Page 170 of Unruly

She found that out in his next statement.

“Well, he respects you, Dante. That’s why.”

Catherine sat a little higher in the tub.

“Where is the choice in this?” Cross asked. A beat of silence passed, and then her husband added with a chuckle, “Exactly, there isn’t one. So you’ll do that for me?”

More silence.

By the sounds of the footsteps moving back and forth outside the bathroom door, Catherine assumed her husband was pacing. Something that was entirely unusual for him.

“Good. I appreciate it … Yeah, I will. Bye.”

Catherine sunk back into the water as Cross finished his conversation. Seconds later, a rap of knuckles hit the bathroom door gently. She eyed it, deciding whether or not she wanted him to come in.

“What?”

“I’m not conversing with a door between us, Catty.”

“I’m trying to relax, Cross.”

“Let me come in, and I’ll really give you a reason to relax, babe.”

She pressed her lips together to keep from smiling. His suggestive tone hid nothing.

“You’re kind of fucking terrible,” she said.

Cross made a dismissive sound in the back of his throat. “Not news.”

“Come in.”

Her husband didn’t need to be told again. He slipped into the bathroom, and closed the door without making a sound.

Cross didn’t bother to give Catherine a passing look as he slipped out of the clothes he wore. He ignored her quiet hey as he slid into the tub on the opposite side. The two person tub was more than big enough to hold both of them, but that didn’t mean she wanted him in there with her right then.

She was trying to stay mad, so he would bend to her wants.

Or … something like that.

She glared at him.

Halfheartedly, but still.

“I’m cold,” he said defensively.

“I bet.”

“I just spent forty-eight hours being perpetually wet and on my feet moving, Catherine. Knock off the attitude, and let me be warm for five minutes.”

She stopped glaring.

A little.

“I stand by what I said earlier,” she told him.

Cross dipped his hand in the water, and then lifted it to stroke down his chin and throat. Bubbles and drops of water clung to his tan skin, making Catherine follow the path to where the water hid the rest of his body from view. She should have enjoyed the show he gave getting undressed before he got in the water.

“I know,” Cross said simply.