“I want to wash the rainwater out of my hair and the mud out from under my fingernails.” She dragged those very nails diagonally across his chest, all five points of contact burning through his shirt, as she leaned up to whisper in his ear. “And then when I’m scrubbed and clean and sweet-smelling, I want you to show me what the tent was too small to handle last night.”
Her cheeks rounded in a devilish smile, and he actually felt every drop of blood drain from his head and straight to his dick.
“Upstairs,” he barked, grabbing her hand and pulling her after him. Her laughter drifted behind them as they rushed to his bedroom.
“Shower’s through there. Can I—” He stopped short of asking to join her, and she glanced over her shoulder with a wry little smile.
“Maybe next time?” Another flash of white teeth on that pink lower lip, and she shut the door behind her with a click. Moments later, water started to hiss from the shower.
“Clean towels in the cabinet,” he called through the door, only moving away at her shout of affirmation. He grabbed clean sweats from his dresser and headed to the bathroom William was using, running himself through the world’s fastest shower, briskly patting himself dry, and pulling on the sweats. He made it back to his room just in time to hear the spray snap off and the glass shower door swing open.
She was naked in his bathroom. She was about to be naked with him.
Emotion swelled under his rib cage, and he wasn’t sure whether to shove it down or run at it head-on. Loving her had been ecstasy, and losing her had fucked him up. Sex with her was never going to be easy or casual, but he didn’t care. She might be dangerous, but she also felt like the answer to a question he’d been asking for years.
The door swung open, and Faith emerged in a cloud of hot steam. As she’d promised, she was flushed and pink from the heat of the water, her hair sleek and damp down her back. And she was wearing his ridiculous satin robe. He braced himself for her to give him shit about it, but she just fiddled with the belt. The perfect opportunity to roast him, and Faith Fox took a pass?
“Everything good?” he asked.
She shrugged and crossed her arms. “Yeah.”
He took a step back, confused about the shift in her mood. Her shoulders were tense, and her mouth was a flat line.
“Do you want to slow things down? Stop?” he asked. “That’s fine. Just say the word.”
It wasn’t fine. A howl of disappointment crawled up his throat, but something had changed for her while she was showering, so he slammed on the brakes. He just hoped like hell she wasn’t upset about something he’d done.
A hand crept up to hold the robe closed at the base of her throat. “No, I…”
Then he saw it in her expression: apprehension. She was nervous. Her eyes flicked to where her toes dug into the carpet, and her lip bites this time weren’t coy and playful. Where the hell had that come from?
He took a step toward her, ready to stop the instant she gave him any kind of sign that this wasn’t welcome. But she let him approach, let him kiss her gently.
“What’s happening right now, Dutch?” he asked against her mouth. “Did you suddenly realize it’s me? Did you remember that you actually hate me?”
Even joking about it ripped at something inside him, and that panicky pain got worse when she didn’t correct him right away.
“The problem is…” She sighed. “The problem is, it’syou.”
The day suddenly wasn’t as glorious as it had been thirty seconds ago.
“I thought we were okay now,” he managed to say. “Forgiveness-wise.”
“We are.” Her smile was brief, but her face settled back into that anxious expression that was twisting him all up. “It’s just that…”
She swallowed hard before speaking again, and when she did, her words came out in a rush. “The last time we were together, I was a teenager with some fucked-up eating habits. Now…”
“Now?” he prompted gently, still not quite sure what was clouding her blue eyes.
“Now look at me!” She flung her arms wide and gestured down her body.
He frowned. “Still not seeing the problem.”
She gave a little growl.
“I’m not a teenager anymore, Leo! And I’m definitely not surviving on a fraction of a hamburger every day.” She closed her eyes and gritted out, “I’m bigger than I was before. You’re going to notice. Fully dressed is one thing, but naked… I don’t look the same anymore. Not like what you remember from before. And I’m worried you won’t… like it.”
She barely managed to choke out the last few words, leaving him too stunned to respond. Then he scoffed.
