Page 121 of Vicious Addictions

“Are you afraid that they won’t be as impressed?”

“No.” I shake my head, a frown replacing my previous smile. “They’ll love you. How could they not?”

Mina takes a deep breath, her shoulders stiffening somewhat, raising her knees up in the tub as a way of protecting herself. However, the move is a bad one as it draws my eyes away from her face and onto her curvy body. I swallow dryly, watching beads of water and soap bubbles run down her thighs, getting lost underwater and kissing the apex in between her thighs.

Not being able to stop myself, I reach for her thigh and use one finger to write my name on her skin.

Mina doesn’t pull away, letting my fingers wander up and down her thigh with abandon.

My cock starts to swell, hardening to the point of pain.

Craving something to distract me before I do something rash like pull her out of this godforsaken bathtub, I question her further. “Why didn’t your father make the trip? How is he?”

This time, Mina spins her head in my direction with venom in her gaze and asks, “What do you care?” I lower my brows, my shoulders slumping with the hatred swimming in her eyes.

“I care for your father, Mina. He was my mentor. I loved him.”

“Right,” she scoffs, turning her eyes away from mine. “You care so much that you haven’t picked up the phone to talk to him in the past five years.”

“Not because I didn’t want to,” I defend wholeheartedly. “But because it hurt hearing the disappointment in his voice. I never meant to betray his trust. Nor did I ever imagine my father would retaliate the way he did.”

“Spare your apologies for someone who actually wants to hear them. As far as my father is concerned, that’s all in the past. He’s moved on from that disappointment.”

“What about you? Have you moved on?”

She doesn’t reply and instead sits up in the tub to grab a shampoo bottle.

My mind goes blank staring at her breasts, the soap bubbles slowly moving toward her perfect, diamond-studded nipples.

“If you plan to bore me with tales of the past, then at least make yourself useful,” she says before shoving the shampoo bottle into my chest.

I place the bottle on the floor and get up, taking the watch off my wrist before unbuttoning my shirt.

When she sees me taking my shirt off, she asks accusingly, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“What does it look like? I’m going to wash your hair,” I retort with a goading grin, pretending to have to take my shirt off to do the task she so politely implied.

By the look in her eyes, I can tell she regrets making such a move. But I refuse to back down now. I take a seat at the border of the tub, just behind her head, using my fingers to brush her hair. It’s just as silky and soft as I remember it to be. I would spend hours in bed talking to Mina while my fingers brushed through every lock of her jet-black hair.

She must sense I’m lost in a memory of us because she slides under the water before coming up, every strand of her hair soaked now.

Sensing her move is my cue to start, I pick the shampoo bottle from the floor and spill the coconut-scented shampoo into my palms. I then commence washing her hair, making sure to massage her scalp. Her tense shoulders instantly relax under my touch.

“Daddy’s sick,” she says after a while, causing my brows to furrow. “That’s why he didn’t come with us to Chicago. The doctors scheduled more exams, so he had to stay in London.”

“I’m sorry,” I tell her with the utmost sincerity, “Do they know what he has?”

“The doctors say that it’s melanoma.”

“Fuck. I’m sorry, love.”

She shakes her head, not wanting me to hear the grief in her voice.

“All those weekends spent outside under the sun hunting finally caught up with him. But he’ll get through it. Over ninety-five percent of skin cancers are successfully treated if found early, so I have no doubt my father will fight this sickness with all his might.”

I lean down, place a tender kiss on the back of her neck, and then whisper in her ear, “Victor will do more than just fight it. He’ll obliterate it. He’d never leave you if he could prevent it.”

When Mina refuses to say another word on the subject, I return to the task and finish washing her hair.

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