Page 30 of Claimed

I never expected him to be a widower.

“I came to Cambridge trying to escape myself,” he says. He stands up and begins unfastening his jeans. I look away. “I knew my destiny was to hunt demons. It ran in my family, but when I started seeing them, I turned away from it. I wanted a normal life. I wanted to give Sarah a normal life. I didn’t tell her what I was. Just told her I’d got a job down here and moved us across the country.”

I look up as he levers himself into the pool naked. He tilts his head back and wets his hair. When he flicks it back, a few cool droplets land on my skin.

The air is getting hotter. I am desperate to be in the water.

“Do you want to get in?” he asks, tilting his head.

“Yes but—” I laugh a little and gesture with my hand. “Would you mind turning around?”

He opens his mouth but doesn’t say anything just smiles, nods, and turns his back to me.

I undress quickly, stripping down to my bikini. I have never worn one in my life, yet it didn’t even occur to Lucien to buy me a one-piece. He picked it because he wanted to see me in it, and it makes me feel a little guilty that Kim is the one seeing it first.

When I’m in the water, Kim turns around. I move my arms slowly, enjoying the perfect temperature. Not too cold. Not too warm.

“If I’d told her, or warned her, if we’d stayed—” Kim shakes his head. Water is glistening on his skin. He is extremely toned. Not huge and muscular, but athletic. “A demon attacked on our wedding day. Killed her almost instantly. One minute she was there, the next she wasn’t.”

I swallow hard, trying not to cry because it’s not my story, it’s his. And it’s not my sadness, it’s his. But I can feel it.

He wipes a tear from his cheek, and it makes me want to wrap my arms around him.

I reach out and put a hand on his upper arm. “I’m so sorry.”

“We’d never even had sex.” Kim looks up at me. “We were—” He laughs a little. “It probably sounds ridiculous, but we wanted to wait until we were married. Not for religious reasons, just because we both knew it was important. And we knew we wanted it to be with each other.”

I move forward and wrap my arms around him. It’s the only thing I can do. I can’t just let him stand there swaying in the water talking about his dead wife and the fact they never even got to sleep together and not offer him comfort.

Our bodies are pressed together. Bare skin against bare skin but with the coolness of the water making it feel like we’re not quite there. Making everything softer and smoother.

I lean into him. My hair is damp at the ends. I feel him touching the wet curls with the tips of his fingers. He sighs.

He leans into me even more. “I’ve never really talked to anyone about it before. Not like this.” He is still holding me.

“It’s okay.” I rub his back. Somehow, my hands end up at the back of his neck, stroking his hair. “It’s okay,” I whisper.

I lean back and look into his eyes.

He meets my gaze.

“It’s okay.”

His hands are on my hips now.

“It’s okay.”

He cups my face in his hands. Then he glances at the mansion. He’s thinking about Lucien and so am I, but this feels different. It feels right. I can’t explain it but I know, in my core, that Lucien wouldn’t mind.

Because it’s not about fucking or lust or wanting something Lucien can’t give me.

It’s about this moment. This tender, sweet moment.

I almost feel like Lucien is watching us.

Like he’s whispering, It’s okay, kitten, you take what you want. You decide.

I stroke my thumb over Kim’s lips. And by the time my mouth brushes against his, his arms are wrapped so tightly around me that I feel like I can barely breathe.