“Cairn,” I say as he moves the soap to my thigh.
“Hmm?”
I watch the soap bubbles floating atop the water, catching the light from the candles and gleaming with little rainbows of color. “How long will it take?”
He continues to work the soap into my thigh, then behind my knee, leaving no spot unscrubbed. “How long will what take?”
A smile pulls on my mouth. The bathwater sloshes as I sit up and turn to face him. “Stretching me.” I glance down into the soapy water, where his cock is just barely visible throughthe soap bubbles, still impressively wide and long even when it’s soft. “How long until you can fuck me?”
His jaw feathers, and through the water, I can see his cock twitch, just a little.
“I don’t know,” he finally says, but he’s not meeting my eyes. “I’ve only...” Something like embarrassment creeps across his face, turning his cheeks a slightly darker shade of red than the hot water already did. “I’ve only done this once before.”
A collection of emotions goes through me.
Of course he’s been with other women—how could he not? He’s older than me, more experienced, and one of the most beautiful specimens ofmanI’ve ever seen. I know I’m not the only woman who’s wanted to feel him between her thighs.
Yet his words still make my chest pinch and my stomach squeeze. I don’t much like the thought of him stretching someone else, preparing her to take his cock.
“So,” I say softly, trying to pick my words with care instead of letting them spew out in a fiery volcano, like they usually do, “you’ve been with a human before?”
He nods once. “Yes. Though it was many years ago now.”
I reach for the bar of soap still held in his hand and ease it into mine. Then, with a gentleness I didn’t realize I possessed, I start working the soap into his chest, along his collarbones, and down his thick arms. “What happened?” I whisper, not looking up to meet his dark eyes.
Cairn doesn’t reply for a long time. When Idofinally glance up, he’s not looking at me. He’s staring at a point on the wall, forehead furrowed slightly, as though he’s relivingold memories. His long curls hang loose, framing his face and strong jaw.
“You don’t have to tell me,” I say. “I’d understand if—”
“It’s not that,” he says softly. One of his hands finds my bare back, and he begins tracing his fingers along my skin slowly, as if he’s lost in the past. “It’s just that I’ve not thought about it for a long time. It’s... odd, unearthing what I’ve left buried.” Now his eyes meet mine. He shifts slightly in the tub, stretching his legs out longer. His head cants slightly to one side as he regards me. “I was engaged to be married.”
Another bolt of surprise goes through me. It serves to remind me of the age difference between us. It’s like he’s lived this whole big life, and mine is only just getting started.
“But you didn’t go through with it?” I take his hand in mine—it’s so big in comparison—and work the soap into his forearm, then his wrist, where I can feel his heartbeat through the tender skin.
“I would have,” he says. “But she decided not to. She called it off before we were wed.”
I’m not sure I like that answer. The silly, jealous part of me wanted him to say thathedecided not to marry her. Keeping my eyes down so he can’t see the tangled emotions I’m working to unravel, I say, “Why?”
He sighs, long and low. Then, as if it’s the most natural thing in the world, he says, “Her family wouldn’t accept me because I’m a minotaur, so she broke it off with me.”
Now my eyes flash to his, and my hand stills with the soap. “What?”
The emotion inside me turns quickly to anger, heat flooding my veins. I know—have always known—thatthere are people in the world who judge others on how they look or where they were born instead of judging them based on their character. But howanyonecould toss Cairn aside like that...
My mind flashes with images: Cairn raking leaves, the small smile that curled across his lips when the red fox licked his chin, the gentleness with which he prunes plants and tucks them into the soil to keep them warm for the long winter ahead.
Around us, the water grows warmer as my fire magic simmers.
“What an asshole,” I finally say, not pausing to consider how Cairn might respond.
But he surprises me when he lets out a hearty laugh. It makes the water slosh all around us, and for a moment, it’s like I’m a boat in a tropical storm, getting tossed this way and that.
His arms come around me, and he eases me into his lap, my knees spread along either side of his hips. Close up, I can see little water droplets clinging to his beard and glimpse my funny warped reflection in the winking metal of his nose ring.
“Thank you for that,” he says. His voice is buoyant, and his lips are pulled into a small smile. “I’ve wanted to hear someone say that for a long, long time.”
Despite my anger and simmering jealously, I can’t help but to smile. “Asshole, asshole, asshole,” I repeat. My bare arms wrap around his neck, and I press my chest to his. “I’ll say it as many times as you want.”
