Page 20 of Safe in Shadow
Yet.
NYX WATCHED HIS PRETTYpet pamper herself, admitting that she deserved it. He’d seen her lugging and huffing, shifting and groaning, carrying piece after piece of furniture into the house. She could barely keep her eyes open during her meal. She didn’t look at the small screens she was so fond of, instead eating with so many moans, groans, and sighs that his body twisted and shaped itself into a man. A virile, hungry man, who wanted to feed his carnal appetites the way she was sating her hunger for food.
Tonight, he came close to her. Behind her. A soft shadow, one of many shadows in a dim room where the tired woman had no desire to turn on lights.
He trailed her and her single glass of dark red wine up the stairs, and followed her into the bathroom she claimed as her own—but tonight she did not shut the shower curtain and turn on the spray of mist that coated her body, sending rivers from her shoulders to her feet. Tonight, she parted the curtain, tucked it up out of the way, fumbled with some of her pretty bottles on the counter, and ran herself a bath.
Nyx no longer pretended she was just art, no longer pretended he would leave soon, or look away. Tonight, he slid into the cracks and corners behind her and wondered if he dared to sink into the water beneath her.
Would she even notice? Or would she just assume her tired muscles were imagining things?
It started slowly as she stripped and sank into peach-scented bubbles, glass of wine held high, towel folded behind her head.
She kept her eyes closed, her breathing low and shallow, then deeper. Her empty glass was placed on the floor, delicately dropped onto a bath mat with limp, sleepy fingers.
He had some vague idea that he shouldn’t let her sleep in the bathtub. Too deep. Too slippery.
Oh, sins, he wanted to be inside of her, filling her where it was deep and slippery.
But for now—he slid underneath her. He was able to.
Her weight rested on him, and he groaned, lost in hot water, the scent of ripe peaches, and the feel of naked flesh on his.
“Sleep, Sunflower. I won’t let you sink.”
IN THE WARM WATER,her muscles didn’t complain. Her belly was full, and her senses were mellowed by warm wine, softsounds of nature outside, and her favorite scents of summer and spring that reminded her of picking peaches with Nana.
When the last sip of wine was gone, and her head was pillowed on a folded towel, she had the belated worry that she might slip down this deep tub and drown in her sleep. Would the shock of her mouth and nose going under wake her up? Probably.
Should go to bed.
Don’t wanna move.
Grace remained in a sleepy, watery limbo for a while, her eyes shut. It was only when she made the first attempts to struggle upward and lift her chin out of the water that she felt it.
Something... Something solid and soft, like a cushion, but not made of any material she knew. Not the hard surface of the tub, certainly.
Her hips wriggled and slid as she tried to get a better purchase on the sides of the tub, and that was when she felt it.
Hard. Thick. Against her lower back. Against her rear.
Her breath caught in her chest, but the scream died in her throat when her eyes flew open and she looked into the water.
Nothing there, just dimness and remnants of bubbles. The water was dark, but she’d left the lights on the lowest setting for a reason, to help her relax.
Maybe I’m asleep?
This could be a dream.
The familiar tingle of guilty pleasure started in her middle. Yes, a dream, like the wet dream she’d had the other day—or was that just this morning? Had it been multiple mornings?
Her hand moved down to her wet curls, and then lower still, surprised to find her fingers easily sliding into her slick tunnel, coated in a slipperiness that overpowered the bubbles.
If it’s a dream... Enjoy it.
If you’re awake—maybe you’re just horny.
The hard thing moved. She felt something shift, felt her hand nudged by something decidedly phallic—but bigger than anything she’d ever had before.
