“Close the door.”
I did.
Within seconds, the bathroom began to fog up and I closed my eyes, breathing in the heated moisture. I’d been cold and damp for so long, that I feared the feeling of being cold would never go away.
I leaned up against the bathroom door and sighed. It was like I was being clothed in a blanket of warmth that was heating my blood. I felt the moment Kai moved in to me and I opened my eyes. His hands went to the bottom of my long over-sized shirt. He then slowly lifted, the tips of his fingers trailing a path along my sides.
I raised my arms and he pulled it all the way off and tossed it on the floor. I was naked underneath, and my nipples, despite the warm moist air, erect. Goose bumps scattered over my skin.
God, I wanted to succumb. I wanted him to look after me. I wanted to be heated and warm and… I wanted to feel loved.
Kai’s hands slid down my body to the edge of my panties. His heated breath swept over my skin as he lowered while slowly dragging them down my legs. I held on to his shoulders as I lifted each foot to step out of them. His warm palms glided back up my legs, over my thighs to my hips as he stood straight again.
I stood naked in front of him, but his eyes weren’t on my body. He was watching my expression. My chest rose and fell faster as I anticipated his touch.
He scowled. I was hoping for that amusing charming grin instead. His hands went to the bandage on my hip. “We’ll re-bandage it after your bath.” He peeled back the tape and gauze, tossed it in the trash, then reached to take my hand.
He stopped. Then his eyes darkened as they landed on the scar on my shoulder. “That’s from a fuckin’ bullet.” His eyes darted to mine. “They shot you?”
“It was minor.” Connor had been right. I hadn’t bled to death, but I’d passed out in the car and when I woke, my shoulder was bandaged.
“Who?”
The man currently in the basement. The man Kai had no issue killing. And the man Deck and his men would do anything to protect. He also happened to be Georgie’s brother.
I wrapped my fingers around his wrist and pulled his hand away from the scar. “It doesn’t matter.”
His eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to ask me again, but I stared him down. I saw the moment he gave in to me and I think he knew it had to have been Connor, but if I told him, we both knew what would happen.
“Okay, London. I’ll give you this.”
I rolled my eyes.
He slipped his hand in mine and guided me over to the tub. “Don’t worry, it’s warm water.”
I snorted at his reference to the ice water he’d made me sit in. “That was cruel.”
“And necessary.”
“Necessary in your way of thinking.” But it had been. He’d been trying to find a way to break through to me, yet not hurt me.
His hand smoothed over my hair and he was silent. Despite his teasing about the water, there was seriousness in Kai that hadn’t been there before I was taken by Vault.
Kai knew me better than anyone. He was in me. I didn’t know when it happened. Maybe over time. Maybe the night he’d saved me from the fire. Maybe our nights together at my loft. It didn’t matter when, or how or why. He just was and, no matter who Kai had been and who he was now, I fell in love with all the parts of him.
I grabbed his hand before he turned to leave. “Don’t leave.”
He stared at me for a second then his eyes trailed down my body and my belly whirled. “I can’t stay without having you.”
“Then have me. They didn’t rape me, Kai. I’m not fragile Raven. I’ll never be like that again.”
His brow furrowed. “London. Fuck.”
And then something in him broke. It was like a tree branch under so much pressure that it could no longer resist and snapped then crashed to the ground. He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me into his arms, his hand on the back of my head, pressing me so close I could barely breathe.
There was nothing steady and calm about Kai right now as his mouth took mine in an uncontrolled frenzy. It was so unlike him, a feral need as he forced my mouth open before I even had the chance to react to him.
He whirled me around and shoved me up against the sink and without a second’s hesitation, lifted me up to perch on the lip of it. “Legs,” he growled.
I hooked my legs around him.
His hands slid down my spine to my lower back, finger stroking the crease in my ass. I put my head back, eyes closed, moaning when he lowered his head and took my nipple in his mouth. It was tender and sweet, licking, suckling. Then his teeth grazed it and I gasped at the sensation coursing through me.