His smile felt like warm sunshine. “That’s it. There’s my girl. Now, I’m going to start the water for you. There’s shampoo, soap, and a washcloth already inside. I’ll step outside, and you can undress and wrap yourself in the towel.” He nodded toward the sink, where it lay draped next to her clean clothes. “Just leave the clothes where you drop them, and I’ll take care of them. Don’t want you bending and popping any stitches. When you’re ready, call me, and I’ll help you into the tub because it’s a huge step over. You can take the towel off and hand it to me through the curtain. Take as long as you want, and when you’re ready, we’ll just repeat the process in reverse, all right?”
She nodded. Of course, he already had a plan in place to help her. She panicked for no reason, and when he saw her thoughts overwhelm her, he knew just how to soothe her.
“Okay. Let me get your shoes off for you, then I’ll go.” He knelt on the floor, untied one shoe, took her hands to put on his shoulders to steady her, then slid it off her foot.
He repeated the process and was about to walk out the door when she called to him. “You don’t need to leave.”
He stopped. Held his place for a few seconds. Then he turned toward her, the move slow and smooth, his look once again heated.
“You sure about that, little spy?”
Holy crap on a cracker. Was she really about to do this?
“Yes.”
Apparently, she was doing this.
Her fingers rose to the hem of her shirt, pulling it upward. She must have made a sound of distress because he was in front of her in an instant, helping her ease it over her head and arms.
He dropped it on the floor.
She fumbled with the buckle on the belt she’d had to cut an extra notch in to keep them up, and he brushed her hands away. “Let me. Hands at your sides, little spy.”
She obeyed. But he really needed to stop using that voice with her. Stop looking at her like he wanted to eat her alive.
Who the fuck was she kidding? If he did, she’d scream with frustration. Did he understand he was killing her?
Deftly, he undid the buckle and whisked the leather through the belt loops, making a sound that made her shiver. Why? Why did that sound so good?
He didn’t even have to unbutton the pants, really; they hung so low on her hips. But he did it anyway, heightening her arousal as his knuckles brushed against her skin. He released it from the notch, lowered the zipper, and slid his hands inside the waist, curling his fingers into the band of her underwear and pulling them and the pants down her hips until they dropped to the floor and pooled at her feet.
The water began to warm up behind the curtain, and with each second, the air in the room pressurized, taking on a close feeling, like the tropics in the heat of the afternoon.
Oh god, oh god, oh god. If he didn’t touch her again, she was going to die. Literally. Just stop breathing, fall down, and die.
He touched her. His hands reached around her, unhooked her bra, and traced his pointer fingers up the backs of thestraps, over her shoulders, hooking the undersides and dragging it down her arms.
Unbelievably, he didn’t look down right away. Just kept staring at her.
She heard a soft noise as her bra hit the material at her feet, where he’d dropped it.
He withdrew. Then his eyes dropped down to take in her body.
“Fucking beautiful,” he whispered. One finger traced from her jaw, down her throat, down her chest, to the valley between her breasts. He stopped at the top of the cleft, his eyes returning to hers. “You better get in that shower, or you won’t be in there alone anymore.”
Eep! Grown women did not make that sound, but as long as it was in her head, she allowed it.
“Okay.”
“Arm around my neck.”
She complied, and he lifted her over the edge of the tub.
Once she was on her feet inside the tub, he made sure she was steady before letting go of her.
“Be careful moving around. There are no rubber ducks or anything on the floor of that tub, and it’s slippery. I don’t want you to fall.”
“Rubber ducks?”
