“I’ll carry you to bed if you fall asleep,” Rick promised. He knelt next to him and tugged Saxon’s t-shirt out of his waistband, tugging it up to see the wound on his side.
“Ow.” Sometime over the last few hours, the material had dried into the wound. “I’m too heavy for you to carry me.”
“I’ve humped packs heavier than you for miles,” Rick snorted. He gently pressed his fingers around the wound. “It’s dried in?”
“Yeah.” Saxon swallowed down the whimper hovering in the back of his throat.
“Nasty, I hate when that happens. Stay here.” Rick got to his feet, kissed Saxon on the top of the head, and left the room. Two minutes later the sound of the bath filling filtered down the hall.
“Sax, can you make it down here, or do you want me to prove I can carry you?”
Snarky shit.
The corners of his lips curved upward. It was weird as hell to have someone here when he came home. Weird, but a good weird. He found he liked it. Nope, scratch that, he fucking loved it. “I can make it.” Saxon got to his feet. He wasn’t going to mention the wobble when he stood up. Thank fuck the chairs couldn’t talk, Rick never had to know.
He unbuckled his belt as he walked down the hall and unclipped the double holster straps from his thighs as he stepped into the bathroom.
“I—um—” Rick blushed. He waved a hand at the lit candles and the bath filling. “—thought you might like to relax a bit. I read somewhere that lavender candles are soothing.”
“Soothing?” When the hell did they ever do soothing? Despite his confusion, there was no way he was going to trample all over the efforts Rick had made. Nope, if his man wanted soothing lavender candles, then he could deal with the stuff that smelled like old grannies.
“Yeah.” The tips of his ears kept getting redder. Rick spun around and leaned over one of the tiny-ass balls of wax that shimmered on a plate on the bath tray.
“Don’t you dare blow that out, R.” Saxon reached for him. “Smells a bit funky but I fucking love that you did this for me.”
“You do?” Rick’s fingers wrapped around Saxon’s shoulders, stroking and massaging through the material of his t-shirt. “You aren’t just saying that?”
“When do I ever say shit I don’t mean.” Saxon leaned his face in next to Rick’s, his lips hovering just over his man’s, giving him time to answer.
“All the time, with your tea—”
“To you?” Saxon could feel every inhale and exhale Rick made. “When do I say shit I don’t mean to you?”
“Never,” Rick’s breath hitched, and he angled his head, lining up his lips with Saxon’s, but still a hairsbreadth of space remained between them.
“Strip.”
“Huh, what?” Rick tiled his head back to look up at Sax. “The bath is for you. You need to relax, wind down after your mission.”
“Don’t be a donut.” Saxon popped the button on his own dirty camo pants and shoved them and his boxers down until they hit the top of his boots. “I relax when I am with you. If you want the bath to be relaxing, then your pretty ass better be in it with me.” He leaned over to rip open his boots, then toed them off, taking the pants and underwear with them.
“Are you sure?” Rick moved around him to turn off the water. He stuck a hand into the bath, then winced, and turned on the cold faucet. A hot bath would help with the aches and wounds. But a scalding bath was not so fun on the balls.
“Of course I am, strip, R, please.” Saxon stepped into the bath with his t-shirt still on, then swiftly pulled one foot out of the water for a second before swapping legs. “Hot.”
Rick reached a hand over his shoulder, caught the back of his t-shirt and pulled it over his head in one smooth move. “Duh, that’s why the cold is running.”
“It’s getting better now.” Saxon knelt in the water, his skin getting used to the pinpricks of heat with every inch he lowered into it. Once his balls touched the water and he realized they weren’t going to boil on the spot, he turned off the cold, and sat.
“Scoot forward.” Rick pulled off his shorts and dumped them in the pile of clothes on the floor. “I’ll sit behind you.”
Saxon bent his knees and scooted his ass up in the bath to make room for Rick. Once his guy settled into the water, with a leg on either side of Saxon, they both leaned back. Saxon lay with his back on Rick’s chest and his head on Rick’s shoulder. “I owe Max a bottle of Jack.”
That was so not what he had been expecting Saxon to say. “Mmh, why?”
“When we moved in here, he ordered the bathrooms in all the housing be updated. He ordered these double-sized baths with jets.” Saxon pressed a button on the side of the tub. Immediately, air bubbled up all around them. “I laughed at him.” Saxon turned his head to look at Rick. “He told me I’d thank him someday with a bottle of Jack.”
“Good thinking on Max’s part.” Rick shifted slightly to move Saxon’s head off his collarbone so they would both be more comfortable. “This would suck if it was a normal people-sized tub.”
