Page 47 of The Bonds We Break
“I agree, in some cases that is true. But the bonds I have with my father, the things he did in my past, the way those things make me feel in the present? Yeah, I’d break those bonds in a heartbeat. Did you know my brother sometimes took beatings for me, so I had time to recover in between beatings of my own? For that alone, I never want to see my father again.”
When King’s lips meet mine, I jump. There’s an unexpected tenderness to it. One that makes me feel things I probably shouldn’t.
“You know what you need?” King asks.
“A new father?”
He chuckles. “You need to bathe me.”
My mouth opens, but no words come out.
“Go run me a bath, duchess. Don’t get naked, or we’ll not be leaving the house. You bathe me, and I’ll take you for a ride.”
Pressure slips from me at his request. I realize that despite his dirty hands turning me on, I don’t want to boil down this growing intimacy to orgasms. I want more. Bathing him doesn’t involve me. Well, it does. But not sexually. Intimately, definitely. Without answering, I walk back into the house. Instead of my mind racing about how this is going to go, I feel totally present in my body.
I slip King’s coat and my shoes off by the door and feel the cool wooden floorboards beneath my feet. The stairs creak as I climb them. The handle is stiff beneath my fingers as I open the bathroom door.
The bathtub is white and clean, if a little tired. I make sure the plug is secure, then start to run the water. Scouring the shelf, I try to find something bubbly. In the cupboard beneath the sink is a basket filled with things that belong to another woman, and it kills the calm I was feeling. There is bubble bath solution, an expensive foundation, and a box of tampons, amongst other things.
Maybe they belonged to the woman Ryker told me about. The one who betrayed King. Maybe he won’t like the jasmine scent. Maybe it will bring back memories of her.
Steam starts to swirl as the bath fills.
King walks in and sees what I’m holding. “Didn’t realize I still had that shit.” He picks up the foundation and tosses it in the garbage.
“Would you like me to add this?” I ask, showing him the bottle of bubble bath.
“Sure,” he says, then steps back out into the hall, where he starts to remove his clothes.
An obvious brake for me is using another woman’s things. Especially if she was a former lover.
When he steps back in, he’s naked, and immediately notices I haven’t moved. “Stop overthinking, Rae. The scent of it won’t make me think of her.”
I bite my lip and then pour the bubble bath. The fact it smells lovely makes me feel worse.
“Eyes on me, duchess,” King snaps, and I automatically comply.
He doesn’t say a thing. Just holds my gaze.
His fingers loop my wrist and draw my palm to his chest. As I feel the warmth of his skin, he places his hand over mine.
My heart thuds in my chest. I swear I can feel it in my temple, in my stomach.
But as I stare into King’s eyes, as I notice the flecks of violet around his iris, it quiets.
“That’s my good girl,” he says. And I realize I’ve stilled. “Just focus on me.”
King releases my wrist and climbs into the bath as I try not to notice just how muscular his legs and ass are. Or the way his Iron Outlaws tattoo flexes as he lowers himself into the tub. “God, that feels good,” he groans as he lets his head fall back against the edge of the tub. “Wash me, duchess.”
I look around for a cloth, and not seeing one, I decide to simply use my hands. I tug off my sweater to reveal the camisole I wear beneath and drop to my knees.
King reaches out and touches my cheek with his thumb. “Brave girl.”
His words make my insides all gooey.
I tip a little bit of body wash into my hands and start with King’s shoulders. In my mind, I know I should be pragmatic and wash him quickly. But there is something incredibly charged about the steamy bathroom and feeling in tune with another person.
One moment I’m soaping in circles; the next, I’m tracing the lines of his muscles with my fingertips. Everything happens in slow motion, heightened by the intimacy of small, steamy space we’re in.
