My fingers slip off the buttons several times, but I manage, stopping only once when I reach the bruised patch of skin blooming along his ribs. He doesn’t flinch, but the way his chest shudders says more than any words could convey.
When the shirt slides off his shoulders, I swallow hard. He fought Hell itself for me and Belle—in the form of a growling, angry mastiff—and I love him even more for it.
“Grace…” His voice stutters, like he’s about to argue with me again, but I just point to the tub.
“Get in.”
With a gravelly chuckle, he shucks his jeans and briefs, then steps into the steaming water.
Shit.
The bruise covering his right ass cheek is twice as dark as the one on his ribs.
Draping my robe over the towel rack, I take the hand he offers and let him help me into the tub. The bathwater laps against the porcelain as we lower ourselves down. I straddle AJ, my knees braced on either side of him. The position draws a grunt from his lips, and I freeze.
“You okay?”
“Fine,” he says, wincing briefly. “Water’s hotter than I thought.”
“Liar.” My hands skim over his chest, down the ridges of muscle I’m learning again for the first time, until they stop just shy of one of the bruises.
“Grace—”
“Don’t,” I whisper. “Don’t tell me it’s nothing. It’s a miracle that dog didn’t take a bite out of you.”
“He tried. But my jacket stopped him well enough.” AJ shows me his right arm. Purple dots his skin in a distinctive bite pattern, but there aren’t any punctures. “You and Belle are safe. That’s all that matters to me. Bruises fade. You should know that.” He gently traces my left cheekbone with a single knuckle, finding the edge of the bruise that stole my memory away. It’s almost gone now, no more than a bit of sickly yellow I can hide with some of the concealer Emi bought for me.
I huff. “You should have gone to urgent care.”
His lips purse, a hint of frustration in the set of his unbruised shoulder. “Makin’ us dinner was a much better use of time. We would’ve been there for hours, only to be sent home with my arm in a sling and a bottle of ibuprofen.”
I can practically see the waiting room at Austin Memorial. Hear sirens from approaching ambulances. The clatter of gurneys rolling by one after another.
My chest tightens, and the edges of the room blur.
The memory hits hard and fast. The knock at the door. Another Ranger, a friend, I think, his hazel eyes soft as he tells me there’s been an accident. That AJ’s been hurt. That he’s here to take me to the hospital. In case…
I grip the edges of the tub. “You…you crashed. It was a high-speed chase, and it went bad. I didn’t know…for hours, I didn’t know…” My throat locks up, the words sticking like glue. “When they finally let me see you, your arm was in a sling. Broken ribs? Your collarbone?”
“Fuck,” AJ growls, the curse rumbling through his chest. He steadies me, his hand firm and warm on the back of my neck. “Of all the things to remember…”
Tears sting my eyes. “Someone came to the house. To get me. To take me to the hospital. He—he wouldn’t let me drive.”
AJ’s jaw tightens, something sharp flashing in his eyes. “Marvin,” he says. “The fucker who told the chief you were…back. He probably volunteered so he wouldn’t have to work the scene.” His voice softens, and his hand slides lower, coming to rest at the small of my back. “But he got you there. That’s what mattered.”
I shift closer, wrapping my legs around his waist, trapping the bubbles between us. My fingers comb through his hair in a desperate attempt to reassure myself it was years ago. That he’s here with me now. Bruised, but safe.
“I remember what it felt like, AJ. Almost losing you.”
His thumb brushes my cheek, catching a tear before it can fall. “You didn’t lose me then. You won’t lose me now.”
Something in me breaks open. I seal my lips to his, needing the taste of him to ground me. In the quiet of the bath, all that matters is the heat of his mouth, the steady thrum of his heartbeat against my breast, and the way he whispers my name.
It’s a promise of everything we once were. Everything we are now. Everything we’ll become.
The water starts to cool, but we’re still tangled together, his hard length pressing against my ass.
“Let’s take this to the bed,” he murmurs, rolling one of my nipples between fingers starting to prune.
