“At least one of us smells good. I think it’s time you had a bath, sir.”
Caroline rose to her feet and held out her hand. Reaper stared at it for a full minute before accepting her help up. Everything about her was so different than what he was used to. There were no rough and gruff edges to this woman, only tenderness and caring.
No one had ever actually cared about him before . . . at least not like this.
“Hey, why the serious face?” She cupped his jaw, her liquid blue gaze drawing his attention from the darkness of his life.
“I was just thinking that no one’s ever cared about me before.” Had he really just said that out loud?
She must think him a complete fool for blurting out his deepest thoughts. Only weak men felt things like self-pity. And only the weakest shared that feeling with others.
It shocked him—and then dazzled him—when a brilliant smile spread across her lips, lighting up her entire face. “Well, I’m sorry to hear that I’m the first, but you should know that I care deeply about you. And I’m not going to stop.”
The weight of her words nearly made his knees buckle. He did not sense an ounce of dishonesty in her tone; all he felt was her warmth and her joy. His throat closed up.
“All right, enough girl stuff. Let’s get cleaned up.”
Because he sure as shit didn’t know how to handle the heavy weight of the emotions she was bringing out in him.
Caroline’s smile didn’t falter; in fact, it grew almost mischievous. “You haven’t heard someone tell you that they care about you before—but I’m about to fix that problem. I’ll tell you those words every day.”
If he didn’t get her to stop saying things like that, he was going to do something stupid, like take her in his arms and profess his feelings to her out loud. And he wasn’t ready for that yet, so he did the only thing he knew. He captured her lips in a soul-scorching kiss that left them both shaken.
She must’ve sensed his unease because when they broke apart again she didn’t say anything else. She just wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him close, laying her cheek against the hollow at the bottom of his chest. Reaper’s arms went around her as naturally as a bullet went into a gun.
And he knew right then, if she wanted to stand there like this for the rest of the entire day, he would be more than content to oblige.
