Lily
The bathwater lapsagainst my shoulders, warm and soothing with the faint scent of pine salts he must’ve tossed in.
My body hums everywhere, scratched, stretched, and sated.
And yet, when his massive frame slides in behind me, the ache fades into something softer.
Bear sinks down slow, his thighs bracketing mine. His chest presses to my back and his arms cage me. I sag back into him as his hands spread wide over my stomach, like he’s claiming every inch all over again.
“You’re sore,” he murmurs, voice husky in my ear.
I laugh weakly. “You wrestled me half-naked and fucked my oiled-up body silly all over your ring, Bear. Sore doesn’t begin to cover it.”
A half-regretful growl vibrates against my spine as he reaches for the cloth draped over the edge, wets it, and starts draggingit slow over my shoulders, down my arms. Careful and reverent, like he’s washing away the marks he left.
But when I glance down, I can still see faint bruises popping up on my body where his fingers dug in a little harder. My nipples are tender from his teeth. And between my thighs—God. Every shift in the water reminds me he was inside me, filling me, wrecking me.
His hands pause, thumbs smoothing over the faint rings on my waist.
“Shit, I should’ve taken better?—”
“No.” I catch his wrists to pull his arms tighter around me. “Don’t you dare take it back.”
His breath hitches, and for a moment, there’s silence. Just the water moving and the steady pound of his heart against my back.
Then he presses his mouth to my temple. “You’re dangerous, petal. You know that?”
I tilt my head back against him and brush his jaw with my smiling lips. “Why? Because I made The Grizzly roar and very nearly knocked you off your feet?” I tease.
He groans, low and guttural, and the cloth slips forgotten into the water. His hands slide up to cup my breasts, squeezing gently, soap-slick fingers teasing at swollen peaks.
I whimper, arching, half bewildered by the heat flickering again despite how wrung out I am.
“No. You’re dangerous,” he repeats, voice rough, “because I’d do it again. All of it. Any time you asked. Even if it kills me.”
My throat closes, thick and tight.
From the sheer weight of him. From the unsullied, priceless beauty of what he’s giving me in those words.
When I can swallow again, I twist in his arms, straddle his thighs beneath the water, the hot slick of his cock thickening against my belly.
My palms press to his cheeks, forcing him to look at me. “I don’t know what I want to ask for. Not yet. Or even if I deserve it. But I do know one thing.”
“What?” he croaks, his dark brown eyes digging deep into mine.
“No talk about dying, Bear. We only talk about living. To the fullest. However we both choose.”
His eyes flare dark, wild… maybe a little terrified. All of it echoed and mirrored inside me.
But then his hands lock onto my hips, anchoring me.
“Trying, petal,” he rasps. “God help me, I’m trying.”
And when his mouth crashes to mine, water sloshing over the sides of the tub, I believe him.
15
LILY
