The water folds around us both at once, heat climbing up our skin as I guide her down carefully, one hand steady at her waist, the other braced under her arm.
She sucks in a breath when the warmth catches at something tender.
I tighten my hold without thinking.
Easy.
I sit and bring her with me, drawing her down between my legs until her back settles against my chest and my thighs bracket hers under the water.
A unit.
That’s what this is now, whether she understands it yet or not.
Not a cage. Not a leash.
A choice.
Mine.
She’s part of me and an extension of me.
Steam curls thick around us. Marshmallow rises soft and sweet from the water, wrapping around the sharp edge of everything else in the room until all I can smell is her.
For the first time since I found her in that apartment, I let myself want something other than blood.
I reach for the washcloth.
Chapter 43
Ayla
The washcloth touches my shoulder like he’s afraid of hurting me.
That alone is enough to make something in my chest go strange.
I sit between his legs in water that’s too warm, too soft, too sweet with marshmallow for any of this to feel real. Steam clings to my skin. His chest is solid against my back, one arm looped low around my middle like he doesn’t trust the water not to take me from him if he lets go for too long.
Or maybe that’s me.
Maybe he doesn’t trust me not to slip away.
I don’t know anymore.
I don’t know what any of this is.
The cloth drags over my collarbone. Down my arm. Slow. Careful. He doesn’t scrub. Doesn’t rush. Just wipes the day off me in steady strokes like there’s something he can remove if he keeps going long enough. Blood. Dirt. Fear. Gabriel. Betrayal. All of it.
I don’t move.
I don’t know if I’m allowed to.
And that makes my throat tighten.
Allowed.
Like this is something that could be taken away if I do the wrong thing. Breathe wrong. Flinch wrong. Say the wrong word and ruin whatever version of him this is before I even understand it.
He shifts the cloth and I feel him pause at my shoulder where the bruise darkened.
