My head lifts, and emerald eyes behind black-framed glasses come into view. His brows draw together as he tilts his head, a rogue chestnut curl falling into his face.
“You’re home sooner than I expected. I wasn’t going to leave a mess for you.”
“I don’t care about your mess.” He cups my cheeks with both hands, shaking his head. “Leo told me you left work early.”
I nod, swallowing. “Cramps.”
He gives me an unconvinced expression. “Have you started yet?”
I shake my head.
“So, it’s a flare-up?”
I nod again.
“They’re not always like this, are they?”
“Most months aren’t this bad, but this whole week I’ve…” I trail off as my emotion clogs my throat, tears erupting once again. “I’ve been fucking crazy, August. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with me.”
“Shh.” He hushes me. “Nothing is wrong with you. You’re not crazy.” He brushes away the hair falling loose from the bun atop my head. “Can I touch you?”
I nod, and August slips his hands down my shoulders and beneath my arms, hauling me into him. I throw my hands around his neck, and he scoops beneath my ass, lifting us both as I hang off him like a fucking sack of potatoes.
“Wrap your legs around my waist, Little Vice.”
The low vibration of his voice rumbles against my neck, sending a blaze to my core. I know he didn’t mean it salaciously, but it doesn’t stop a surge of heat from flooding my body as I tighten my thighs around his hips.
He carries me out of the kitchen, but doesn’t start up the stairs the way I expected him to. He goes past the staircase, through the living room and the library, and straight into his room.
“What’re you doing?” I ask.
“You don’t have a tub in your bathroom, but I do.”
He nudges the bathroom door open with his shoulder, lowering me onto the edge of the tub. I lift my head, blinking around the dark room. It’s huge. A double-sink vanity with opulent mirrors sits across from me, with a standing shower and a toilet in the corner beside it. I turn slightly toward the deep, oval tub. Candles line the sides. August picks up a small wicker basket from the edge, sorting through bath bombs, salts, and soaps.
“You get a lot of company in this tub, Augustus?”
A smile tugs at his lips as he sets aside two candles, a bottle of bubble bath, and a small bag of salts. “Nope. Just you.” His eyes meet mine when he turns the faucet on, testing the temperature of the water. “You know I like baths, Elena.”
The heat in his gaze steals the breath from my lungs, memories flashing through my mind. My old apartment on the harbor had a big, beautiful bathtub like this. It was only a few short months that August and I spent wrapped in our secret love, but many of those nights together took place in that tub.
One night in San Francisco had been my favorite of them all.
It feels like a hundred different lifetimes have come and gone since that brief one we had the privilege of living inside. I wish we could’ve stayed in that life. I wish we’d never left that hotel room.
I wish I’d never left him at all.
August breaks eye contact, pouring a generous amount of soap into the water, followed by a shake of the salts. “Strip and get in,” he says. “I’ll be back with your tea and a lighter for thecandles.” He stands, watching me expectantly, but I don’t move. “Do you need me to undress you too?”
Yes.
I shake my head.
He nods. “Want me to grab your e-reader?”
“No.” I sigh. “My eyes hurt, so I don’t feel like reading right now. Can you grab my laptop so I can watch something instead?”
“Sure.” He turns to walk out of the bathroom, leaving the door wide open. “Now, get naked for me, Little Vice.”
