His sudden openness—his vulnerability—made me forget what I was doing. My hand froze on his shoulder, soapy water dripping from the rag.
“Most of all.” Maddox squeezed his eyes closed. His chin held a slight quiver. “I worry for you and Briar. The thought of anyone hurting you makes me feel ill. Like spikes churning in my stomach, cutting away at my insides. If I lost you… if I lost either of you…” His composure slipped as his face crumpled, that quiver in his chin worsening. “I wouldn’t survive it, Evan. Gods, I wouldn’t—” His sentence broke off into a sharp intake of air, and his body shook.
I dropped the rag and shuffled closer, wrapping my arms around him.
Maddox hid his face in the crease of my neck. He didn’t make a sound, but a tear landed on my shirt. Just one.
He was a man who rarely showed his emotions, but he couldn’t keep them bottled anymore. They bubbled up like a shaken can of soda with its tab popped open before the fizz had time to settle.
“I’ve got you,” I whispered, petting the back of his hair. He had said those words to me so many times over the past few months. I needed him to know he could lean on me too.
His mouth crashed to mine. Taken off guard, I made a sound against his lips before kissing him back. He grabbed the bottom of my shirt and broke the kiss long enough to rip it over my head and throw it to the floor, and then his lips were back on mine.
This didn’t feel like the lust-driven Maddox I knew so well. This was a side of him I hadn’t seen before. Intensely passionate but fragile too. His heavy kisses and the desperate way he grabbed at me went deeper than a mere sexual urge.
I understood the feeling. I had felt the same earlier as I lay in bed, sick with worry, hoping and praying he’d be okay. The need to feel him against me, to breathe in his scent, had overpowered everything else.
And now, he needed that too.
I loosened the string on my pants and worked them off, discarding my underwear too, before stepping into the tub. The water rocked around us as he tugged me onto his lap and pushed his face to my collarbone.
“Evan.” His gruff voice sounded brittle.
“I’m here.” I ground my ass along the length of his stiff cock, and he released a breathy groan.
The time for talking was over. Words couldn’t console him the way a warm body could. He needed to feel. Fuck, so did I.
Our kisses were sloppy in our urgency, teeth clanking. Though it was kind of awkward given the limited space in the tub, Maddox stretched me with his fingers. I rode them at one point, slamming down on his hand as the need for more became my driving force. When his fingers weren’t enough, I reached between us and grabbed his cock, guiding it into place.
As I took him into my body, he tipped his head back, eyes briefly shutting. “Gods, Evan.”
I locked my wrists at his nape and started a slow grind, the water sloshing with my movements. The fullness of him was exactly what I’d needed, that slight sting as he stretched me wide. A sting that transitioned to a toe-curling pleasure.
Maddox gripped my waist with both hands, lids heavy as he watched me ride him. My body clung to him, each glide fucking shiver inducing. There wasn’t a place we didn’t touch. Physically or emotionally. The piece of my heart that solely belonged to him warmed. I felt that warmth down to my core.
We took our time, reveling in the feel of each other. I slowly rode him and lowered my face to his. He joined our mouths, and soon, his lips began to tremble against mine. Only then did I quicken my pace. His fingertips dug into my hips, and his breaths shortened. He was so close to that edge.
And as his hand found my cock beneath the water, I joined him on that edge. We toppled over it together, our groans mixing with the sound of the sloshing bath water.
“I love you,” he murmured once our bodies started to calm.
I slumped against his shoulder. “I love you too.” My eyes stung as I felt the indention of his new scar beneath my hand.
“I’m okay,” he said.
“Are you a mind reader now?”
A raspy chuckle followed. “No.” Maddox trailed his lips along my jaw. “I just know you.”
After we got out of the bath and dried off, we went down the hall and entered our room. Briar lay on top of the covers, chest rising and falling as he slept. His legs hung over the edge of the bed.
“He didn’t even take his clothes off first,” I whispered, creeping closer to Briar.
“Or his glasses,” Maddox said, following me. Reaching the bed, he carefully removed Briar’s glasses and placed them on the nightstand. Our physician didn’t even stir. “He exhausted himself today, going far beyond his limit. Unlike Thane, he wasn’t born with magic, so he burns through mana faster. It’s one reason I didn’t accept any further medicine after he gave me the healing elixir. Because he would’ve had to use more magical energy.”
“Both of you are so selfless. He takes care of everyone, often forgetting to take care of himself in the process. While you go charging headfirst into combat to protect the kingdom and everyone in it.”
And what did I do? Baked desserts and brewed coffee.
