Page 73 of Stag

She nodded, and stood as I took her hands and drew her up with me. She just stared at me as I released her hands, like she lacked the energy to even move.

“Want me to get you naked?” I wiggled my eyebrows at her, and was gratified to see a brief twitch of her lips. At least an attempt at humour.

“I’ll try not to get a boner,” I said as I reached for her top and helped her out of it. Fuck me. There was a thinner, lacier top under it, so I lifted that too, and tossed it aside. Her bra. Fucking hell. I have to get her out of that now. I reached around behind her and she shook her head, moving around to offer me her back, giving me the chance to not fuck this up. I couldn’t talk to her now, but I could brush her long hair over her left shoulder, and unclasp the bra. As I eased it down her shoulders, I followed it with my hands, smoothing them over her warm skin. I wanted to give her comfort. That’s all. It wasn’t a sexual thing, merely an attempt to use my own hands to give her safety and comfort.

She leaned into my touch and I heard a soft sigh leave her lips. I gently massaged them, and this time a low moan left her lips, as her head tipped back toward me.

She allowed me a few moments of rubbing her shoulders with my hands, and then she turned to face me again.

“Get in with me.”

Get in. She means the bath. She wants me in the bath with her. She smiled at last. A soft gentle smile.

“Naked, Stag,” she said as if she could read my mind as I pondered the implications of her words.

Right. I nodded, and started on my own clothes, setting my cut gently on the bathroom counter, running my hand across it first to check it was dry. Then lifted off the light hoody I wore, and tossed it aside, followed by my t-shirt, which I dragged forward over my head and discarded.

Claudia’s eyes immediately landed on my body, sliding over my skin like a physical caress. No chance of not getting a boner now. She took over undressing herself, while I stripped off the rest of my clothes.

“Step in first, then you can help me in.” It was like she understood that with all this shit being new to me, I didn’t know the first thing about any of it. I hadn’t had a bath since I was a kid, and I definitely didn’t share it with a woman.

I grabbed the mugs of tea and set them on the ledge behind the bath, and set the chocolate beside them, then I stepped into the hot water, which was made deceptively cooler at the top by the bubble layer.

My foot slid briefly, and I grabbed the edge of the wall to balance me.

When I glanced at Claudia, she was smiling wider now.

“First time getting in a bath?” I chuckled in response, sliding down to sit amid the thick bubble layer.

“First time getting in a fucking bubble bath,” I said, reaching for her hands as she stepped into the water. I should have stayed upright. This was dumb. I’m gonna fuck this up.

A moment later, she was laying back against me in the hot water, bubbles sliding around her curves as she moved, and suddenly all was right with my world forever.

“Never fucking leaving this bath,” I muttered, knowing only I’d hear me. It was the perfect moment to let out the stuff in my head that I kept suppressing so I wouldn’t fuck this up.

“I’m so falling in love with you, Claudia. I have no idea if you’ll want me long term, but I fucking hope so.” She stiffened in my arms, turning her head to try and face me.

“Did you just say something?” The fuck? Could she suddenly fucking hear me, just as I was letting out the shit I’d been slamming my mouth closed on.

“I saw your lips moving in the reflection,” she said, pointing at the fucking mirrored wall beside the shower. Who has a fucking mirror there? How did I not notice that? It was opposite the bath, and that meant she’d seen what I said.

I waited until she sat back again, and sighed peacefully, and then I tested the situation.

“Can you see what I’m saying?” I asked, giving her a moment to reply. She reached up behind her, unerringly finding the side of my head to cup it gently. Hell, that said it without words. She could have had my eye out if she wasn’t careful.

“Yes,” she finally said, “I’m sorry if that breaches your trust, or your privacy. I didn’t mean to.”

I leaned forward and kissed the top of her head, breathing in the scent of peaches from her hair. That scent was fast becoming one of my favourites. Was it a shampoo that Glory owned? I wanted to find it and fucking make sure it was always there for her to use.

“It’s okay. I didn’t have the balls to say it to… to your eyes… so I guess this way I was finally brave enough to voice it. Even if I did think only I’d hear it.”

“I’m falling for you, Stag. I told you that. I can’t imagine not waking up beside you now. I can’t imagine not spending my days with you. I see a future for us, do you?”

“Fuck yes. I hope so. That’s all I want.”

We both relaxed into the hot water, the sweet floral scent filling the air, and I felt my tension drifting away. Suddenly I was starting to realise why people loved doing this. How the fuck could someone sit in a bath like this and not chill their ass off.

“Fucking Henley,” I murmured, because that fucker was getting me into all the posh shit he was into, and I was about to go back to living in a fucking clubhouse.