13. Love You Forever
~ SAM ~
At some point, after both our skins had pruned, when the chill of the water started to invade that perfect bubble of connection, I picked her up and carried her back up to the treehouse. I walked straight to the bathroom and set her on her feet, pulling the towel off the hanger to dry her.
She shook like a baby animal, her knees slightly weak. She kept a hand on me at all times as I knelt down to dry her as carefully and thoroughly as I was capable, giving her instructions in a whisper, because even though we’d been loud out there, there was some precious about this silence together afterwards.
But the surprise came when I straightened and pulled the towel around myself to dry me, and she caught my arm.
“No, Sam. Let me.”
I blinked and looked down at her. “It’s fine, I don’t need—”
“No. Sam… please. Let me.”
There was something I didn’t quite understand in her eyes, but her lips curled up at the sides. So I handed her the towel and her smile got bigger.
She started at my hair. I had to lean down because she struggled a little. But once she’d dried my hair, she put the towel over her hand and ran it gently across my forehead, then down my cheeks.
“You’re so fucking hot,” she whispered. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you, Sam. But thank God.”
I huffed, but she was moving towards my chest now, rubbing and dabbing at places on my neck and throat, then putting the towel over both hands and drawing it down my chest, over my ribs, to my waist, down to my penis and balls, where she took such care, it made me swallow when she cupped under them and dried so softly between my thighs.
“I need a lot of help,” she said quietly as she sank down to kneel and dry my legs, still moving slowly, but surely. “I know I do. And you’re so good at it. But I want to help you too, Sam.” Still down at my knee, she craned her head up to meet my eyes and I found myself swallowing because the look on her face was so full of love. “I don’t ever want you to feel like you’re only here to take care of me. Because I’m your wife,” she murmured. “I want to take care of you, too.”
“Trust me, babe. You do,” I grinned.
She smiled wickedly too, but then shook her head. “Not only like that.”
Then she dried my other leg and stopped talking for a moment, so I thought she was done. But when she straightened she moved around me to my back and started the whole process again, from the shoulders down. And when she was behind me, she spoke again.
“I thought a lot today,” she said quietly. “Turns out… the reason I was scared to give that to you wasn’t because I didn’t trust you with it. It was because I was afraid you’d give it to someone else that didn’t love me like you do.”
“I won’t ever show it to anyone, Bridget.”
“I know. And maybe there will be a day when I’ll share some of that with someone else. But I want you to know… you were right,” she breathed.
I frowned. “Right about what?”
She’d finished drying my back and ass, her hands cupping me for a moment before she walked back around to my front, dropped the towel over the rack, then turned and leaned into my body and slid her arms around me. I returned the favor.
“You were right that I’m trapped,” she said, and it was the first flash of fear I’d seen since I found her in the water.
“It’s going to take time, Bridget. I’m not—”
“No, no. I mean… you were right that… this helped. I can feel it. Something shifted when I gave that to you Sam. I don’t know if I’ll ever not be afraid. But… when you’re close it doesn’t overwhelm me. And now… now that you’ve heard all of it, I can feel us sharing it, like you were talking about.”
My breath rushed out of me as a little knot of tension gave way in my chest. I cupped her jaw, letting my fingers play on her neck. “I’m really glad to hear that.”
She nodded again, and even though her smile was a little sad, it was still beautiful.
“I just… I need you to know that I’m still nervous—but not of you.”
“Okay.”
“I’m not used to letting people all the way into this. I know I need to do more. But I need to do it in my own time. So… let me tell Gerald when the time’s right.”
I nodded. “I will.”
“Don’t tell anyone else.”
“Babe, I won’t!” I dropped my voice to a fierce whisper. “You’re safe with me.”
“I know. I mean that, I know.”
“Good. Then you should also know, you never have to face any of that again—I’ll make sure of it. I’m watching out for you, Bridget. For as long as I’m alive.”
Her smile sweetened and she reached one hand up to drag her fingers through my hair, her nails scraping my scalp, which felt divine.
I gave her a low rumble, and her eyes sparkled. But then her smile faded and she swallowed hard.
She nodded. “I thought when my Dad died it would make all of this easier, and it scared the hell out of me when it got worse. I losing hope again. But now…” She blew out a breath and it fluttered against my chest. “I feel lighter, Sam,” she breathed, like she was afraid to admit it, like it might flee. “I don’t feel as afraid now as I did before. But it’s not gone. My life is still there. My heart is pounding. But I feel it… I can feel you sharing it. And that’s… that’s incredible.”
“Good. You’re not alone in this anymore, Bridget.”
“I know. Thank you. This is, quite literally, the best Christmas ever. And it’s all because of you, Sam.”
I couldn’t stop the smile. I felt like beating my chest and held her there, staring into my eyes. “I think this calls for a celebration. Why don’t we go figure out which trip we want to book for next year?”
Her grin turned playful. “I’d like that.”
But then I let my expression get serious. “You just have to promise me one thing.”
She blinked. “What’s that?”
I sighed and dragged my fingers through her hair, combing a strand back so it wouldn’t stick to her cheek. “Between now and then, you have to promise me you’ll be a very naughty girl.”
She gave a little burst of laughter, an obvious release of tension. “Now that I can do. I give you my word, Sam.”
I kissed her then, deep and sweet, then pulled back far enough to smile at her and whisper, “That’s Krampus, the Anti-Santa, to you.”
THE END