“I like foot massages . . . but I like sex better.”
“No overdoing it. You heard the doctor. Let’s take it easy on you, OK? Let me take care of you. Please,” I said, needing her to understand.
She let out an exaggerated sigh. “Fine. I guess I’ll let you bathe me and spoil me. Sacrifices.”
Laughing, I kissed her head and moved to get up. I couldn’t sit here with her in my arms like this and not get carried away. I only needed a little encouragement. “You stay put. I’ll go get your bath ready. Then I’ll come get you,” I told her before grabbing my jeans and tugging them back on.
She rolled over to watch me. “You could get into the bath with me,” she said, with her eyes on the zipper of my jeans.
“Not that strong, baby. I’ll have to settle for bathing you instead.” I headed for the bathroom before I caved in and did whatever she asked me to.
“Grant,” she called out after me.
“Yeah?” I turned back to see her sitting up in the bed with the sheet at her waist so that her beautiful, much larger tits were right there for me to drool over.
“I don’t have to get off for us to . . . do things. I can always take care of you. I like doing that.”
Grabbing the door handle before my knees buckled, I sucked in a deep breath. Holy hell. Gulping, I forced a smile. “Harlow, I’m not sure I’m strong enough for this. You’re gonna drive me crazy.”
She grinned and shrugged, causing her chest to bounce, capturing my undivided attention again. They were so beautiful, round, soft . . . f**k! I had to get away from her for a minute.
Jerking my head around, I looked into the bathroom. “Gonna run your bathwater now,” I said in a strangled voice.
Harlow laughed behind me, and the musical sound almost made the fact that I already had a raging hard-on again OK. She was happy. I wanted her happy. Even if it was at my expense.
Once I had the water temperature right, I added some of the bath salts the hotel had provided and turned to get her, only to find her standing there with the sheet wrapped around her and all that dark hair in a rumpled mess. I just stood and stared at her. She was beautiful. Everything about her was beautiful. I’d known that the first time I met her. It was something you could see in her eyes. The beauty inside shone through.
But now . . . she was mine.
She was all mine.
“Sure you won’t get in with me?” she asked, letting the sheet drop to the floor.
“Harlow,” I said as my eyes took in her body. The small scar on her chest, which I had ignored before, jumped out at me now. In the bathroom lighting, it stood out, reminding me of everything I could lose. Of everything I would die to protect. My Harlow.
“Get into the bath and relax. Let me order you something to eat. Then I’ll be back to wash your back and anything else you’ll let me wash,” I said as she moved toward me.
She stuck out her bottom lip. It was so unlike Harlow that I was taken aback and a little speechless. My sweet girl had become a seductress, and I wasn’t sure how to deal with it. She could control me so easily. “If you insist, but I have several places I need washed,” she said, brushing past me and stepping into the tub.
Fuck me. “This new Harlow isn’t making things easy on me,” I told her.
She glanced back over her shoulder as she sank slowly into the water. “I’m the same Harlow. I’m just secure in the man who loves me. I have nothing to hide from you.”
That right there was the reason this woman owned me.
Harlow
Grant brought a tray of fruit and cheese into the bathroom, along with sparkling water. I let him feed me and tried not to tease him too badly. He was trying so hard to take care of me. If this made him feel like he was protecting me, then I would let him do it.
Once he finished bathing me and drying me off, he carried me to the living room and tucked us under a blanket on the sofa. The gas fireplace was lit, and he opened the window wide so we had a view of the Gulf.
We didn’t talk much. Instead, we just watched the waves crash on the shore and the people walking up and down the beach. When someone swam out into the water, I wondered if Grant’s thoughts went to Jace. I didn’t know him, but even mine did. It made me sad for everyone who had lost him, especially Bethy. Now that I had Grant, I couldn’t imagine what she was going through.
“We get to hear the heartbeat next week,” he finally said, breaking the silence. There was a pained sound to his voice, as if he weren’t sure what he thought about that.
“I know. I’m anxious,” I told him, but I didn’t look up at him. I couldn’t right now. I was excited and hopeful, but I knew his face would portray something completely different.
“I don’t want you to think that I don’t want a child with you. You’re the only woman on earth I want to have my baby. But I want you more. I just . . . I don’t think I can do this without you. If I lost you . . .” He stopped and swallowed hard. I could hear it.
I turned in his arms and laid my head on his chest. I knew what he was saying. If I died, he didn’t think he could be a father to the baby. I knew otherwise. It would take him time, but I knew he would become the world’s best father. “We’re going to be OK,” I assured him.
His arms tightened around me, and he held me close. The beating of his heart comforted me. Closing my eyes, I embraced the moment and decided I would create a vault in my brain to keep the memories of times like this one. Maybe even write some of them down. Yes, that was what I would do: I would write moments like this one down for our baby to read one day . . . just in case.