Chapter Twenty-Nine
What a fucking night. It took another hour of waiting for someone to come out and look at the damage, and it was that cop who used to partner up with Jamie, PC Evers.
He’s become somewhat Phoenix friendly, so he listened patiently, and took all the info, snapped pics of the damage on his phone, and left us with a fucking incident number.
If they were heading off to arrest her, I had no idea, but I wanted to get Claudia home.
I wasn’t risking taking her on the ride until it’d been checked out for any sabotage to the actual vehicle, so I had to leave the keys with Grimm for Harley to collect, and we took a damn taxi to Henley’s place.
I was fucking furious, but Claudia looked worse than me.
Not as much angry or upset. She looked fucking heartbroken.
Defeated. I wish I’d fucking denied her a chance to meet with that bitch.
Not that it was my right, but that it was clearly bad for her emotional health.
I didn’t want to assist that bitch in hurting her, but I felt like that’s what I’d done.
“I want to take a bath,” Claudia said quietly, and I nodded, guiding her upstairs to wait beside the bath while I set it running, tossing in a dollop of some fancy looking bubble stuff.
If that shit was Henley’s I’d never let him live it down, although if it gave her comfort, maybe I’d keep my mouth shut altogether.
“I’ll make a cuppa, and sit with you,” I said when I tipped Claudia’s chin up so she could watch me speak. She nodded slowly, sliding down to sit against the bath while it filled.
Fuck me, I didn’t want to leave her, but I also wanted to give her that calming experience of a hot bubbly bath, with a nice drink, and whatever else she wanted to make her feel pampered.
I dug out my phone and did a search on bath accompaniments, but that just showed me a bunch of shit it was too late to buy.
Fuck. I dug out some chocolate from the cupboard and took that upstairs with two mugs of tea, arriving just in time to stop the water before it reached too high, since Claudia was morosely staring at nothing while her mind probably raced with awful thoughts.
I stepped into her line of sight so I wouldn’t scare her, and crouched after I set the drinks and chocolate down. Her eyes lifted to mine, and my heart clenched in my chest at the sorrow I saw swimming there.
“Oh baby. I wish I could make you feel better.” Her eyes followed my lips as I spoke. “Let’s get you into the bath, yeah? It’ll help soothe you.”
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.
“What did he do?” Claudia asked, and I groaned, because again, I forgot she could see me in the mirror. She was lipreading me in a mirror, wasn’t that harder?
“Just kinda getting to like this expensive lifestyle, that’s all.”
Claudia giggled. “A bath isn’t an expensive thing. It’s water, some bubbles. It’s easy, it’s relaxing.”
“Yeah, and I live in a one room place. I’ll have a shower and that’s it. That’s not gonna be good enough for a classy bird like you.”
Bird? I just called her a fucking bird. Was that worse than chick?
Claudia
He’s so cute when he’s trying and thinks he’s messed up. He did exactly the right thing here, soaking in the bath with me, bringing drinks and chocolate too.
“Chocolate was a good idea,” I said instead of addressing what he thought was his screw up.
He took the hint and reached for the bar, breaking the pieces up in the pack, and offering them to me.
I took one, but turned and offered it to him, smiling as he took it from my fingers, his lips brushing my skin.
He offered me the next piece the same way, and I made a point of sucking his fingers as I took it.
Did he groan? Did he make any sound when I did it?
Was it a turn on for him? Sucking fingers usually made men think about other parts getting sucked, didn’t it?
Stag slid his palm from my hip to my stomach, his fingers easing over my skin as he offered me a second piece of chocolate with his other hand, waiting until I sucked on his fingers once more, before he lifted his hand to stroke between my breasts.
He was cupping one while he stroked his fingers between them, sending a tingle up my spine as his thumb grazed across my nipple.
I lifted my eyes to watch us in the mirror, seeing his grin widen as he noticed, and nodded with approval.
“Maybe he isn’t such a dick. This is hot.”
His thumb brushed over my nipple again and I moaned as my back arched, offering it up for more of his attention.
“You like that, huh?”
“God yes, more please.”
His fingers moved and circled my nipple, teasing it with light touches as I felt my breathing growing deeper and more ragged, and I wanted to grab his hand and make him use a firmer touch.
I wanted him rolling and pinching my nipples, and I wanted him to touch me everywhere.
I wanted his fingers sliding inside me. I wanted everything with him.
“More, Stag.”
He lifted another piece of chocolate to my lips, like he was assuming that’s what I’d asked for more of, but I caught his wicked grin as he did it, watched as he bit his lip as I sucked on his fingers.
This time his hand moved down instead of up, slipping between my legs as I parted them to welcome him. Touch me, dammit, Stag, just fucking touch me.
“Want my fingers inside you, love? Want me to fuck you with my fingers?” The mirror was genius, because I could see his lips, and mostly pick up on his words, although it wasn’t as easy as face to face.
It added something though, because I could watch him touching me, could see the wicked grin on his face.
My head was moving of its own volition in response to his question, nodding rapidly, eagerly. Desperately, even. Considering he was new to this, his fingers were right where I needed them. His intuition was taking us both to the right place.
“Stag?”
I lifted my eyes to watch his lips as he responded.
“Yeah, love?”
God, his lips. I could stare at them all day, but right now I had other plans.
“Take me to bed.”
His smile faltered a little and he nodded, sliding his fingers away from my clit as he did.
“Stag. Take me to bed, so we can make love.”
His eyes widened, and he stared at me in the mirror, like he was waiting for me to laugh it off.
“Please.”
“Really? I… you’re ready for that?”
“Aren’t you?”
I could see him chuckling, and wished I could hear it, even just once. Was it a low throaty sound? Was it a silly giggling sound? I’d never get to know.
“Fuck yes,” he finally said, grasping my hips and forcibly lifting me up like I weighed nothing, easing me onto my feet in the bath. Before I could move, he was up and lifting me out of the water, stepping onto the bath mat as we both dripped water absolutely everywhere.
“We should get dry,” Stag said, biting his lip again as he stared at my mouth. He didn’t want to do that, and neither did I.
“Be more fun while we’re wet,” I pointed out, even though we’d drip water all over Henley’s lovely house. We shouldn’t do that. We really shouldn’t.
“Tell you what. How about we wrap ourselves in towels and whip them off when we get to our room?” Perfect.