Page 63 of How Good It Was (Excess All Areas 3)

He couldn’t lie to himself anymore. He’d fallen for her.

After only sleeping with her once.

Maybe they’d look back on the last four weeks as a time to get to know each other.

He knew she worried that he was with her for the wrong reasons. But right now, he needed to be near her.

When they’d arrived back at the hotel, he’d called down to the desk to procure a few things she was hopefully now using in the bathroom.

He knocked on the bathroom door, pushed it open, then stepped inside. Candles burned on the little glass shelf above the sink and on the corners of the bathtub. The air was heavy with the scent of flowers. Lilies, he guessed. Her hair had been freed from clips and was in a messy bun on top of her head, her face already scrubbed clean of makeup.

“Is everything okay?” Willow asked, automatically covering her already bubble-covered breasts with her arms.

“I was losing my mind out there, overthinking everything. Just needed to check you were good.”

“Come here,” she said, reaching her arm out of the bath. Grateful, he took it and knelt down next to her.

“You feeling better?” he asked, smoothing damp hair back from her forehead.

“Much. I can’t imagine how Cerys feels, but the bath has helped. You were right.”

Luke grinned. “I’m always right. I was sitting in the bedroom thinking. And I think I understand part of the problem.”

“Part of what problem? And can’t this wait until I’m done with my bath? I was just managing to relax.”

“Part of your problem. And I think this will help you to relax.” He moved the bath mat so it was in the spot he wanted. Right next to her in the tub. “I know you worry that my change of heart is because I always do the right thing, even if I don’t want to. And a lot of people in your life have used you for what you can do for them, right?”

“So?”

He dipped his hand into the water, enjoying the warmth, the oils in the water that made her skin slippery. “I think to convince you of my very sincere intentions, to convince you that I’m in this for the right reasons, you should let me take care of you, with nothing in it for me.” Lazily, he dragged his fingers from her ankle, over her knees that were perched up out of the water. He circled the back of her knees gently.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Something just for you.” He dragged his finger along her thigh, dipping back under the water, beneath the bubbles blocking his view.

Willow placed her hand on his wrist, stopping his movement. “Luke,” she whispered.

He stopped moving and looked her in the eye. Such worry in them. “You really don’t want this, Will, just tell me to stop. I’m not an arsehole. I don’t want to coerce you. But it seems to me you need this. Need something more than us passing at cross-purposes. Like in the bedroom the other day.”

Willow bit down on her lower lip, a lip he’d been thinking about kissing and sucking. “Didn’t we decide it wasn’t a good idea?”

“Did we? Or did we agree there were new lines? Didn’t we agree that we needed to explore us? Let me help reduce the stress for you. Let me show you how good my fingers can make you feel.”

Her eyes remained fixed on his, and he’d do anything to take the doubt out of them, even though he’d put it there. But he didn’t move. True to his word that this was for her only if she wanted it, he lifted his fingertips from her skin.

“Part of the problem is I remember all too well how good your fingers can make me feel.” Willow closed her eyes, laid her head back on the bathtub, and sighed as she released his wrist.

Her submission filled the hole inside him. Even more so that he’d had to earn it. Not by fucking her senseless.

But by waiting for her to trust him enough to close her eyes and let go.

He palmed her thigh, sliding towards her mound, but skimming by it. Following the gentle curve of her stomach, he massaged her bump, up over her breasts. Not stopping, just allowing her body to get used to the feel of him, for her skin to come alive with sensation beneath the water.

Willow gasped as he ran his thumb over her nipple.

“You know what I remember from our night together, flower? The way you responded to me. I loved the way you wanted me to tell you what to do. And I loved that you needed that. You needed me to make the calls as to what to do next. Do you still want that?”

Willow’s eyes opened and glanced at him. “No. I don’t want people making calls for me,” she whispered, but there was longing in her tone.

---