"Damn it, I did."
She shook her head. "No, it’s just that I’m so pale. My skin always marks a little when something’s pressed up against it, but it disappears really fast."
When he got up to throw away the condom, she knew he was going to blame himself for something he hadn’t done, but she wouldn’t let him do it. Not to himself. And not to her, either.
She reached out for him. "Come back to bed, Rafe."
Standing in the moonlight shining through her bedroom window, she watched him fight with himself for a few seconds, that muscle jumping in his jaw again. Finally, he moved back toward her and took her hand.
She drew him back onto the bed and made him lie on his back so that she could settle into the crook of his shoulder. "I love every single thing we did together. When you were holding onto my wrists like that," she whispered, "I felt freer than I ever have before." She lifted her gaze to meet his as she added, "And I can’t wait to do even more next time."
She watched a new flash of heat jump in his eyes before he tamped it down. "Having your wrists in my hands is as kinky as we’re going to get, Brooke."
She could have argued with him, could have told him he wasn’t going to win this one. Instead, she simply smiled and said, "You finally said kinky."
The smile was still on her lips as she ran her fingertips lightly over his scar in the dark, then lay her palm flat over his beating heart and closed her eyes.
* * *
Rafe couldn’t believe he’d fallen asleep in Brooke’s bed. Morning light streamed in over him, and he worked to get his sluggish mind to click into gear. When Brooke had wrapped her arms around him and snuggled close, his entire body had desperately craved her softness, her warmth...and the sense that she was healing the broken parts of him one kiss at a time.
Still, he was amazed that not only had sex with Brooke been super crazy hot, but that she was just the same afterward as she’d been before. Full of smiles and the sweetness that had always been such a big part of her, rather than trying to get him to talk about feelings.
He could hear the shower running, and knew he should leave her to finish washing up alone, especially after the way he’d taken her last night—hard enough that she might be sore. But Rafe was quickly learning that he didn’t have any control where Brooke was concerned. Especially when the thought of her naked and wet and soapy in the shower had him as hard as he’d ever been, as if he hadn’t just lost himself inside her less than eight hours ago.
The bathroom door was unlocked, but he wouldn’t have thought twice about picking the lock to get to her. The room was steamy, the glass door of the shower fogged up, so that all he could see was a gorgeous outline of skin and curves and long, wet hair.
"Rafe?"
He answered by opening the shower door and stepping under the water with her, dropping the protection he’d brought with him on the tiled bench to one side.
Her happy smile was immediate, as were her hands coming around his shoulders when she drew him close to her for a kiss to start the morning. Every time they kissed, he was shocked to realize he wanted her more.
Last night should have begun to take the edge off. Instead, the opposite was true.
"I didn’t want to wake you when you were sleeping so soundly," she said against his lips, "but I’m really glad you’re up now."
"You can wake me anytime for this."
Thirty seconds was as long as it would have taken for him to have her pressed up against the tiles, her legs wrapped around his waist. But that would have meant missing out on the chance to run the bar of soap over every inch of her skin.
Her eyes went wide and her breath came faster as he moved around her body so that he was standing behind her. The water had plastered her long hair to her neck and back, and Rafe thoroughly enjoyed lifting the soaked strands up and over one shoulder. Beneath the spray of the shower, the ends of her dirty-blond hair had darkened to the color of her flushed ni**les.
Aroused by the sweet curve of her neck, he dropped his mouth to her delicate skin. She shivered as he pressed his lips against her, and then his tongue.
Her hands reached out as if she needed to hold onto something and ended up pressed flat against the cool lake-blue tiles. "Stay just like that," he encouraged her, loving the way she sucked in a shaky breath at his words.
Slowly, he began to run the bar of soap across her shoulders, her upper back, then down to the perfect indentation of her waist, just above the sweet flare of her gorgeous hips. Her body was a miracle, soft where a woman should be soft, full where a woman should be full, and strong in a way he hadn’t known many women to be strong.
Not to mention her innate sensuality, powerful enough to nearly break a man who had never let himself come anywhere close to being broken by a woman before.
Her skin was smooth and perfect beneath his fingertips, and he was mesmerized by the way the bubbles slid across her curves. Temporarily putting down the soap, he cupped his hands to gather water and pour it over her.
When her soft moan reverberated off the tiled walls and floor, he did it again, only this time he spilled the water over the front of her shoulders, so that it trickled hot and lucky between her br**sts. She began to move away from the wall with the clear intention of wrapping herself around him, but he laid his hands flat over hers on the tiles to still her.
"Not yet, sweetheart. I’m not even close to getting you clean."
Enjoying her soft sound of frustration just as much as he had her moan of pleasure, he picked up the soap again and moved to press his erection against her hips, his chest to her back. Of course, she knew exactly how to get her revenge on him for making her be patient. She wiggled her sweet, round ass into him, making him throb so hard against her that he nearly lost it.
"Are you sure you want to play with me like that?" His low words held a clear, yet sensual, warning that she should be careful how far she pushed a man like him.
"God, yes."
It was what she’d said to him last night when he was teasing her, and as she wiggled herself against him again, Rafe lowered his cheek to the top of her wet hair and breathed in her fresh, clean scent, letting it fill him up.
A moment later, he was sliding both hands around to make soapy circles around her belly button. Only, how could he keep teasing her like this when it was just as much torture for him not to touch the rest of her?
Giving himself over to pleasure was so much easier. And better, too, as he began to soap up the heavy undersides of her br**sts.