Page 107 of Beneath the Mountain Sky

“Come on.” He murmurs the command against my skin, then slides away, dragging me toward the shower, cranking on the hot water. “Shh.”

He holds me as I cry, waiting for it to heat up.

Steam finally starts to fill the room, cocooning us in a wraithlike fog that matches the one that covers McBride Mountain.

He walks me in under the hot spray.

I flinch when it hits me at first, but the warmth starts to seep into my skin, washing away the goosebumps, the tremors, the lingering memory of that pain.

Killian runs his hand up and down my spine gently, letting the water rush over us. The longer he holds me, the more it starts to feel normal, like the way it always used to be when we were like this before.

He drops a kiss to my forehead, then tilts my chin up. “Better?”

I nod and wrap my arms around him, clinging to him tightly, not wanting even an inch of space between us that might allow those dark memories to infiltrate again.

The heat of his body does as much for me as that of the cascading water.

Soaking into my bones.

Solidifying the reality of this moment and the safety Killian provides.

He pulls one arm from around me, then slowly moves the other, then returns with a loofah full of the body wash Raven brought for me. My favorite scent—honey and lavender.

Killian lathers it up and starts washing me slowly, dragging it over every inch of my body he can reach with my arms still looped around him. I close my eyes, my cheek laid on his chest, and let the water pound against my back as he does it.

When he gently pulls on my arms, urging me to let go, I don’t fight it, and as soon as he’s sure I’m steady on my feet, he drops to his knees in front of me and ensures every single inch of me is clean.

Cleansing me of the nightmare.

Of that darkness I can’t seem to escape.

He rises to his feet, keeping his intense gaze locked with mine. “Tip your head back.”

Threading his fingers through my hair, he urges me farther under the spray, fully wetting the long, tangled locks. Then he grabs the shampoo and begins to work it into my scalp the same way he did when we first returned to the cabin. Massaging gently. Lulling me into that space where all I can feel is his magical fingers and the brush of his body along mine.

“Mmm. That feels good.”

“Good.”

He wraps his arm around my waist again and pulls me back against him, letting the stream of hot water rinse the lather from my hair.

We remain under the spray for a few moments before he repeats the process with the conditioner, then he holds me to him, brushing his lips across my forehead, running rough palms over me soothingly.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

I shake my head, keeping it pressed into his chest. “No.”

“You know I’ll be here when you do.”

I nod.

Killian isn’t going anywhere.

“You’re going to come to the lumberyard with me tomorrow.”

I finally lift my head, tilting my face to gaze at him still behind me. Water cascades down his sculpted shoulders and chest as he stares down at me with concern. “How come?”

“Because I don’t want to let you out of my sight after tonight.”