Page 52 of Holding The Reins

“Tonight, it is,” he says, slapping my ass.

He’s still beaming as he turns the shower on. Thankfully, the one thing in this little cabin that is built for two is the shower. It’s the entire length of the six-foot back wall with glass doors and white subway tile. Cole redid it two years ago, just as he redid the rest of the cabins.

Cole. Wade.

“My brothers can never know about this,” I blurt.

Nash turns to face me as he tests the water with his hand. Not one ounce of self-consciousness permeates from him. He’s completely confident in his skin. And he should be.

Fuck, he’s incredible. No one should look that good. It should be illegal. It’s literally killing my brain cells.

“I’m willing to respect whatever wishes you have, CeCe. I’m a grown-ass man, so I don’t feel the need to hide that this happened but if that is what you want, I’ll go along with it.”

“It’s only one night,” I say. “Surely we can keep it to ourselves and not make it weird.”

He nods and holds the shower door open for me. I do what he wants and get in, letting the water run over me.

“How long has it been for you?” I ask, as he rubs my vanilla body wash over my shoulders.

“Since my last shower?” He chuckles.

“Since your last… woman.” I laugh.

“A while,” he answers.

I turn around. “Really?”

“Like a couple weeks?” I joke.

He sighs. “Nineteen months,” he replies as he turns my body around and grabs the shampoo.

“Nineteen months?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Nash scoffs at me from behind me. “I’m not a manwhore, contrary to what you think. I mean… yeah, I maybe was when I was younger, but I just haven’t met anyone. My knee was all fucked up for a while last year, I had to abruptly plan my retirement because of it, and then I came home and I’ve just been so involved in the Center and the bar. I haven’t had time; no one has interested me.”

He says nothing more as he scrubs my hair clean, massaging strawberry shampoo into my skull with the pads of his fingers. My shoulders relax and I take a deep breath.

He leans down to my ear. “Feel good?”

“Yes,” I give. “So good. So, is this the full package Nash Carter one-night stand?”

He rinses my hair clean and reaches around me for the conditioner.

“I’ve never washed a woman’s hair before,” he says.

My eyes fly open.

“So what you’re saying is, when it comes to your one-night stand packages, I pulled the golden ticket?”

He chuckles. “Something like that, Rae.”

I think for a minute while he runs his fingers through my conditioner covered hair, working out the knots.

“Honest question time,” I say.

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