AllFreeNovel
Share Us
* * *
Hours later, I took my girl home. Just like I had the last time we’d gone back to my place together, I guided her straight up the stairs. In the main bathroom, I sat her on the toilet lid, and she watched while I ran the tub full of hot water. “I’m sorry I don’t have any of that nice-smelling stuff,” I told her, glancing over at her with a worried frown. “I’ll buy some tomorrow.”
She didn’t smile the way I’d hoped she would. “It’s okay. I don’t need it.”
I still wished I had some. Not that nicely scented water would make any difference to the bruises around her neck or the cuts on her cheek. But the doctors at the hospital had given her a clean bill of health otherwise, and after a drip with a bag of fluids, and a few hours’ sleep while they observed her stats, she’d been discharged.
Fawn was still missing. I’d guarded Eve’s hospital door while I called Richards and filled him in on everything Eve had told me, not wanting to wake her by talking in her room but unwilling to leave her alone either. I’d checked the bathroom thoroughly before I left, semi-paranoid Fawn’s ex might have changed his mind about letting her go.
We’d gotten lucky. Lucky that she was Reed’s daughter. Lucky that she hadn’t ever been Eddie’s intended target. It could have so easily gone the other way, though. Instead of dumping her on the side of the road, he could have put a bullet through her brain first.
I shuddered at the thought.
“Stand up,” I said softly, once the water was near the top of the tub. I held a hand out, and she took it, standing on legs that no longer trembled so much they couldn’t hold her weight.
She’d had to put the dirty clothes back on to come home, and I peeled them from her body now, slowly shedding each piece to the floor. My uniform followed, until there was a pile of clothes neither of us needed anymore.
I stepped into the almost too-hot water and tugged at Eve’s hand to join me. She stepped in gracefully, and the two of us sank deep into the tub, not caring when the water splashed over the sides and onto the tiled floor. I put my back to the porcelain and spread my legs wide, pulling Eve to lie between them, her back to my chest.
As seconds passed, Eve relaxed, her stressed tight muscles slowly unwinding beneath the hot water until she sighed in contentment. She slipped beneath the surface, wetting her hair.
I reached for a bottle of shampoo, squeezed some onto my palm, and then worked it through the lengths falling down her back. With the help of the sudsy lather, I rubbed my fingers across her scalp, massaging her temples until she was as limp as a ragdoll.
“You were all I thought about,” she said eventually. “In that basement, and in the car, and on the side of the road. I just wanted you.”
“Shh, It’s okay. You don’t have to talk about it.”
“I just…we wasted so much time. I don’t want to do that anymore. You said I was yours… You’re mine, too, Joshua. You know that, right?” She swiveled to look up at me. “You’re mine, and I love you.”
My heart roared. I’d felt it in the way she held me. In the connection between us that now somehow felt bone-deep. She’d gotten beneath my skin, and I’d just hoped I was beneath hers.
Hearing her confirm it was everything.Shewas everything.
“I love you, too.” I kissed her sweet mouth, reminding myself of her taste when she opened and pressed her tongue against mine. She twisted in the tub, water sloshing again, so we were face-to-face, chest to chest. Her back arched gracefully as she lay on top of me, reaching her arms around my neck, my head cupped in her hands.
“I’ve never said that to anyone before,” she admitted. “Nobody has ever made me want to.”
My heart slammed against my chest so hard I was sure she could feel it through hers. I kissed her roughly, unable to get enough before I remembered she was hurt. I pulled back sharply. “Shit. Are you okay?”
She nodded, pressing her lips to mine again. “Don’t stop,” she murmured between kisses. “Just…touch me. Please. I need it.”
I understood that feeling because every part of me called out for her, too. I had no idea how I was ever going to leave her side to find work or get food. But I didn’t need any of that right now. I could survive on Eve and Eve alone at least for the next few hours.
So I touched her. I ran my soapy hands over every curve of her body, checking each one, refamiliarizing myself and learning new things about her with every brush of my fingertips. She nuzzled into the side of my neck, flicking over my damp skin with her tongue while I traced the bumps of her spine and dragged my palms lower to cup her ass. Between us, my dick grew hard, nudging against her belly.
“That feels so good,” she whispered.
I massaged her ass, sneaking one finger between to prod at her entrance, remembering the way she liked to be touched there. I was rewarded with a hiss of breath as she gasped in pleasure. My dick yearned to get in on the action, but I ignored it.
She found my lips with hers and kissed me deeply, until my balls ached and it was everything I could do not to push my dick between her legs and take her right then and there. But not until I’d made her scream. Not until I’d wiped away the memory of somebody hurting her.
She stood, water dripping from her glistening body, falling from the peaks of her tits and running in rivulets down her stomach and thighs. “Let’s go to your bedroom. The water is getting cold.”
I hadn’t even noticed. I stood to join her, but the lure of her body was too great to ignore. I pushed her up against the tiled wall, stopping only when she squealed.
“Cold tiles!”
But I couldn’t wait for the bedroom, a wicked idea forming. I spun her around, and she planted her hands on the wall instead. I reached around her hip and cupped her mound. My mouth at her ear, I whispered, “Arch your back and press your tits to the wall. I want that cold on your nipples.”
