He nodded, a slow smile lifting his lips, as the opportunity for more opened right in front of us.
Yes, Nadya was still prickly, and Dax was…well, Dax, but here we were, stitching our lives together.
I was so caught up in the bubble of happiness that I barely noticed Ryker kept helping me undress until I only wore my slip, wet and clinging to every curve I’d regained under Mrs. Thornbrew’s watchful eye and amazing cooking.
Ryker didn’t say a word. He didn’t have to when his hands told all the tales of longing I needed. They took their time mapping out my back and shoulders, barely caressing the straps of my slip before gliding down my arms.
Finally, he took my hand in his and led me to the steaming bath. While we’d been busy drinking each other in, the water had settled into a quiet, steaming surface, lavender pods floating between the bubbles.
“Ladies first,” he said gently.
Perhaps it was the fact that it had sounded almost like a question.
Or that no pressure or tension lingered in the air.
Maybe I was just damn happy we were all alive.
Whatever the motive, that reckless part of me breathed back to life. It only happened when I was around him, like my tight, organized self could finally relax and let the other parts of me shine.
With careful, unhurried movements, I grabbed the hem of the silk, a little reminder of our first night together. In one flurry of fabric and laughter, I pulled it off me and threw it at his face. He caught it before it could cover his eyes, but I was already slowly descending in the warm water, bubbles covering all those curves. I didn’t stop until the water reached my chin, soothing the day’s strain from me.
“Got you.” I chuckled when he pursed his lips at me.
“Mean.” He gripped the slip in his hands for a moment before folding it gently and setting it on the nearest surface.
“Clever.” I tapped my own temple and jutted my chin at him, wiggling my eyebrows. “Your turn.”
I should have known from the knowing smirk on his face I had not, in fact, gotten him. His hands descended to his own leather pants, and I found myself tracking every inch of movement, breath caught somewhere between the water’s surface.
But then he used that damn speed of his.
Before the pants had dropped to the floor, he was in the bath, settling right behind me with a tired groan.
He hadn’t even disturbed the water when he submerged his large body next to mine. The amethyst bath was so large, we didn’t even touch.
“Hey!” I turned around, suddenly hyper aware we were both wet, naked, and very, very close.
“Fair’s fair.” He shrugged, looking and sounding smug.
I narrowed my eyes playfully at him. “It’s cheating.”
“It’s a skill.”
“Doesn’t it hurt when you do it?”
“Not for very short bursts like this. My bones…” He tilted his head. “They’ve become malleable, if I want them to, let’s say.”
“I wish I could do that.” I bit my lower lip again. “If you hadn’t been there tonight when Dax fell into the lake…”
The thought was too heinous to even finish, but it didn’t change the reality.
Dax would have died if Ryker hadn’t been so strong.
“But I was there. And I always will be.”
My heart beat faster. I wanted to believe. Wanted to bask in those promises and let them cradle the shadows in me.
Another day. Another time.
