Page 61 of Pucks and Coffee

Because I don’t know if I’ll hurt her—or scream the words back at her.

CHAPTER 32

Eliza

My body is still humming from all the pleasure Coleson drew out of me. I thought I was relaxed and sated before, but with the hot water flowing over my body and his fingers moving through my hair, I find that I only want him more.

“Can I ask you something?”

At my question, Coleson pauses his fingers on my scalp where he is washing my hair. Hesitantly, he answers, “Sure.”

I smile at his actions. He’s so cute. “Why do you only call me ‘wife’?”

His fingers start moving again, and I close my eyes as he rubs my scalp. “Honestly?”

“No. Please lie to me.”

He chuckles. “Sassy little wife,” he mutters as he rubs his thumbs along the skin behind my ears. I almost moan at the sensation, but I really want to hear what he has to say. “Your name does something to me. It always has. Ever since I first met you. And I don’t know why, or even how to explain it.”

I open my eyes. “What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing,” he says automatically. “Okay, that’s a lie.” I smile, and he clears his throat. “It’s not that there is anything wrong with how it makes me feel, just that, um, well, er?—”

“It scares you?” I suggest, and I feel him tense behind me.

“Yeah,” he admits, and my stomach does a flip. “But everything about you scares me.”

“Oh?”

“Yup,” he says, taking my hips and bringing me under the water. As he rinses my hair, I wait for him to say more, but I know he won’t. I have to tread lightly. It’s as if he is a wounded animal and I have to coax him to take the food I’m offering.

The food being my heart.

My love.

A life with me.

When he’s done washing my hair, I turn in his arms and meet his gaze. “My turn.”

His lips quirk. “You’re going to wash my hair?”

I nod. “Yup. On your knees, you giant.”

He chuckles as he lowers to his knees before me. “Yes, my little wife.”

I roll my eyes playfully as I take his shampoo and work it through his hair. Like he did to me, I massage his scalp and find that I’m unable to keep my thoughts to myself. “I don’t mean to scare you,” I say softly, and his lips curve up, rewarding me with those dimples I adore.

“I know.”

“But I’m not sorry either.”

He chuckles, moving his hands up and down the backs of my thighs.

“I know that too.”

I grin as I rub the back of his neck. When his eyes drift shut, his lashes kissing his cheeks, I only fall for him more. “Can I give you some advice?”

His eyes open again, meeting mine, and damn, he looks good down there. He leans in, kissing my belly as his fingers dance along the backs of my thighs. “Will I like this advice?”

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