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I strip quickly and lift her from the counter to carry her into the large walk-in shower, turning her into the hot spray. She gasps slightly as it hits her, then moans as she sinks into me, letting the water surge across her back and over her head.
Her blond locks darken, and she closes her eyes, absorbing the heat from the showerhead and my naked body aligned with hers on the other side. I rub my hands along her spine and arms, trying to help warm her in any way I can.
After a few agonizing minutes, her skin starts to regain a little bit of its color and her lips pinken slightly from the deathly pallor they held when I first brought her in.
She’s out of the woods.
Literally and figuratively.
Knowing that makes room for my frustration to grow.
“Why didn’t you heed my warning, Beauty?”
My words echo off the tile, sounding far more gruff than I intended them to.
Callista’s eyes flicker open and meet mine, black lashes clumped together by the water and her tears. “About what?”
I feather my lips over her forehead. “About staying out of the woods, especially as night draws in.”
She sags against me slightly, her face falling at my chastisement. “I just needed some fresh air. I wanted to go down to the lake. I didn’t realize how dark it would be by the time I came back.”
Releasing a heavy sigh, I bury my face in her wet hair, the spray cascading over both of us.
I can’t blame her for that—for wanting to be out on this beautiful land.
Once, a very long time ago, when I was merely Weston Barker and not The Beast, before I knew what secrets it held, I found my peace here, too. Out in the woods. Floating in the lake. Lying in the clearing surrounded by the summer flowers. Laughing and running and playing with Wendy in places that now only hold dark realities and horrific memories.
Callista still sees the splendor without the taint of death, even knowing the truth. That inalterable optimism infuriates me as much as it gives me hope for something I shouldn’t want.
Something I don’t deserve.
She lifts her arms and wraps them around my back, holding me tightly, burying her face into my chest like she can’t get close enough. My cock stirs to life, even though sex should be the furthest thing from my mind right now.
That was too close.
I almost lost her.
Jesus, why should that matter?
I have done nothing but try to get rid of her since the moment she set foot on the property so I can return this place and my life to what it was before she arrived. Living day in and day out with the curse I have to carry on my shoulders.
It’s the way things should be.
But I can’t deny the truth.
I do care.
Far, far too much.
Somehow, through all the disagreements, every argument, the snide comments and far too accurate observations she’s made, I’ve actually come to more than care.
Which is far more dangerous than that wolf out there.
We stand together for what feels like forever, her cheek pressed to my bare chest, the hot water cascading over us, her body twitching and trembling off and on, like the trauma of what she just experienced is slowly working its way out of her.
She finally relaxes, becoming almost listless in my arms, and I press a kiss to her forehead and tug her face away from me for a moment.
Callista blinks up at me with hooded eyes, her cheeks rosy from the steam and heat, lips back to being pink and kissable.
