Margot
After five years, I can’t believe I’ve got the chance to come clean with Boone.
I can feel it in the air around us—from the moment we sat down on the sofa, when Boone began to tell me about what happened to his friends in the fire department and why he left New York, I knew that there could be nothing left to hide between us.
He took me like a man who had been holding himself together for too long. He was wild and desperate—even after the pantry yesterday, he wasn’t satisfied. I suppose we’re both making up for lost time.
I always knew that after that night in college, one night was never going to be enough.
Not for me or for him.
I’m quietly grateful as Boone lifts my naked body up into his arms and carries me up the stairs effortlessly. I would try to stand, but my knees are still weak. Every time Boone and I sleep together, it’s as though he wants to try and make me come more times than ever before, and each time harder than the last.
If it weren’t for the layer of sweat on our glistening bodies, I would have been happy to cuddle up with Boone and sleep until the morning.
I flick the light switch on with my toes as we enter the bathroom.
Whilst the rest of Boone’s cabin is quite rustic and some of the furniture could almost have been vintage, there’s a modern element in the bathroom. The crisp, clean white tiles and bright white lights. The bath overlooking a large window.
With those blinds open, I imagine you can see out over the mountains and forests for miles. But it’s the shower I’m more interested in. A walk-in big enough for both of us—and probably Amelia, too—with a large waterfall showerhead.
All I want is to step into that shower with Boone right behind me.
I want the fast running water to wash away the last five years so that we can start again.
Boone places me down on the edge of the bath, and I sit there and watch him as he retrieves towels from the linen cupboard. It’s so easy to watch Boone—especially when he’s naked. His sculpted ass is so fun to watch walk away, especially when those powerful legs can cross the room in just a few simple steps.
I watch him drape two thick, fluffy pale blue towels over the heater, warming them slowly for when we come out. He begins to run the water, before turning to me with one hand outstretched.
I reach out to take it and with a small jerk of his arm, Boone pulls me to my feet. I land against his muscled chest. I laugh and as I step into the water, I feel Boone’s hand smack against my ass.
He chuckles quietly, and I swear I see an angel get her wings.
The water runs over us both, but I feel it soak through me and weigh down my wild blonde hair.
I turn to face Boone, just in time to catch him staring at me. His dark eyes study my body, drinking in just how much I’ve changed since we were in college. In the bright lights, he can see me clearly, and there’s nowhere to hide.
Not that I’d want to.
So I take this opportunity to study Boone in return. Despite how many times he’s been shirtless over the last few days, I haven’t had an opportunity to look at his body until now, to study how the water runs down the sculpted lines of his abs and to follow the steam as it rises off of the rippling muscles of his arms.
“Are you realizing I’m not the same girl as I was in college?” I ask and hope that he doesn’t notice how nervous I am.
“I’m not the same, either,” Boone reassures, and with one finger, tilts my head up to look at him. “You’re not the same beautiful girl, no. Now, you’re a woman—even more beautiful. Margot, you’re divine.”
A blush creeps across my cheeks, and Boone’s lips quirk into a small smile.
But his attention quickly returns to my body.
“How is this the first time we’re doing this together?” I ask, though we both know why.
“I would never have wanted to shower alone if I’d have known you could be with me,” Boone says, still smiling slightly.
“The novelty of my naked body would have worn off eventually.”
“I could never—will never—get tired of seeing you naked, Margot,” Boone murmurs in my ear and kisses my forehead gently.
I smile and look down at my feet.
We’ve both got scars now—I can see a set of scratches down Boone’s chest that I hadn’t noticed before and a series of faded burn scars across the back of one shoulder. No doubt he’s noticed the scar on my stomach from surgery after Amelia was born.
Boone squeezes shower gel into his hand, pulling me towards him so that I’m turned away, but he presses into my back. He lifts one of my arms above my head, and I curl it back and hold onto his shoulder, allowing him access to my body.
For a moment, I wonder if he’s going to fuck me again—right here in the shower. I’m certainly wet enough, and I wouldn’t say no if he wanted to.
But then Boone slides his hand down my body. Washing me with the soap and savoring every inch of skin that he can get his hand on. His fingers linger on my scar.
“Surgery,” I say softly as he pauses. “After Amelia was born, there were minor complications.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be there to support you.”
“How did you get those?” I ask, quickly changing the subject.
I spin around in his arms, so that our bodies are pressed together and Boone’s hand curves over my ass. I run three fingers over the scratches on his chest.
“A cat.”
“You’re kidding.”
“I’m not.” Boone’s smiling, almost chuckling again at the memory, but I can tell that he’s serious. “I was coming home from work when I saw a couple of kids trying to climb a tree. This angry old tortoiseshell was clinging to a branch a couple of feet into the tree.”
“So you rescued it?”
“So I rescued it. Except on the way down, it took a swipe at me. Cut clean through my Armani suit.”
“It ripped an Armani?”
My jaw drops.
Boone shrugs. “I had another three more at the house back then.”
“What happened to them?”
“I sold them,” Boone says as he continues to wash my body. He cups at my breasts, running his hands up over my collarbones and then falling down my arms.
“I had no use for that kind of shit when I moved out here. It just weighed down the moving van.”
“Would you ever move back to the city?” I ask and take advantage of Boone’s pause to squeeze my shower gel into my own hands so that I could wash him down, too.
I run my hands over Boone’s chest, following the defined contours of muscle until I reach the ‘v’ of his hips. My fingers linger there before I snake around to rest my hands on his ass.
“If the perfect woman asked me to, I might,” he says quietly, giving me a look to tell me that it’s me he’s talking about.
But I’m not sure if I could ever ask that of him, not when these mountains are so peaceful and beautiful.
“But out here has everything I need. If she wanted to stay with me, there’d be schools and opportunities in town…” He continued.
“When the road isn’t blocked,” I tease.
“What about you? Could you live somewhere like this?” Boone asks.
“I travel a lot for my art.” I say, thinking aloud. “So these days, home isn’t a place. It’s more like a feeling…home is where my family is.”
I tuck a strand of sodden hair behind my ear and look at him.
Home is where you are, my mind screams at me. But I’m scared to say it.
But I think Boone understands.
When we’re both clean, we step out of the shower. The towels are warm from the heater, and when Boone wraps one around my body, it suddenly hits me how tired I am. The nights of little sleep and rigorous sex have made me all but exhausted.
I hear the pitter-patter of little feet in the hallway before Boone does, so when Amelia gently pushes open the door, I’m immediately in front of her, waiting. She reaches for me, taking a lock of hair in between her fingers. Boone hovers close behind, both of us anxiously waiting.
“I had a bad dream…” Amelia mumbles, bleary-eyed still. “Can you come cuddle?”
I take her hand and stand up. “Of course, darling.”
“No,” Amelia pauses and with her spare hand, points at Boone. My heart flutters slightly. “Both of you.”
She’s all but demanding, and who are we to say no?
“Of course I will, princess.” Boone says and smiles at me warmly. “You and mommy pop back to bed. I’ll be along in a second.”
I walk down the hall towards the bedroom.
Cuddling with Amelia and Boone?
That’s my idea of heaven.