“It’s for you.” She hurried forward, hands outstretched like she intended to help him disrobe immediately. Though she put up no resistance when Nathaniel caught her to him for a kiss, instead melting very gratifyingly into his embrace.
“I thought you might like to bathe,” she continued breathlessly when he lifted his head. “The fight tonight went on so long and you worked so hard.”
“Mm.” He nuzzled into the fragrant coil of her honey-blond hair, tucking his face behind her ear and breathing in deep. “You must be tired of lying down with a man stinking of sweat and dirt from the ring.”
“Oh.” She gave a little shiver; Nathaniel smiled into her hair. “I like the way you smell. I mean, it doesn’t bother me. That’s not why I asked Madame Leda to arrange a bath. I just thought it would be nice.”
He relented, straightening and letting her go. “It would. Thank you.”
She assumed the sort of brisk, business-like air she’d had the night she wrapped his wound in the kitchen. “Let me help. Here, take off that shirt and I’ll see if Madame Leda can find something else for you to put on when you get out, so you don’t have to put back on dirty clothes.”
“Am I getting dressed again, after the bath?” he inquired mildly.
He loved the way she flushed but also held his gaze. “Eventually, I’m sure.”
That was enough, along with her proximity, to have his cock fattening between his legs as he stepped into the water. She noted it, if her small, almost feline smile was any indication, but they both ignored it for the moment.
She’d gone to all this trouble, arranging things for him. Nathaniel wouldn’t allow anything to ruin her plans. Not even his own desperate desire to get his hands on her.
Besides, he couldn’t deny that it was decadent to lower his body into the hot bathwater. It felt almost too good; Nathaniel found himself tensing up.
“Lie back,” she encouraged him, kneeling eagerly beside the tub and tugging at his hand until he leaned against the side of the tub and laid his arms along the sides. “There! Isn’t that nice?”
“Yes.” He grimaced at his own taciturn grunt. “It feels good. Thank you.”
She went pink and pleased but shook her head. “You don’t need to keep thanking me. Just enjoy.”
Nathaniel swallowed and tried to relax. He concentrated on each sore, aching muscle and thought about how the warmth of the water seeping into it would help it release.
He didn’t realize he was frowning until her voice came from beside him, small and disheartened. “You hate this. I can leave you alone to wash and get out, if you prefer.”
“No!” Damnation, he was ruining everything. “I swear, Elizabeth, I’m not unhappy.”
She gave him a narrow look from behind her mask. “Then why are you scowling so ferociously? You look more like you’re braced for torture than enjoying a lovely bathe.”
Nathaniel searched for words. “I’m not used to…when a fight is over, I simply go home. Alone. Before you, there was none of this. Softness. Warmth. I’m afraid I’m not suited for it.”
Afraid of how much colder and darker his life would be when she left and took the warmth with her.
“Don’t waste your kindness on me.” Nathaniel tried to smile, to take the harsh edge off his tone, but he could tell he wasn’t terribly successful by the consternation on her face.
“Kindness is never wasted,” she said, with a simplicity that made something lodge tightly in his throat.
He was still working to swallow it down when she abruptly stood and began to unbutton the back of her gown. She stripped herself with that same brisk efficiency, no coy teasing for Bess, and in seconds, she was raising one slim, smooth leg to step into the tub. He thought she planned to sit opposite him but?—
“Budge over,” she said, prodding him in the shoulder with her bare toes.
Bemused, Nathaniel made room for her to settle in behind him. She hummed at the heat, shivering slightly, which he felt as a quiver in her breasts where they brushed his back. His cockstand raged instantly to full mast. The water swirling against his hyper-sensitive skin was a seductive tease.
Her long, slim legs lay along the outsides of his. If he shifted, he could feel against his back the gentle prickle of the dark blond hair that covered her sex.
Nathaniel had his doubts about how much more relaxing this configuration might be, but when Bess’s arms came around him, coaxing him to lie against her with his head on her shoulder, he found himself sighing into it.
“I said I’d help, didn’t I?” She picked up the linen cloth from the side of the tub and stroked it down his neck and across his chest under the water. The edge of the fabric scraped gently across his nipple, sending a ripple of sensation down to his cock.
There was no sound in the room apart from the gentle lap of water and the near-silent swish of cloth over his skin. Nathaniel felt her steady heartbeat thudding into his back; his own heart slowed to match it, beating together in time.
Bess washed as far as she could reach, down his chest and over the ridged muscles of his abdomen, around the sides of his ribcage to swirl lazy circles over his hips.
