Page 28 of Knot For A Moment

With my feet in the bath, he grabbed his phone and stared down at it for a minute. “They okay?”

He grinned. “They’re jealous, but fine. And I’m starting a timer.”

When he sat down and pulled my body close so I could lean on him, I had a flashback. Us, just like this, watching a movie. It wasn’t the first time we’d been this close, but it was different now. I wanted so much more, but I hadn’t lied to him. Exhaustion weighed down everything, including my eyelids. So I rested against him, focusing on the warmth of his skin and not the pain of my feet being frozen off.

I drifted, Ash’s hand brushing up and down my arm until he shifted me. “Times up, sweetheart.”

A soft whine left my throat. Him calling me sweetheart made my stomach tumble. “Okay.”

I lifted my feet out of the ice, skin red, and reached for the kit. He took it out of my hand before I could even open it, drying my feet off.

Asher lifted me off the couch and carried me into the bedroom before setting me on the bed. “Take a quick shower, and we’ll work on your feet. I’m ordering us both food. Is Indian still your favorite?”

I nodded.

“Good.” He kissed me like he couldn’t stop himself from doing it. “Quickly. So you’re not on your feet long.”

That was an order I followed. The longer I could keep off my feet, the better in the long run. I exited the bathroom in my towel to find Asher standing by the bed. “Hi.”

The way his eyes consumed me made it very difficult to cling to the idea of not having sex tonight. Iwantedto have sex tonight. But I also wanted to survive to actually spend time with Asher and his pack.

“Come here.” He guided me to the bed and sank down in front of me with the bandage kit.

My face flushed. I wasn’t sure if I was more vulnerable because I was tired, but him touching my feet and caring for me felt… overwhelming. “I can do it.”

Ash only glanced up once. “I still know how to take care of feet, blue.”

“But—”

Reaching out, he caught my hand and held it. “It’s going to be strange,” he said quietly. “Even though we want to act like no time has passed, we both know it has. Trust that I won’t do anything I don’t want to do, and I won’t force you into something that makes you uncomfortable. But also trust that my Alpha needs to take care of you right now. Please.”

He held my gaze, and I got lost in the blue of his eyes, the richness of his scent. “Okay.”

It didn’t take him long to bandage my feet, and better than I could. “The food will be here soon. If you don’t mind, I’ll take a shower too.”

“Of course.” It gave me a chance to pull on some underwear and a silky, purple nightgown that was too short to be decent. Would I be torturing him a little? Yeah. But I would be torturing myself too.

I rubbed some lotion in and took a look at myself in the mirror. Everything was different, but I still felt the same. Surely there should be a mark on me somewhere representing how much had shifted…

The bathroom door opened behind me. Ash stepped out with a towel around his waist and the remnants of the shower still dripping down his chest. So we were both torturing each other.

“Fuck me,” he groaned. “I can’t sleep in your bed.”

“We’ve slept in the same bed before,” I pointed out.

“You weren’t wearingthat.” He pointed, and I froze.

The motion had revealed one of his tattoos. He had a few. Some on his shoulders, arms, and over his heart. One on his wrist. And now, apparently, one on his ribs.

I would know that symbol anywhere. Could find it about a hundred different places in my house right now. A nothing symbol. At once curvy and sharp, a little like a backwards five, it was something I’d always doodled. It didn’t mean anything.

Asher had my doodle tattooed on his ribs. I reached out to touch it, having crossed the distance without even realizing it. “When did you get this?”

“Three years ago,” he whispered. “I wanted a piece of you, and it was the only thing that felt right. It’s from the last note you left me.”

“Ash, this is…”

One finger lifted my chin. The depth of emotion in his eyes was terrifying. Mind blowing. It completely stole my breath.

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