Page 37 of Shielded Hearts

When she stripped away the rest of her clothes and dipped one toe into the tub, he stepped up, offering his hand. Warmth spread through her chest as she accepted his assistance as she stepped into the tub.

She sank into the heated depths. Seated in the center, she felt small. “This is huge compared to that horse trough.”

“I hope so. It cost a hell of a lot more.” He stepped in behind her. Water surged up her skin, and then he sat down, taking upallthe space.

“You’re big. Guess you needed a big tub.”

He stretched his long, muscled, hairy legs on each side of her and hooked her around the waist, drawing her back against him. With a sigh, she rested her head on his chest and let the heat and sweet bath oil work to relax her.

That seemed impossible when every fiber of her being shivered on the edge.

She’d expected this to get very sexual. Instead, it wassensual.

He settled his fingertips into the muscles on the back of her neck and began lightly kneading it.

She let out a low moan. “That feels so good.”

His breath tickled over her earlobe. “You like being pampered.”

“Who doesn’t?”

“Me.”

She twisted to shoot him a look. “You don’t enjoy a good massage or breakfast in bed?”

“I might if I ever experienced those things, but I haven’t.”

She sputtered. “You’ve never even had a massage?”

“Nope. I played baseball in high school, but I wasn’t going to be one of those pansies who needed the trainer to rub them down all the time.”

“Colt.” She stared at him. “You don’t always have to be the toughest guy in the room.”

The noise he made in the back of his throat was part grunt, part chuckle.

Before he could guess her intention, she climbed out of the tub and got back in behind him. Wrapping her thighs around his waist, she leaned in close to whisper in his ear.

“Relax.”

“Hmph.”

She pressed her fingertips into the stiff muscles on the back of his neck. Using the water on her fingers, she skimmed her hand up and down his neck. When she felt him begin to relax, she moved a hand to each shoulder and started working what felt like years—maybe decades—of tension out of his muscles.

She had no idea what hour it was, and she lost herself in giving back to the man who’d shared his space so generously with her. Touching a man at all was strange. Touching one without the intent to gain sexual pleasure… Well, that was very different for Aspen.

“I bet you bring all the ladies here.”

She felt him go still.

“I figured you guessed by now that I don’t date.”

She stopped working on the tense knots on his shoulder blades. “Never?”

“Never.”

She drew in a breath to share that she didn’t go out with the opposite sex often either, but a vibrating sound came from somewhere nearby.

“That’s your phone.”

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