When he stood again, his eyes were heated and even darker than normal.
“Turn around,” he said, his voice rough and husky.
I obeyed, and a second later I felt his hands in my hair, cleaning each strand with meticulous care. His fingers massaged my scalp as the water fell down on my head, washing away the soap.
“Do I get to wash you?” I asked when he pulled me back and wound his arms around my waist.
“Do you want to?” He sounded surprised, like he’d fully expected this shower to be one-sided.
“Yes.”
His lips found the spot where my neck met my shoulder, and he nibbled at the skin there. “You can do whatever you want, baby.”
I turned around in his arms and reached up to trace over his face with my fingertips, memorizing every detail. His eyes fell shut at my touch, and I felt him relax, felt him let go of some of his rigid control.
We were in our own little world, where the rest of life couldn’t touch us. At least for a few more minutes.
I gave him the same treatment he had me, washing him from head to toe. He watched me the whole time, like he couldn’t believe I was real. And when he pulled me against his chest when I was finished, I realized that as much as I hated Beelzebub for the deal he’d forced me into, I was also eternally grateful to him for bringing Hayden to me after his accident two years ago. If it weren’t for Beelzebub, Hayden would have died thatnight and I never would have gotten the chance to love him, to know what it was like to be lovedbyhim.
Without letting go of me, Hayden turned off the shower and reached for a towel. He dried me off as best he could before wrapping the towel around my shoulders. “Do you want me to get you some clothes?”
“Okay.”
He pulled another towel from the rack and tied it around his waist before heading out of the bathroom.
I stared after him, watching the door he’d left through for a minute before walking back into the bedroom. The evidence of our night was scattered about the room, from the clothes on the floor to the rumpled sheets on the bed.
It didn’t take Hayden long to return with a green puffy-sleeved dress over his arm. I raised my brows when I took it from him. It was one of my older dresses, one that I was thinking it was time to retire.
“If you don’t like my selection, move your clothes into my room and next time you can choose your own dress.”
“Is that your high-handed way of asking me to move into your room?”
“Are you saying if I said it subtly, you wouldn’t pretend to miss the hint again?”
I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t really argue with him. He was right. Ihadbeen dodging his hints about us sharing a bedroom for the past two weeks.
I slipped the dress on and then fished my holster and bow from the heap that was my clothes from yesterday. I could feel Hayden’s eyes on me as I began hooking the small eyelets that ran up the outside of my thigh, but he didn’t comment.
“I’m going to go make breakfast,” I said. “Do you have any requests?”
“Coffee.”
“Anything else?”
“I don’t have a preference. I’m sure it’ll be good no matter what you make.”
The penthouse felt different as I moved around the kitchen. It was like the place had become my home overnight.
I’d just finished preparing the same dish Hayden had first made for me at the beach house when he came into the kitchen. He was dressed in black slacks and a white button-down with the sleeves pushed up enough for me to see the silver watch around his left wrist.
My eyes lingered on the triangle of skin showing where he’d left the top few buttons undone. He was wearing a silver chain that stood out against the dusting of hair on his chest.
When I finally managed to bring my gaze back up to his face, he was smirking at me. “See something you like, Mrs. Blake?”
“You know that’s not really my name.” I honestly didn’t even know how to change it. Sam had always taken care of all my human-identity paperwork for me.
“It’s how you introduced yourself to Jacqueline at the gala.”
