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I felt him shift behind me, the water sloshing as he moved closer, close enough that I could feel the heat of him even through the water. Then his large hands touched my shoulders. His touch was warm. Gentle? Silas?

I stilled, my breath sticking in my throat. I knew he heard me, because I heard his long exhale, the small, satisfied sound that rolled through his chest as he smoothed his hands over my back, slow and steady. His thumbs traced the tension in my muscles, kneading, exploring. I hated how good it felt, how right it felt.

“Relax, Wildcat,” he hushed against my ear, his lips barely brushing my damp hair.

His hands slid lower, following the curve of my spine, his thumbs pressing into my muscles in a slow, deep massage. I resented how easily he unraveled the tension I didn’t even realize I was holding.

I should have pulled away, should have told him to stop, but I didn’t. Why did he always seem to make me do exactly what I wished I wouldn’t? Instead, my mutinous lungs let out the softest sigh, barely audible over the rippling water.

Silas heard that too. Stupid wolf ears. I felt his smirk before he even spoke.

“There she is,” he murmured.

I scowled, a blush rushing to my face. “Shut up, you.”

His chuckle was infuriating. “Getting all shy and grumpy on me now, Wildcat?” His lips brushed the side of my neck, just barely, just enough to tease, and I had to bite my lip to keep from making anymore stupid sounds.

I was not going to let him win. Even though every inch of me was betraying that very thought and had been all along.

“I’m not shy and I’m not grumpy,” I muttered, forcing my spine straight, as if that could stop the effect he had on me.

Silas hummed, dragging the soap over my arm, across my collarbones, slow and unhurried, like he had all the time in the world.

“Good,” he murmured, voice thick with something I wasn’t ready to name. “Because I’m just getting started.”

CHAPTER11

Silas

She wasmine.

She could fight it, could deny it all she wanted, but her body? Her body had told me everything I’d needed to know.

I could still see her sprawled over my lap, writhing, panting, her bright red ass on full display for me, her body trembling with every smack of my palm.

She had been so damn defiant at first, but I had broken her down, piece by piece, until she was whispering that she was mine. The memory sent a dark satisfaction rippling through my gut, my fingers flexing against her slick, heated skin.

I loved that fire in her, loved that she fought me, because it only made it sweeter when I won.

And fuck, had Iwon!

Even now, as I ran my hands over her in the bath, feeling the tension seep from her body, she was still pretending to resist, still pouting, still playing at defiance.

I knew better.

I had felt her break beneath my hands. I’d heard the way her breath had hitched every time my palm had struck her perfect, firm ass. Had watched as she came apart, not once, but twice, with nothing more than my fingers inside her tight little asshole. I’d seen the way her thighs had clenched together, had smelled the unmistakable scent of her arousal, filling the air with the evidence of her need.

She loved being manhandled, loved being put in her place, might even have enjoyed the pain I delivered to her tender body. That only made me hungrier for her.

I continued to run the soap over her smooth skin, washing her as gently as I could. She shivered, a small, involuntary movement, but I saw it.

I smiled behind her, leaning in and letting my voice drop. “You can keep pretending all you want, Wildcat,” I taunted, touching my lips to her ear, “but we both know exactly what you need.”

She stilled, but not for long. She whipped her head around, eyes flashing, her lips parted like she was about to tell me off.

Perfect.

I was going to enjoy shutting her up.