He leads me to his bedroom, opens the door to the ensuite bathroom and turns on the water to fill the large tub. And when I say large, I think you could have a pool party inside it.
“I just need to lock up, clear the kitchen stuff away and check on the kids. Why don’t you have a soak and wash away the day?”
He tests the temperature of the water on his elbow like a typical parent, adjusts the heat and walks back over to where I stand immobile in the doorway.
“This isn’t a seduction, Halle. This is me giving you the time to relax and regroup. And once you’ve finished in here, come and find me in bed.”
He places a soft kiss on my bottom lip, inhales deeply, and gives me a look filled with longing before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.
I want to tell him not to go. I want to tell him that the ghosts will only leave if he chases them away.
But I don’t.
I respect why he’s doing it, and a large part of me understands why he’s doing it, but I feel so emotionally drained that I just wanted to sink into his arms and let the real world slip away, if only for a short while.
Instead, I strip off, pile my hair on top of my head in a messy bun, and step into the bathtub.
The temperature is perfect. Not too hot, and not too cold, and soon my muscles relax. I find myself dozing, drained by the long day and the painful purging of both our demons.
I think about Ivy and Arty, about the beautiful woman named Laura who loved her family so much she was willing to die for them. About my mother, whose torment took her from me and left me alone. About Ian and how stupid I was to become his puppet and I think about Josh. The man to whom I could quickly lose my heart.
“Halle, have you fallen asleep in there?”
I crack open my eyes and my arm gives an involuntary twitch in the now cool water, splashing some over the edge of the full tub.
“No,” I answer croakily. “I mean, yes, I was, but I’m awake now. I must’ve nodded off.”
It’s a good thing he can’t see me because I swear my face is glowing red with embarrassment.
I hear him chuckle, followed by, “You’ll end up all wrinkly, and I’m not snuggling with a prune.”
“You have something against prunes?” I call out, my voice a little stronger, my smile trying to break free at his teasing.
“Nope. Nothing against dried fruit, it keeps me regular, but I’d rather snuggle with you.”
At that, I snort. Only Josh could make a joke about bowel movements and still have me wanting to do more than snuggle with him.
“You’re a goof.”
“And you’re beautiful,” he calls back through the closed door.
The smile on my face creeps even bigger and by the time I’ve dried off and slipped on my shirt, not bothering with my bra, knickers or jeans, my smile is so big it almost breaks my face.
“Is it safe to come out?” I ask through a crack in the door, the light from the bathroom sending a shard of brightness across the dim room beyond.
Josh looks up from his place on the bed where he’s propped himself up. His back leans against the headboard, his sexy, dark framed glasses slip down his nose and a book lays open on his lap.
Is there anything more attractive than a handsome man who reads? Standing here admiring Josh as he does just that, I can safely admit that, for me at least, there is nothing sexier to me than this man who reads.
“The flesh-eating baby isn’t here if that’s what you’re worried about. Just his prune-eating dad.”
I lift my fingers and wiggle them in front of me.
“Nothing pruney about me.”
He takes off his glasses, places them and his book on the bedside table, and then throws back the covers.
“Then tonight is my lucky night, come snuggle with me, Halle.”
My eyes skim his face, then his smooth, bare chest, down his lightly defined and deeply tanned torso, where they land on his tight, white boxers.
I swallow and flick my eyes back up to his face.
“Halle,” he warns gruffly. “Don’t look at me like that. Not tonight. I want you more than I want Liverpool to win the FA Cup Final, and as a lifelong Reds fan, that’s a hell of a fucking lot.”
“You’re the one with a snuggle only rule, not me,” I say, as I boldly walk out of the bathroom with my shirt barely covering the parts of me that tingle and ache with want. Emboldened by the hungry look in his eyes, I allow one side of my shirt to slip seductively off my shoulder.
“Halle,” he all but growls. “You’re not playing fair. I’m trying to be a gentleman.”
“What if I don’t want you to be gentlemanly, what if I need you to take what you want?”
If I thought I was in control of this situation, I was wrong.
Faster than you’d think possible, he has me pinned underneath him with his firm thigh pressing into the heat of my bare pussy and my arms pinned above my head.
“You’re not wearing any underwear,” he hisses as I’m shamelessly unable to stop my hips from giving a small roll, pressing my sex against his solid thigh.
“I’m not,” I admit breathlessly. “I didn’t have any to put on after my bath, and there’s nothing worse than wearing dirty panties when you’re clean.”
“Oh. My. God.” He groans against my lips, using his thigh to create a delicious friction against my softest place.
“Stop fighting it please, Josh,” I beg without remorse. “I want you, and you-” I wriggle an arm free and snake it between us to grip his hard and heavy cock over the cotton of his boxers “-apparently want me if this is any indication. So why are we holding back?”
He stills his movements, and with light, panting breaths rests his forehead on mine.
“I have no fucking idea,” he groans before crashing his mouth against mine in a frenzied and devouring kiss.
His hands skate under the hem of my shirt to find my breasts. He isn’t gentle when he finds my nipples and pinches, flicks and squeezes them until I cry out into his mouth, as I once more shamelessly ride his leg. The combination of his firm thigh and coarse hairs, takes me to the edge of orgasm quickly. That combined with his drugging kisses and wicked fingers have me begging him.
“No more, Josh. I want you inside me when I come.”
“And I want you to come on my tongue,” he pants between kisses, trailing one hand down to my mound and slipping it between us to trace over my pussy lips.
“Next time,” I pant hoarsely, as he finds my sensitive nub and starts circling my clit with rapt determination.
“I haven’t got any condoms,” he admits breathily. “I didn’t expect…”
“We’re good, Josh. We don’t need them, I promise. I’m clean-” I skate my palm beneath his underwear to grip his cock and begin stroking firmly in a slow, delicious rhythm ‘-you’re clean. I can’t have babies, so there’s really no need.”
I twist my hand, so my palm rubs against the broad head of his cock, pre-come slicking my way, and he huffs out a breath at the contact.
“I wanted to worship you with my fingers and tongue,” he says between nibbles and bites. His mouth making its way down my neck to my breasts. When he sucks hard on one nipple, I grip the hair on his head and tug, my face likely feral when I say, “I’m going to come any second now, and I want you inside me. Please.”
“You’re an impatient girl, Halle Richards, so it’s a good job I’ve got enough patience for both of us, but not this time, this time I’m going to give you exactly what you’ve asked for.”
He pushes up and away from my body, tugs off his underwear causing his cock to bounce and slap against his lower belly, and then he’s on me.
Hard, hot and heavy.
I open my legs wantonly to accommodate him, completely unashamed of my need for this man.
“I want you,” I whisper against his neck between licks and nibbles.
“Then you can have me,” he replies. “All of me.”
He sinks into me in one long, smooth, slide and I cry out in desire filled relief.
“I’m yours, Josh,” I moan into his neck, half aware of my words, half delirious with my impending orgasm.
He doesn’t answer, but his thrusts increase in pace and intensity until first I cry out, and then he follows me over, claiming me from the inside out, marking me with his seed.
It’s only as I’m drifting off in his arms during my promised snuggle, that I swear I hear him say, “And I’m keeping you.”