The moment felt profound. They didn’t exchange words. Yes, they had more to discuss, but it was as if they both realized nothing was more important than connecting.
Laila sighed and gave herself over to him, gladly drowning in the warm water and his hot flesh around her. In his scent, like the forest filled with damp earth. In the desire only he had ever filled her with, bestowing it every time he touched her.
Until Trees, she had hated having a man’s hands on her. She had never known what it was to be treasured. He had coaxed her body, teaching her to enjoy his caresses that gave her untold pleasure. Now she felt herself mentally falling to his feet and surrendering to whatever tender demands would please him.
But instead of deepening the kiss, he backed away, brushing wet strands from her upturned face before he grabbed a bottle from a small corner shelf and dumped a dollop of shampoo into his hand. “Come here, little one.”
She trembled when he called her that. Instead of a jab about her height, as she’d first thought, the soft way he verbally stroked the syllables told her it was an endearment. Immediately, she complied.
“Good girl,” he praised before he kissed the tip of her nose. “Close your eyes.”
Obeying took more of her trust. But Laila reminded herself that, not only was there plenty of light in the bathroom but this was Trees. Even when he’d suspected her of conspiring with Victor to kill him, he hadn’t hurt her. Set her body on fire with throbbing need for him, yes. But he hadn’t raised his hand or his voice. He certainly hadn’t punished her in any of the vile, cruel ways Victor and his brother had over the years. She was in good hands.
Laila let her eyes slide shut.
He kissed each lid softly, reverently. “So very good. Now just enjoy.”
She had no idea what he meant until he worked his fingers through her hair and began sudsing her scalp with strong, slow circles. She moaned, swaying on her feet as his touch made her pliant and boneless.
Peace seeped into her. It was momentary, she knew. But so welcome.
Though Laila ached to see Trees, drink in his expression while he touched her with such reverence, she didn’t want to disappoint him. Instead, she kept her eyes shut and focused herself on him, his touch, his scent, his breathing. And she felt him, not with her eyes but with her senses. She didn’t have to see his face to know he was pleased. And his approval was a pleasure all its own.
“God, you’re so beautiful, Laila,” he murmured against her lips, then dipped to kiss her again, as his long, strong fingers worked at her hairline, cleansed her crown, then lowered to massage her neck.
She pooled into a melted puddle, sighing his name like a benediction. “Trees…”
“I would love to pamper you every day. The world hasn’t shown you the kind of love you deserve. But I can. If you let me, honey, I will.” He settled her under the spray and rinsed her hair, his fingers gently working their way through the curly mass until it felt clean.
Before she knew what he was about, he squeezed the excess water from her tresses, then doused the ends in something that smelled like coconut. “Let that sit for a few minutes.”
“Can I open my eyes?”
“Are you all right? Or nervous? Scared?”
“I am”—she sighed, smiling in the direction of his voice—“happy.”
“Good. Keep your eyes closed. I want to show you that I could make you happy every day.”
Words like that warmed the corners of her heart, which she’d been sure would be dark forever. It sounded as if he saw a future for them beyond this dangerous life dictated by cartels and plagued by violence. It was a beautiful fantasy. But she couldn’t let herself think beyond tonight, beyond the pleasure of his tender touch. Killers and drug lords were still waiting to tear them apart, but they had this moment. Laila basked in it.
“That sounds perfect.”
“There’s nothing I want more,” he vowed, then he fell silent.
Laila did, too, not wanting reality to intrude on their idyll.
Moments later, Trees added to her paradise by spreading a citrus-smelling soap across her skin with his hands, starting with her neck, then working down to her shoulders and her breasts, where he paused to pay special attention to her nipples now hardening as he slid his thumbs across the sensitive peaks. When he wrung a moan out of her, he caressed his way over her ribs, down her stomach, then dropped his hand to cup her mound.
With a single touch, her earlier desire rushed back to tingling life. Her breath caught. She clung to his shoulders, unsteady on her feet as his fingers dipped between her folds and he slid a finger over her nerve-rich nubbin…
“Oh,” she moaned out, digging her nails into his solid biceps.
“Your pussy is still so swollen and sensitive. I love the way you respond to me.” He tapped her left thigh. “Raise this leg.”
Without thought, without hesitation, she did.
“Excellent,” he crooned as he positioned it to the side and gently released her, resting her foot on the tiled bench in the corner and giving him unfettered access to her female flesh, growing more and more slick by the minute.
“What should I do now?”
“Feel everything I’m going to do to you, come when I ask you to, and enjoy.”
Then he rinsed the soap. The bubbles cascaded down her skin, seeming to tickle every sensitive spot along the way, until every inch of her felt clean and new.
Trees bent his head to her, taking her mouth in a sweeping kiss of tongues and slow passion—except that insistent hand between her legs, circling and thumbing the needy bud now throbbing again. He groaned. His breathing roughened. He inhaled her as he filled her needy sex with his fingers, making her gasp and hold on tighter.
“You are trying to undo me.” Her voice sounded scratchy.
“There’s no trying about it, honey,” he muttered against her lips, then worked his way down her neck, lingering behind her ear to whisper, “I’m going to make you come so many times tonight, you won’t be able to feel your legs.”
Her heart surged with excitement, but it wasn’t just for the pleasure he was promising. It was the way he vowed to send her to the stars, like it was a gift he wanted to give her because he wanted her happiness.
“Please…”
She felt him smile against her skin as he bent to lick one of her nipples. All her focus had been on the ache growing and swelling between her legs and the man bestowing bliss on her. But now…she tossed her head back under the shower spray, her long, pleading cry echoing off the tile.
“That’s my girl,” he praised as he switched to the other breast and his fingers inside her shifted, moving, pressing on a spot that had her eyes flying wide open, her body lifting on tiptoe, and the pleasurable pressure under his fingertips nearly dissolving her spine.