The full trust of her body after being so vulnerable with me means more than anyone could offer me. So I cherish every moment of it.
I rinse the shampoo off and apply conditioner, running my fingers through her inky strands, making sure every hair is covered. Then I wash it away.
She places her hands on the tiles, holding herself up. It’s so late, and she’s exhausted. I want to do more than just take a shower together, but not tonight. Tonight, it’s about her.
Once we’re done, I turn the water off and help her out of the shower. She makes a move to grab a towel, but I take it first.
“Let me,” I whisper.
She’s contemplating for a second before giving a subtle nod. I pat her body and hair dry and then help her into my T-shirt. Her eyes are half closed. The exhaustion of the evening and all the events has finally caught up to her. I bend and take her in my arms, making her let out a squeak.
“What are you doing?”
“Carrying you to our bed,” I state the obvious.
“I’m heavy, Ken,” she protests. “Let me go. I can walk.”
“Be quiet, woman,” I respond, getting mad at her stupid declaration, and keep walking.
“Did you just shush me?” Her voice is full of mockery.
“Is it working?”
She giggles. “Not really.”
I let out a dramatic sigh. “Worth trying though. Maybe it’ll work the next time.”
“It won’t.”
“I’ll still keep trying.” I wink at her and put her on the bed.
She crawls to my side, where I usually sleep, and gets under the covers. “It smells so good,” she mumbles and quiets down.
“Yeah, I just changed the sheets,” I reply smugly, expecting her snarky reply about expecting guests or something. But she doesn’t say a word because a loud snore comes from her cute nose. Josie’s fast asleep.
Before I drift off, I think about how smart I was to run to the store for new fabric softener so she could have soft, smooth sheets in bed.
ChapterThirty-Two
JOSIE
I wake up being hugged by a heater. My back is sweating because it’s pressed to a very warm body. A heavy hand rests on my hip, and I’ve been drooling on a huge bicep under my cheek. Trying to wipe it away discreetly, I accidentally wake up the man-heater.
“Hey.” His morning voice is hoarse from sleep.
“Hey,” I murmur back, recalling how I ended up here. The evening sure was full of events.
I can’t believe I told him about my family and the way I grew up. One time, I shared it on a date, and the man excused himself to the bathroom. Needless to say, I ended up paying for the dinner because he never returned. So, I kind of decided to keep my lovers away from my upbringing to avoid being called crazy. Good thing I didn’t tell all of the truth. Our town is like a cult itself, and those who didn’t agree with the rules often stayed in their parents’ dark basements and bunkers for two days in a row without food or water.
Or how one day I came to school wearing a short skirt I made myself from a curtain like Scarlett O’Hara, and the teacher called the sheriff, saying I was indecent. He took me in, shaming me the whole walk to his car, and locked me in jail until my father came to pick me up just to drop me off at the damn bunker for twenty-four hours until I agreed to throw away the skirt. And I did. I threw it away crying, but I didn’t have a choice. They broke me, and I was fifteen.
That skirt was the catalyst that made me decide to escape the town because not many people did. We grew up seeingthataround us, thinking that way of living was normal. That having your own opinion was not allowed because everything was decided for us by our parents and then husbands.
I didn’t want that. So I decided that I would escape the town and go to a very big city and never ever set foot in a small town again. That was promise number one.
The second promise was to never ever get married because I didn’t want to be suppressed by someone with a dick. I didn’t know it could be any different because I didn’t see it around me, and by the time I figured that marriages could be healthy and normal, I was already dead set on my husbandless path.
And that’s why I was scared of Kenneth Benson. I still am. He makes me forget about my rules and promises. He makes me want to become a wife and wait for him to come home from work. I want to have a belly with his kids inside. I want to stay in a small town because it feels like it might be my home.
