hum combined, placing weights on my eyelids. So tired.
With the overall agony easing, I must have drifted off for a moment because it wasn't until he jostled me that I realized he'd finished with my back. He'd sat down, his legs splayed on either side of mine. One arm wrapped around my waist, and he used that to pull me against him. Our bodies touched everywhere they could as he held me beneath the burning water.
The steady rise and fall of his chest helped ease me back into sleep. My body already felt better from the effects of the water and his massage, but it was my soul that seemed to breathe a brief sigh at the safety and sense of home we found within the cage he formed around us. The only thing tarnishing the peace that circled me was the nagging sensation that everything was a lie.
Chapter Ten
With reddened skin, the two of us got out of the shower. When I struggled to stand, and Kian swept me up into his arms, I didn't argue.
In truth, gratitude made my heart swell. Though the torment had lessened, my body still felt abused. Besides the normal pain I always woke with, the spasms left me so sore that each twitch of my muscles would have driven me to cry out if I weren't so used to it. Breathing in the mist that seeped from his skin and listening to the steady beat of his heart didn't hurt, either.
My head rested on his shoulder, and my arms wrapped around his neck while we returned to my room. When he lowered me onto my bed, I didn't free him, wanting to keep him close.
"You have to release me, Zella," he said with a hint of humor lacing his words.
My body lifted from the mattress as he tried to pull away.
"And if I don't want to let you go?" I asked.
He searched my eyes at how serious I sounded. Maybe the moments before pushed me to need him so much right then. Or perhaps a truth that even I didn't recognize took advantage of my state and slipped its way free.
When we started, we were supposed to be nothing more than fun. Then we became taboo, something that would only hurt Axton. Only a set before, we decided to start exploring further. I shouldn't have cared if he left to dress, but I did.
Most of the time, I waffled between hoping they would realize that something was terribly wrong with me, so they could save themselves, and hoping they stayed, anyway. Does that make me even more terrible than I already think I am?
Whatever my motive, he caved, and that crooked grin emerged.
As he crawled onto the bed beside me—his neck still caged by my arms—he whispered, "Ah, Princess. I warned you."
One of my eyebrows rose, drawing attention to the fact that even my head hadn't been spared by the ordeal's effects. I racked my brain, trying to recall whatever warning he spoke of.
When he lowered himself down and twisted my hips so that I was forced to face him, he laughed. The tinkling chimes layered within it didn't anger me like it would have when we first met. Instead, it only boosted my mood, and I knew it wasn't done maliciously. That he tried to diminish my hurts only warmed me, no matter what the method he used—at least, for that moment.
I pulled against him until our skin touched; he brushed his lips against mine. His cock pressed against me, but neither of us mentioned it. With his smugness evident in his tone, he reminded me.
"I warned you might be the one falling for me. Maybe you should have listened."
His chuckle made my stomach flip-flop while I chewed on my response. When he delivered those words the first time we became one, I'd screwed up and snorted, setting off his insecurities.
Carefully, I wrapped my leg over his and inched closer. "And do you remember what I told you? Love is too messy and not in a fun way. I am willing to admit that I like you."
His snort morphed into guffaws, and the longer they carried on, the more my insides shifted. I shrank away from him, withdrawing until his firm hand fought against my retreat.
"I guess it's my turn to explain." He tilted his head until our foreheads met, and those blue orbs burned bright. "It's funny to watch you battle the truth, the inevitable. So stubborn."