Page 18 of His Sassy Little

“Honestly, a shower sounds heavenly right now.”

The wistful look on her face bled into her words making Tanner instantly on board with her plan.

“Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

“Please,” Arabella gripped his hand so tightly, the skin around her fingers blanched, “Don’t leave me.”

Those soft-spoken words altered his plans to go get some of her things. She could use his soap and one of his shirts - in fact, the more he thought about it, the more he liked that idea.

“Alright, Little Hurricane. Up we go,” He grabbed her under her knees and behind her back, tucking her close to his chest as he headed off to the shower.

Tanner wasn’t entirely sure if he was in heaven or if he’d somehow landed in hell. Lord knows, he’d done enough things in his life to warrant this level of torture, he’d just never expected it to come in this particular form. It was his own fault, really. He’d insisted on joining her and while that wouldn’t normally be torture, he wouldn’t use her vulnerable state to his advantage. So here he was, watching water cascade down the most perfect female form he’d ever seen, soaping it up, feeling all the dips and contours mere hours after discovering how truly spectacular it would be with her, and keeping it clinical.

He couldn’t help his raging erection but that didn’t mean he had to do anything about it. He did however, happily note the fact that no permanent damage seemed to have been done to the appendage. This was about Arabella. This was comfort, caring, healing and was desperately needed if her zoned-out state was any indication.

As Tanner ran the soapy cloth along the bottom of Arabella’s foot, he got the first real sign of life he’d seen since before he’d carted her into the bathroom. She jerked her foot away and barked a laugh.

Ticklish.

He noted the discovery for a later time and applied more pressure to the other arch as he cleaned. As much as he wanted to see these signs, he knew tickling someone could be fun or torture, he wasn’t sure which it would be for her. With Arabella’s drained state after her nightmare, he’d rather tread carefully.

After she was cleaned, he simply held her as she soaked in the heat from the spray. He wasn’t willing to rush her out and was actively praying the hot water lasted long enough to wash the nightmare from her system. He was hoping it would relax her enough to allow her to get back to sleep. They’d had very little before her nightmare. She needed more.

His contemplation was interrupted when Arabella turned in his arms and smiled tiredly at him. “Thank you,” she said before reaching up and placing a light kiss on his lips.

He bent his frame and leaned his forehead to hers, “Better?”

Her arms came up and wrapped around his neck, holding him in place, “Much.”

Her lips grazed his again, skated away for a moment, then returned to give him a longer, deeper kiss. One that had his blood returning south.

When she pulled away, she made every second of torture worth it as she murmured, “I don’t think I have ever felt so cherished in my life.”

Tanner cupped her cheek and rubbed the apple with his thumb. “Good,” was all he could get past his lips since he didn’t think it would help her in any way to know that he was livid that a simple shower was the best care she’d ever received. He was determined to fix that.

After their shower, Tanner toweled Arabella off, dressed her in his shirt – which looked far better on her–and carried her to his bed. He set her on the edge as he replaced the newly fluffed pillows. When he had that completed, he lay her down and arranged the blankets over her small frame, tucking them neatly into her side.

“Mister Fluffington.” She mumbled sleepily, already half dozing, so he ran to the other room and grabbed the stuffed bunny he’d gotten her. When he returned, she was already asleep again, but as soon as the bunny was placed in her arms, she squeezed him tighter to her and hummed in approval.

Letting her sleep, he made his way down the hall and turned into his home office. Sitting at the desk, he looked at his phone and debated if he should make the call this late. In the end, he decided wasting any time was out of the question and dialed.

“Spike? What’s wrong?” Stone’s voice sounded sleepy, and he could hear in the background that he’d woken Sapphire as well but this was too important to feel bad.

“Stone, man, I need help.”

“Anything.”

“I need the club’s help.”

“Again, anything, man. What do you need?”

While Arabella slept, he explained the whole situation to his friend and prayed it was enough to keep his woman safe.

Chapter Fourteen

Arabella woke to the feel of soft lips on hers and rough stubble grazing her chin. Mister Fluffington was still caged in her arms but was quickly squished between their bodies as her arms wrapped around Tanner’s neck and she deepened the kiss, only thinking of morning breath when she tasted the mint on his tongue.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, covering her mouth as her cheeks heated.

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