Page 134 of Grin and Bear It

“I admit, I’m wilfully ignorant about most sport,” I replied.

“Oh, well, we can work on that,” he replied as the others snorted.

“But not right now.” Cole held his hand out to me and I’m not sure if he realised how fragile he looked. Well, as fragile as a man over six foot with muscles on top of muscles could look. He wasn’t sure I’d say yes, I could see it in the wariness in his eyes, but I got to my feet, sliding my hand in his and then shivered, feeling that pulse again. I wasn’t drunk this time, nor angry, so it felt curiously intimate. “You said you wanted a hot shower?”

I needed it, I realised, the grimy state of my body all of a sudden registering, making my skin itch. I nodded sharply and Cole led me back up to the second floor of the house and into a capacious bathroom.

The bath was full of steaming hot water, slow curls of steam wafting off the surface, the room filled with a bright citrus scent.

“Cole—” I breathed.

“If you don’t like the bubbles, I can redo the bath,” he said. “I took a guess at the scent you might like, but if I got it wrong…” Those big hands that wielded a brush so masterfully, they picked at each other right now. “We’ve got others—”

I went up on tiptoes and silenced him with a kiss.

“It’s perfect. I have lemon scented soap at home and that’s my favourite.”

“I know.” He’d ditched his glasses and right now there was something naked about his expression. “I smelled it when we were in there, fixing your taps. Makes me hard every time I smell something or taste something lemony now.”

“Yeah?”

I smiled then, feeling something lighten inside me. The last guy I was with couldn’t even be bothered to remember what my tits looked like compared to another woman’s, but this guy? I stepped closer, smoothing a hand over that taut chest, because I was allowed to, because he was mine. He grabbed my hands in his, pressing a kiss to my knuckles.

“Bath’s big enough to fit the both of us in,” he pointed out. “All of us, if you’d want that. Maybe we could…”

I just grinned, stopping him from saying more by grabbing his hands and dragging him closer, then saying, “Let’s.”

“Well, alright.”

Red spots formed in his cheeks, making me aware that despite all his cocky confidence, Cole didn’t have a lot of experience with this. That didn’t stop him from making short work of my clothes, though. I was stripped bare with brutal efficiency, a moment of shyness still hitting me when I was finally naked, until he tipped my chin up, forcing my eyes to meet his.

“You’re beautiful, Ellie. Far more beautiful than I could ever have imagined. More than I deserve.” He frowned slightly, pulling free to pull his shorts off and my eyes widened. His cock was pulled up hard against his belly and that impressive length had me staring for longer than was polite. Cole shook his head wryly. “I can ignore it if you can.”

“I’m not sure if I can,” I stammered out, my fingers twitching, “because, damn… Like, I saw it before, but—”

“Enough of that, you saucy wench.” And with that I was picked up like I weighed no more than a doll, carried over to the bath, then gently lowered in. Cole joined me moments later. His body settled against mine, one arm anchoring me in all that wonderful hot water, the other reaching up to grab a chunk of soap, bringing it down to lather up, then smooth over my body. “We’ll take care of you now, Ellie. Of everything, if you let us. No more pain, no more shit anymore.”

It was a big promise, a ridiculous one really, but as I sank into the water, into the slow movement of his hand down my arm, I let myself pretend everything he said was true, and all of the stress of the day washed away with the water.

Chapter67

Cole was trying to be so good. He cleaned me with slow, methodical strokes, but maybe because this was all new, or maybe because it was the way of shifters and their mates, but my skin tingled long after he’d passed over it with the soap, the effects cumulating the more he cleaned. Eventually, my skin felt like it was slowly coming to life, my senses coming back online after the overload of today. And when they did? I shifted in the water, feeling like I caught every ripple as I did so, and that they were caressing me as I turned around to face Cole.

“What’re we doing here?” I asked him in a low throaty voice. I plucked the soap from his grip, then watched him wince as I settled down on his lap, but not from pain. I could feel the hard length of him throb between my thighs as I stared into those pale blue eyes. I smoothed the soap across his chest, some part of me smug that all of this muscular perfection was mine, all mine, and then waited for his answer.

“I’m trying to look after you,” he said in a choked off voice. “You’ve had a hard day.”

“Feels like it’s gonna get a whole lot harder,” I said, rocking my hips back and forth, grazing his cock with my cunt.

“You little minx…” He growled that out as his hands slapped down on my hips, dragging me down so I was jammed against him at just the right angle, then keeping me there. “I assumed you’d be tired, wrung out—”

“I think I will be tomorrow.” I nodded slowly, feeling the prickle of something unpleasant as though just over the horizon, but I shoved it off for now. “But right now?” I moved experimentally, if only to feel his grip lock down tighter. “I’m warm, I’ve got a full belly, I’m clean and I have…” His focus intensified, those cool blue eyes heating up by the second, and I smiled as I stroked his face. “I have fated mates. Four of them, if it can be believed. Men who are perfect for me, or so they say.”

“We’re trying.” He ground that out in a voice that was more bear than man. “And we’ll never stop trying. No taking shit for granted with shifter mates. Every day we’ll wake up trying to be perfect for you.”

“And what about you?” I asked, my question a real one, even if the delivery was a little more sultry than I intended. His eyes dropped down, betraying what he was thinking, even if he was reluctant to say it. Cole’s eyes jerked back, a small guilty smile forming.

“I don’t need—”

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