Page 45 of The Devil's Ice

“No.” The tears that she thought would come at seeing her scarred face were surfacing now, but for a completely different reason. “Call me that again.”

“Ah.” He stared down at her, his body glistening under the water, making him look like some kind of mythical sea god: powerful, dangerous, sometimes merciful. “You mean ‘baby’?”

“Yes.”

“I got you, baby.”

She smiled now, smiled through her tears, and she let him lift her over the tub lip and set her on her feet. She clung to his arms, her nails digging into his flesh, but he didn’t even feel it. Vix was standing here with him, naked and vulnerable and totally trusting him to protect her from further injury… and all he wanted to do was live up to that for her.

He was the man who was tasked with keeping everyone safe, and Ice felt like he’d been a colossal fucking failure at it lately, all over the fucking place. But here – in this woman’s home, in this bathtub, under this hot shower – he could do that for one person, forher. So he did.

He wrapped his arms around her small body and moved her under the spray; he gently pulled her hair out of its ponytail; he carefully worked the shampoo and conditioner into her blonde tresses; he lathered her entire body in fragrant shower gel; he rinsed her in warm water until she was fresh and clean and rosy pink.

Then he lifted her back out of the tub and dried her body, gently, carefully, like she was made of spun sugar, patting down the neck brace to dry it. He towelled himself roughly, then took her hand and led her down the hall to her bedroom. He paused in the doorway, really looked at where Vix slept, and he felt warmth move over him as he realized that it was whereheslept too. At least for now.

Zoe had set up a sleeping frame for Vix, the one that the hospital had recommended, and she’d also bought several huge pillows. Ice found an oversized t-shirt, one with a wide neck that got over the brace without catching on it, and limb by limb, he worked Vix’s body into the soft material.

The whole time, she stood totally still, a bit tense to be sure, but the trust on her beautiful face was all Ice needed right now. He barely felt like he deserved it, but he’d take it, for as long as she was going to extend it to him. It was like a balm on his troubled heart, and although his worries and fears – for Hannah and Joe, for Wolf, for Keira, for the Road Devils and their women – didn’t lessen, they retreated. Just for a few sweet moments.

“OK,” Ice said. “Ready to get into bed?”

“Yes.” She looked at the frame and sighed a bit. “Sleeping sitting up isn’t great, but I’m so wiped out, I think I could sleepstandingup.”

“I bet. So let’s do this, slow and easy. Sit down on the side of the bed, and let me move you into the frame, get you all buried in your pillow fort. OK?”

“OK.”

She did as he instructed, and in a surprisingly short time, she was comfortably half-reclined, surrounded by huge, sumptuous pillows that must have cost Zoe a bomb, with Ice lying down on his side, facing her, totally and gloriously naked. She longed to be curled up against that astonishing body, pressed up against all that heat and strength, but this was pretty damn good too. They hadn’t even discussed him sleeping with her – by tacit and silent agreement, it had just happened, and she was so comfortable with it, it felt like he’d been in her bed for years.

Ice reached out, gently traced her eyebrow. “So what do you think?”

“Way better than the hospital bed, that’s for sure.” Vixen sighed again. “It’s always better to be home, I think. Same broken neck, same sleeping position, but still somehow more bearable.” She gave him a quick grin. “Or maybe it’s because the companyinthe bed has improved? As in, now I have some.”

“I’m gonna put a bunch of pillows between us, though,” Ice told her. “That way, I can’t roll over and jostle you by accident.”

“An extra layer of pillow fort, huh?”

“You got it. A fancy defensive wall of cotton and foam.”

Vixen’s eyes were starting to feel incredibly heavy, but she wasn’t quite ready to drop off to sleep yet: she wanted to enjoy having Ice in her bed, just for a few more minutes. Sure, he’d be here with her for weeks and weeks, but this was the first time, the first night.

To be sure, they were doing things a bit backwards, a bit horse-before-cart. They’d been fuck buddies for over a year, all the time knowing nothing much about each other except for their sexual likes and desires and triggers… and now here they were, starting to know each other as people. It was weird, and not traditional in any sense – and it felt so totally and absolutely right to her, that Vixen felt zero need to question it or wish that things were any other way. It wastheirway, and it was right forthem, and that was good enough.

Almost against her will, she closed her eyes, and found her thoughts wandering back to their talk earlier, to Ice telling her that he didn’t know that many things about her, but that healsoknew lots about her. She started making a hazy, vague mental list of all the things that she wanted to find out about him, things like how he grew up back in Montana, and when he joined the military, and why he didn’t drink hard alcohol. That reminded her of something that he’d said, and without even fully realising that she was speaking aloud, Vix murmured:

“Red.”

“What, baby?” He stroked her exposed shoulder, marvelling at the softness of her skin, wondering how he’d never really noticed it before. “What about red?”

“I like red wine.”

Then she tumbled into the warm, welcoming darkness, and she slept for sixteen hours straight.

Chapter Sixteen

Salt Lake City, Utah

The Highway Hellions MC Clubhouse

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