A Deal at Down (Betting Against the Duke #3)

AFTER THE BATH

“I will warm you.” Katherine stretches over me further, pinning me to the bed. Something that she’s heated in her hands covers my shoulder. “No catching a chill … won’t let that happen.”

Fingers glide over my skin. Tension—which I didn’t know I have—relents.

“Is the lotion soothing?” She shifts. Her serious pout fades as she rubs my throat with a concoction with hints of coconut, maybe berries. “Still cold?”

My thoughts require clarity to answer. Got none. I merely nod. I’m putty. Clean putty. Putty with a smile. I’ll wear lotion and Katherine for eternity.

“Are you feeling better, Your Grace?”

Oh, I’m feeling stuff. “Yeah.”

My half-dead body awakens as her hands salve comfort to my chest, then my abdomen. Then … Katherine awoke my appetite. I’ve always hungered for her touch and her lovely feet—bare, large and lovely, with a bold arch—lodged against my calves, driving my passions to greater and greater rewards.

I grin like a witless soul. Guess I’ll take a thirst for her to my grave. “Why?” After everything—the abandonment, the lies, the fraud—how can I want … “You?”

Her face tilts closer. “Why me? ’Cause I was or am your wife. And you deserved better. But keep talking, Jahleel. That way, I know you’re not in shock.”

Her admitting to me that she’s in the wrong and I want to believe her is shocking. My teeth chatter. “Katia …”

“What are you saying?” She touches me and draws my breath away.

All imagined. This can’t be. “Fever dream. Nothing’s true. Never this good to me.”

Her head lifts from my chest. Hurt black eyes capture mine. “That isn’t true. We were one good together, very good. And I care.” Her hands are on me again—poking, sliding, accurately hitting the areas that need her.

“I think your fever has fled.”

No it hasn’t. It shifted to my soul.

Her fingers glide up my arms, even swipe over my face. The lotion smells delicious. She would be delicious. “See. I’m here, Jahleel. I’m real.”

The woman I loved, grew to hate, embraces me—my nudity, my shame, my pitiful desire to be loved as a man deserves.

“Stay with me, Jasha.” Katherine clings to me like she’s the only thing keeping my soul from heaven or hell.