The shower water is perfect.
I’m tucked against Leo’s chest while the water and steam rise around us. He washes me with gentle hands, checking the skin where he spanked me. My ass is pink but not damaged, sensitive when he touches.
“How are you feeling?” His voice is soft. “Really.”
I take stock. Every muscle carries a pleasant soreness. My mind is quiet for the first time in longer than I can remember.
“Amazing,” I say, the word barely audible. “Wrecked. But amazing.”
He kisses the top of my head. “Good.”
Later, after he’s changed the sheets, he sits with his back against the headboard with me between his legs. He brushes my hair while I drift in the hazy space between waking and sleep. Thebristles move through the strands with careful attention, and the gentleness of the act makes my throat tight.
“Leo.” My voice is barely audible. “What are we doing?”
The brush pauses. “What do you mean, lass?”
Turning to face him, I search his hazel eyes in the dim light. “This. Us. It feels like more than an arrangement. It feels real.” I swallow hard, forcing myself to say the rest. “I don’t know what I’m saying. Sorry.”
“Alice.” His thumb traces my cheekbone. When he speaks, his voice is raw in a way I’ve never heard before. “It is real. What we have, it stopped being just an arrangement a long time ago, if it ever was one.”
My heart squeezes. “What does that mean for us?”
“It means we take it one step at a time.” He leans down, kissing my nose. “It means we see where it leads.”
Something warm and fragile unfurls in my chest as I nod. “I’d like that.”
“Good.” He pulls me close, settling me against his chest.
We lie there in comfortable silence, his heartbeat steady under my ear. Sleep tugs at me when he speaks again.
“Dane arrives in a few days on Christmas Eve.” His voice is casual, but something about it makes me more alert.
My pulse kicks. The memory of my earlier fantasy surfaces—two sets of hands—and heat floods my cheeks even in the darkness.
“I didn’t know it was so close to Christmas already.”
He hugs me. “Get some sleep, pet. You’ve earned it.”
Sleep doesn’t come immediately. The thought of being shared lingers. Was that just a thought in the moment? I don’t have the answer, but I let the question exist.
“Goodnight, Leo.”
“Sweet dreams, lass.”
His scent surrounds me, and I let myself drift.
My dreams will definitely be interesting.
Chapter 8
Something is wrong.
I know it the moment I surface from sleep. Every muscle carries that expected soreness, but there’s something else underneath. An emptiness in my chest that doesn’t match anything I’ve experienced before.
Yesterday was incredible. The most intense experience of my life. I should be glowing.
Instead, I feel like someone scooped out my insides and forgot to put them back.
