his warm hands on her tensed shoulders. He turned her around, his expression somber. “Avery, this is me. I of all people know how hard you’ve worked to put your past behind you.”
“No. You don’t know,” she returned still prickly. “You think you do, but you don’t. Not really.” Opposition laced her voice. “Knowing is one thing. Experiencing it is another. You’ll never understand. There’s no common ground between your childhood and mine.”
“You’re right,” he agreed sadly, tucking a coppery strand of her hair behind her ear. “I don’t know what it was like growing up like you did, and it makes me mad to even think about it. But I’m here, and I love you, and I want you to let me help you deal with this.”
“I’m sorry.” She closed the distance between them, and dropped her head onto his shoulder. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”
“It’s ok.” He stroked her hair silently for a moment. “If you should change your mind about seeing him, he wanted me to tell you that he’s staying in town this week.”
She pulled back, her expression hardened. “I’m not changing my mind.”
“I’m ok with whatever you decide. I won’t push either way. But if you should decide to meet him, I don’t want you going alone, ok?”
“Ok.” She blew out a breath that stirred her bangs.
“Good.” He gave a satisfied nod. “Why don’t you go take a hot bath? I’ll make some rooibos tea and bring it to you.”
“That would be really nice,” she confirmed, weariness weighing her down as she shuffled back to the master bathroom.
Reclining against the back of the garden tub with her eyes closed, she knew the moment he stepped into the room by the way her body reacted, tingling with an awareness that had always been there between the two of them. Even when she’d been disguised as a guy.
Heat that had nothing to do with the temperature of the bath flooded her veins. She opened her eyes to find him leaning back against the door frame looking at her with a heavy lidded gaze. Steam billowed from the white porcelain mug cupped in his masculine hands. Slowly, the focus of his gaze lifted from where her breasts peeked out above the surface of the bubbles to her face. Looking pointedly at the mug, she arched a brow. “Is that for me?”
“The tea you mean?” Marcus asked suggestively, giving her a sexy half smile.
Avery reached out with a soapy arm to take the mug he offered her. “The tea will do… for now,” she said, playing along. Blowing over the top before taking a sip, she sighed with pleasure at the first taste of the rich exotic brew. Warmth from the tea slid down her throat while the passionate expression on Marcus’ face fueled warmth of a different sort.
Purposefully, she sat up further in the water, feeling the bubbles sliding down to her waist. Eyes darkening to deep sapphire followed their path with focused concentration. She started to bring the tea to her mouth again when he abruptly reached for it and removed it from her hands.
The mug clattered as he set it down on the black granite countertop. He grabbed a thick white bath towel off the warming rack. Wordlessly, he unfolded it and held it outstretched for her to step into. “You are so beautiful,” he said watching her rise from the tub.
He wrapped her flushed body in the soft heated towel and swept her off her feet. Cradled tight to his rock-hard chest, she found herself swiftly carried to the bedroom. Her heart hammered excitedly against her ribs as he laid her out on the king sized bed and began to caress her body. With calloused fingertips he expertly stroked her like an instrument that he had mastered. She’d never had a lover like Marcus. Not that there had been many before him. But she could never have imagined anyone making love to her the way he did. Like it was a physical expression of what he felt inside his soul.
He ran his hands across every inch of her sensitized creamy white skin plucking lightly in certain areas, circling teasingly in others, always seeming to intuitively know where and how to touch in a way that would give her the most pleasure. By the time he covered her body with his own she was trembling and ready. She moaned deep in her throat at the exquisite feeling of completion she felt when he finally brought