Page 67 of Where We Bloom

I’m contemplating that when the door opens, and Connor returns carrying a cup of tea, which he sets on a skinny table next to the tub.

“Was it still hot enough?” he asks.

“They must have filled this thing with boiling water because it’s still really hot. Are you getting in with me?”

He bends over and kisses me, so tenderly, so softly, it makes my toes curl. With my head back, his finger glides between my collarbone and up my throat to my lips.

I can’t wait to get my hands on this man.

“No. I’m going to let you relax for a while longer, then I’ll dry you off and put you to bed.”

I lift an eyebrow. “I don’t have a watch on me, but I don’t think it’s even nine yet.”

“Those are the plans. Drink your tea.”

“Bossy, aren’t you?”

“You have no idea.”

He saunters out of the bathroom, and I decide to enjoy this hot water, and the hot tea he brought me.

When the tea is gone, the bubbles have popped to nothing, and the water is tepid, Connor returns with an enormous, fluffy green towel and offers me his hand to help me stand.

When I’m out of the water, he wraps me in that towel and pulls me against him. Hugging me close, he rubs his hands up and down my back and kisses my head.

Never, not once in all of my life, have I felt as sexy, as secure, assafeas I do when Connor holds me.

“You changed,” I mutter against his gray T-shirt. He’s in matching sweatpants, and it looks like he took ashower because his hair is still damp. “Did you shower?”

“Aye. I used a guest room. I didn’t want to bother you.”

“Yeah, because lounging in that fancy tub and watching you shower ten feet away from me would have been too great a burden to bear.”

“I like it when you’re sassy,” he says before leading me out of the bathroom to the bedroom. The bed’s been turned down, the lights are dim, and I’m … sleepy.

I have the sexiest man aliveright here, and all I want to do is curl up around him and sleep.

Am I broken? Because the sex is top-notch, and I want that, too. I want lots of it.

But fuck, I’m so tired.

“Come on, bumble.” He drops my towel, then reaches for another of his shirts and slips it over my head. He doesn’t touch my skin. He doesn’t even let his eyes drop below my chin.

“Question.”

He raises an eyebrow, and I don’t climb into bed quite yet because I want to ask this while I’m standing.

“It used to be that you couldn’t keep your hands off me, and now that we’re spending time together, it’s the opposite. Are we not?—”

He frames my face in his hands, and he crushes his mouth to mine, gripping me like he never wants to let me go as he devours me. I have no choice but to open my mouth and let him in. I moan against him as he ends ourkiss. Still cupping my face, he drags his thumb over my lower lip.

“I want you more than I want to breathe,” he says, his voice rough. “Don’t ever question that. Keeping my hands to myself has been fucking torture, but you’re not okay. You’re exhausted, and I’m not an arsehole. I want more than a quick fuck to get my dick wet so you can finally sleep. No, baby. You deserve so much more than that. You deserve to have me worshipping you for hours when you’re awake and alert enough to enjoy every bloody moment of it.”

Shaking his head, he guides me into bed, then snuggles around me as I rest my head on his chest.

“You’re going to sleep, and when you wake up, I’ll make up for all our lost time. I’m going to consume every mouthwatering inch of you.”

I grin and wrap my arm around his abdomen, toss my leg over his, and sigh contentedly as I burrow against him. There isnothinglike this, right here, with this man.

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