression was deeply pained. She hesitated at it. This was what she did to him. She hurt him. Without meaning to, of course. She would never hurt him on purpose.
“Oliver,” she whispered, touching his rough cheek.
“No,” he muttered, and pulled away gently. “Just let it be, Anna. We got this time together, didn’t we? We got this moment. It was more than I ever could have asked for. Let’s not push it.”
He walked away then, back into the bedroom. As he did so, Anna looked at Ezra. He seemed as troubled by this as she was, even though he had known them for far less time. But he was bound to them now. There was no denying that anymore.
“What do I do?” she whispered.
He shook his head. “Don’t let him go,” he suggested. “Don’t let him put up this wall or I fear neither of us will ever scale it.”
She nodded, shoving her shoulders back like she was preparing for war, and perhaps she was. She marched into the room, hoping she looked more certain than she felt. Right now she just felt afraid. Afraid that she would do something that would spoil this and lose Oliver forever.
“I want to push it,” she said, repeating the phrasing Oliver had used a moment before. “Because you are worth it. What we share is worth it. Or don’t you agree?”
Oliver was standing next to the bed and he froze, dropping his head. “Anna,” he said softly.
She ignored the plea in his tone. “You want me, I know you do. You’ve proven that regularly during these last few wonderful days. But it’s more than that. What you did for me before my husband’s death…”
“Devouring your pussy in a hallway like a starving animal?” Oliver snapped.
She nodded. “Yes. But that’s not what I meant. I meant the way you watched over me. The way you showed me you were there in actions. The way you made me feel safe when nothing was safe.”
“Anna,” Oliver said again, and his voice was more strained.
Once again, she ignored him. “Do you think I want to lose that? Do you think I want to forget it and go back to anything like what used to be? Why would I want to do that? Why would you?”
“Stop!” Oliver said at last, pivoting to face her. He stepped forward and caught her arms gently, dragging her closer. “Why are you pretending you don’t understand why, Anna? Why are you pretending I’m not a servant?”
* * *
Oliver
For a moment the words hung in the air between them. Anna stared up at him, her breath short.
“But you’re not a servant anymore,” Anna said at last, then her dark blue eyes scanned over his body with a hungry look that spoke to his own deep desire. Sparked the love he felt for her that could never be. “If the new duke isn’t paying you, then you aren’t a servant.”
“I’ll always be a servant,” he choked out as he released her, finger by finger.
Ezra’s low laugh from the corner shocked its way through Oliver’s blood and he slowly trailed his gaze to the other man. God’s teeth but he was a sight to behold, leaning against the wall, his muscled arms folded across his bare chest and his hair tousled from everything they’d been doing that long, passionate day.
And Oliver wanted him, just like he wanted Anna as she raked her nails across his chest and practically arched against him like a cat.
“That doesn’t have to be true,” Ezra said, pushing off the wall and stalking toward him. “And in some ways I think it’s how you hide. From her. From me. From yourself.”
“Easily said by a man who’s always had everything he ever wanted,” Oliver retorted.
Anna’s fingers hesitated and Ezra stopped moving toward him. He cocked his head. “I have been lucky, privileged,” he conceded softly. “But you are being offered everything you ever wanted right now.” He nodded his head toward Anna. “If you let go and let her. Let me. We would give youeverything.”
Anna pushed Oliver back and he hit the edge of the bed. He had two choices then: to deny them both or to lie down. With a shuddering sigh, he chose the second. Because no matter how he tried to fight this, he was too weak.
Slowly, Anna climbed up on the bed and knelt between his legs, her hands against his thighs. “Let us,” she repeated, her voice hypnotic and erotic and filled with such sensual promise that he went hard as stone almost instantly.
“Please,” Ezra said. His voice was rough and it felt like it dragged along Oliver’s spine in the most delicious way.
