Ashes (Web of Desire #3) - Aleatha Romig Page 0,110

down, we will go away on a trip.”

“Patrick told me he doesn’t have a place on the beach.”

I shrugged. “Ruby, there’s a big world out there. It’s time we stop thinking in terms of Andros’s part of it. I don’t know, but I bet if we want sun and a beach, Patrick can find one.”

She let out a sigh. “It’s been almost two weeks. I’m about to scream.”

“Please don’t do anything to endanger yourself or the Sparrows.” My eyes narrowed. “I don’t know if you know this, but in those two weeks, everyone here has come to love you. If anything happened, not one person here would put themselves over you.”

“Mom, what am I going to do? Only two buttons work on the elevator for me. I can’t exactly run away if I can’t get out. There’s a door up at Aunt Araneae’s penthouse that goes to an outside elevator. Lorna said that doesn’t work for anyone. We all have to use the back elevator. It’s cool and creepy.”

A smile came to my lips. “It is. They’ve thought of everything here.”

“Come back,” Ruby said. “I’m nervous that Andros will be there.”

I shook my head. “Nothing will happen to me as long as Patrick, Sterling, Mason, and their men are around.”

“I like it here, but I don’t want to be here without you.”

Letting go of her hand, I wrapped my arms around my daughter’s shoulders. “I love you, Ruby. I’ll be back and so will Pat—your father,” I corrected. “We’ll be back and we can concentrate on the future.”

“But Andros will be there?”

“Patrick thinks he will. There’s some business—not involving us—that Andros and Sterling are negotiating.”

Her head moved from side to side, her long dark hair following suit upon her shoulders and down her back. “I don’t like that.”

“It’s not our worry.”

Ruby forced a grin. “Mom, win.”

“I plan on it.”

A few minutes later while in the bathroom with the tub water running, I stripped from the clothes I’d worn upstairs for dinner. With a towel wrapped around me, I added lavender bath salts to the water as the sweet aroma filled the bathroom. Piling my hair in a messy bun, I readied myself for a quick, warm bath. After testing the water, I dropped the soft towel near the tub and stepped in. As I settled, the water rose to my chest, covering my skin in the silky lavender-scented liquid.

Just as I was about to close my eyes, the door to the bathroom opened and a smile came to my lips. “I thought you would be on 2 longer.”

“I told the others to get over it. I was spending the evening with my wife.”

My gaze narrowed. “You did not.”

“Not in so many words.”

Patrick’s suit coat from earlier was gone as were his cuff links. His shirt sleeves were rolled to his elbows and his pants, belt, and shoes were in place.

He had my attention as he unbuttoned the shirt, button by button, exposing his toned wide chest. Peeling it from his arms and dropping it to the floor, he came closer.

Looking at his slacks, I grinned. “You’re overdressed if you’re joining me.”

Testing the water with the tips of his fingers, he knelt on the towel I’d dropped.

The aroma of his cologne mingled with the lavender as he leaned over the tub and our lips met. The heat intensified, not from the water but from this man’s actions. As his mouth unapologetically claimed mine and our tongues danced, one of his hands steadied my neck as his other large hand roamed.

Under the water, his touch moved, caressing my breasts until my nipples hardened. Lower he roved, as his fingers moved over my skin until they found my core.

Without words, I moved my legs, granting him access as his lips and tongue continued their claim. I gasped for breath as one finger and then two filled me. In and out he worked me, taking painstaking time and pleasure as his thumb also found my clit.

I was lost to his touch as the bathroom filled with my moans and whimpers.

For only a moment, I considered protesting, to say I wanted to pleasure him as well, but words were lost as he brought me to climax. My muscles tightened as my fingers grasped the tub’s edge, and I stretched my legs as my inner walls contracted.

“That’s it, Maddie. Let go.”

It was what I was doing, what I could do with Patrick.

I could let go, let the worries and concerns float away like the lavender scent