“Let it all out,” he said, stroking her hair with one hand, holding her upright with the other.
He wouldn’t have thought it possible, but she cried harder, her body quaking and trembling, the sounds coming from inside her, raw and painful to hear.
It took what felt like forever, until finally, her sobs quieted down, just as the water began to cool. “Are you okay?” he asked.
She stepped out of his embrace and nodded, wiping her eyes with her hand as he shut the faucet, freeing them from the now too cold water.
“You didn’t have to come in,” she said, reaching for the towel.
He took it from her and gently wrapped the bath sheet around her body. “Of course I did.”
She sniffed and met his gaze, her makeup streaked beneath her eyes. “Thank you. But I just needed a few minutes alone and—”
“The last thing you need is to be alone.” He grabbed his own towel from the hook behind the door and quickly dried himself off before tucking the towel around his waist.
“You saw the letter.”
It wasn’t a question, so he merely nodded. No point in denying it. She’d left it out on the bed.
“I’m so damned sorry.”
She raised a delicate shoulder, then lowered it again. “It shouldn’t matter, right? He hasn’t been in my life for years.”
“Actually it matters a hell of a lot.” He stepped forward and brushed the black streaks off her cheek with his thumbs, then wiped the stains onto the towel. “If Robert Dare died next year, do you think I’d be able to go on as if nothing happened? That it wouldn’t affect me? That I wouldn’t grieve?”
“I know, but doesn’t it make me a hypocrite to care now?”
“It makes you soft, warm, and human.” He looked into her beautiful hazel eyes. “It’s just one of the reasons I love you,” he said, the words escaping without permission. At the worst possible time.
Her lips parted in a soft oh. “Tyler,” she breathed in a low voice. The same husky voice she used crying out his name when he was buried deep inside her wet, willing body.
He placed a hand over her parted lips. “Do not say another word. And sure as hell don’t answer me now. I don’t want to hear anything you have to say while you’re an emotional wreck.”
“But—”
He braced his hands on her cheeks, slowly stroking her soft skin. “Just live with it awhile and know that, no matter what you believe, you aren’t alone.”
“Not now I’m not,” she murmured raising herself up on tiptoes to kiss him on the mouth, parting her lips immediately, seeking entry.
He understood she needed to forget her troubles, and he wanted give her the pe
ace she sought, so without another word, he swept her into his arms and carried her out of the bathroom and over to the bed. Laying her down on the mattress, he pulled the sides of the towel open and unwrapped her, revealing her ripe, perfect breasts, sweet, puckered nipples, and flat stomach. His gaze traveled lower, over her belly button and the smooth skin beneath, trailing down to the neatly trimmed thatch of hair covering her sex.
Keeping her distracted was key, so he zeroed in on his target and cupped his hand over her mound, sliding one finger around her slippery folds. Back and forth, he coated her in her own juices, torturing her as she writhed against his hand. Tormenting himself. His cock didn’t appreciate being ignored, especially when he was hard and painfully erect, but this wasn’t about him right now.
“Mmm. Tyler,” she moaned, arching her hips against his hand and rocking against him, seeking relief.
“I like to hear my name in that sexy voice.”
She reached out and clasped his erection in one hand, pumping up and down his straining shaft until liquid pooled at the top. “I want to taste you,” she whispered, gripping him tighter, sliding her hand up and down, tightening when she hit the base, loosening as she slipped upward, then gripping him harder again at the head.
“Fuck,” he muttered, his eyes rolling back.
“That’s the idea,” she said, a sexy grin lifting her lips.
Under any other circumstances, he’d agree. He’d told her he loved her, and there was no way he was going to fuck her hard now, as if she didn’t matter to him. No way he would let her screw him just to forget her problems.
A side benefit? He was all for that. But never again would he take without showing her how much he cared at the same time.