Page 31 of Bonded By Christmas
He’s slender by nature, with strong shoulders and defined arms, but it’s nice not to be met with a six-pack or anything crazy.
I’m entirely toocovered in blood and wearing my ugliest bra with unmatched pantiesfor all of that. If I had known how today was going to end, I would have put more effort into looking put together, but here we are.
“We are going to have to get you out of the rest eventually, but I’ll do the best I can to work around them for now,” Wilder says. “Once it comes time for that, I’ll turn around and let you do one final scrub down.”
“Thanks.”
He nods and gets to work.
He’s efficient and rougher than I expect, but it dawns on me that I’m covered in evidence that could send Grim to prison. That means I keep my mouth firmly shut, and I even use mynails to scrape under each fingernail to try to get rid of any lingering DNA.
Wilder is significantly gentler as he shampoos and conditions my hairtwice.
I have to lean back to keep it from running into my eyes, which means I have nothing to look at but my stepbrother. Almost eighteen-year-old me wouldn’t have believed that I’d ever find myself showering with the man, and almost twenty-one-year-old me still struggles to understand how I ended up here.
If nothing else, the heat of the water soothes my aching muscles. I got tossed around a little before Grim stepped in, but it was pretty mild in comparison to how my body is reacting.
“Are you doing okay down there?” Wilder asks once I’m upright following the second conditioning. His dark blue eyes sparkle as he studies me carefully, and the concerned look on his face makes me emotional for no good reason. “Lacey?”
“I’ll live.” I offer him a tired smile. “My entire body aches. I just want to get this over with.”
He gives a clipped nod. “Got it. All right, I’m going to turn around. I need you to hand me your underclothes and do a final scrub down.” He spins to face the wall, and my eyes widen at the expansive tattoo on his back.
His right shoulder has a woman’s face and neck that flows down toward his left hip. She bears a striking resemblance tome,or maybe I’m delusional after the world’s longest day. She has the back of her hand resting against her cheek, and she’s beautiful…
Like, truly stunning.
I reach behind me, unhooking my bra while studying the other pieces. There are several flowers framing the parts of her body that aren’t highlighted by the tattoo, and they’re the only areas of the back piece that are white. Everything else is blackand gray, from what I can tell, making the flowers shine brighter in comparison. His lower back has a lion prowling under a full moon with a lightning strike glowing in the night sky.
That’s especially weird because lightning is one of the words I would use to describe his scent.
I force myself to look away to get back to what I’m supposed to be doing before I end up spiraling about it.
It would be silly to believe Wilder has an entire portrait of me covering half of his back.
Chapter Fourteen
Lacey
Wilder is a total gentleman as I exit the shower. He hands me a towel with his eyes averted, but mine have a mind of their own, circling back to how low his towel hangs on his slender hips.
There’s a chill in the air, and my face still heats to the point I must have pink cheeks. My instincts want to snatch him up and find a nest to snuggle in.
“Let me help with your hair. You’re dripping all over,” Wilder says, cracking an easy smile.
My stomach flip-flops. That look on his handsome face is dangerous. He’s always hot, but he’s especially sinful with that thick stubble. It frames his jaw to perfection.
I get myself together, and he helps me dry my hair.
I’m not sure when he ran in to grab Grim’s shirt off the bed, but it must have been when he stepped out to bag my underwear and collect towels.
“Arms up for me,” he murmurs as his short dark hair falls over his forehead. His eyes are such a deep blue that it’s a crazy contrast with his dark tan skin and black hair.
My arms fly up.
I’m lucky my towel doesn’t fall before he can pull Grim’s shirt over my head. Wilder reaches under the shirt to tug the towel off, and the warm skin of his forearm brushes against my thigh. He stands to his full height, towering over me, and it takes everything in me not to squirm.
I might be the most cliché omega in existence, but I love that he didn’t leave me to handle showering on my own. I probably would have had a breakdown or two rather than actually getting clean.
