“A button?”
“Yeah a button that says number one nurse or something like that. Put it on all your clothes… good plan, right?”
“Right.” I rolled my eyes and continued washing his abs. “So what’s number one?”
His eyes flashed open as his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. Water droplets cascaded down his square chin landing on his chiseled chest. “The day you married me.”
I slid my hand down as the soap dropped to the tiled ground. “But you were so angry.”
“At the circumstances,” Tex whispered. “And maybe at you, a bit, but it was the happiest moment of my life, knowing you would never be able to run away from me—from us. Knowing that even if you broke my heart, I still had a ring on my hand saying you it was yours to break and that I probably deserved it in the first place.”
My hands moved up his stomach to cup his face. “And now, now are you mad still?”
“Mo.” Tex groaned as he gripped my wrists. “What do I keep telling you? I could never hate you as much as I love you.”
“Still?” My lower lip trembled.
He sighed. “Still.”
“And even though you’re choosing blood…”
Tex sighed. “Sometimes a person does what he has to do, to protect those he values the most.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Death makes you see things clearly… sometimes that’s not a good thing.
Tex
I WOULD HAVE GIVEN damn near anything to be at my full strength, to be able to lift Mo into my arms and whisper promises across her skin. Instead, I was so weak it would be an adventure just trying to get out of the shower. But her skin, it was so pretty, each time the water hit her, it pressed against her flesh and then receded down her face and honestly it was so distracting that I almost had to close my eyes.
“Tex?”
I released her wrists and leaned back so I could cool off. I didn’t want her to know that the shower was so hot I was ready to pass out—then again it was probably because my blood was heated to dangerous levels just breathing the same steam as her. “What?”
“For what it’s worth… I’m sorry.”
“For what…” I repeated. “…it’s worth… I’m kind of flattered you value my life as much as you do, Mo. You’re the only one who would go out on a limb for me.”
“Nixon would, so would Chase,” she argued.
“No.” I shook my head. “Not anymore, and the sick part is I can’t blame them, I mean I have a freaking sister that I’ve never met and I feel possessive as hell right now over that girl… she could be a raging lunatic and I’m still concerned that she’s safe. Blood—”
“—wins.” Mo cleared her throat. “Right, I get it. So, should we wash you off?”
“I’m such a dirty boy.” I said dryly, my eyebrows shooting up in good humor.
Mo suppressed her laughter with her hand and stood in front of me. “Right, okay so I’m just going to…” She gulped. “Rinse.”
“Wash, rinse, repeat,” I said in a hoarse voice. “Talk dirty to me, nurse.”
“Keep joking like that, and I’ll be sure the nurse slips and hurts the patient, capiche?”
“Physical pain I can tolerate.” I chuckled and then realized what I had said, or what I’d meant by that. Beat me, slaughter me, make me bleed, but break my heart?
And you’ve just destroyed my reason for living.
Take away Mo?
And you’ve just wrecked my entire existence.
I cleared my throat. “Are we doing this or not?”
“Yeah.” Mo licked her lips and positioned the shower head over my body. I closed my eyes as the warm water cleansed me of all the soap and blood—my sins, however, stayed. And wasn’t that a bitch?
Never clean.
“Alright.” Mo turned off the shower. “I’m going to grab some towels and dry you off so you don’t slip.”
“Wow.” I folded my arms across my chest to keep warm. “I get toweled off too?”
“Try not to get too excited.” Mo winked. “I towel rough.”
“I can do rough.”
“Not this kind of rough.”
“Just don’t injure what doesn’t like being injured… gentle, you know the meaning of that word don’t you?”
“I was always horrible with school, you should know that.” Mo called from beyond the door. She returned with two white fluffy towels and tossed one at my face. “You dry the upper half, I dry the lower half.”
“Score.”
“Keep talking.”
“Sorry.” I grumbled rubbing my face and hair with the towel and moving down my arms and chest. I stopped briefly to look up since Mo hadn’t started but her eyes were trained directly on me. “Uh, this isn’t a theatre Mo, if you didn’t pay you can’t stay, sweetheart.”
A blush stained her cheeks before she started vigorously rubbing my legs taking several leg hairs with her, damn it!
“Okay.” I pushed her hands away. “That’s enough nurse for the day.”
“But you’re still wet.” She pointed at my thighs.
I looked down, she looked up.
It really couldn’t have been timed any worse. I’d always prided myself in being able to control my body and my lust, I was easily able to keep myself in check around Nixon especially when I checked out Mo. So why the hell was my body rejecting every sane ounce of logic I threw at it?
“Er…” Mo dropped the towel and looked away. “Um, I’ll just, you can finish up and then I’ll…” She twisted her hands. “Help you out of the shower and to the bed—to sleep!” I winced as she shouted the last part in my right ear. “Sleep, because you need rest.”
“Thanks, Mo.” I nodded. “Pretty sure I know what sleep is for.”
Her cheeks stained even redder before she walked out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself. The woman had seen me naked countless times before. Hell, technically we were married, and she was still blushing around me like she’d never seen a man before.
I wanted to remedy that.
Correction, I wanted to be the only guy to remedy that.
With a sigh, I stood on wobbly feet and slowly made my way out of the shower, I was at least able to make it to the counter before I had to stop. Mo quickly grabbed my arm and without saying another word helped me to my bed.