Page 51 of Hold Me Tight

Decision made, I turn the tap and begin filling the tub. The water steams as I strip off my clothes and slide into the heat, letting it cradle me. Once I relax against the smooth curve of the porcelain, it doesn’t take long for my eyelids to flutter shut and the tension in my shoulders to melt away.

For the first time in forever, I exhale.

It should feel like a release.

Instead, it feels like a trap.

I know better than to believe this break from reality will last. It’s just an interlude. A moment of quiet before everything changes again.

A knock at the door is what pulls me from the tangle of my thoughts. I sit up slightly as the water sloshes against the rim of the tub. “Yeah?”

The door creaks open and River steps inside with a glass of wine in his hand.

“Nora’s asleep,” he says quietly. “She didn’t even make it to the second book.”

His eyes find mine and stay locked there. As tempting as it is to cross my arms over my breasts, I don’t. Instead, I hold his steady gaze, letting him see me.

When I don’t ask him to leave, he closes the distance between us before setting the glass on the edge of the tub. “I thought you could use this. Do you need anything else?”

“No,” I murmur. “I’m good.”

The air between us grows heavy with something I can’t quite name.

River lingers. “Should I leave?”

It’s a fair question.

The kind that demands honesty.

It’s almost a shock to realize I don’t want him to go.

I shake my head once.

That’s all it takes for his eyes to darken. Now that I’ve given him permission, his gaze dips over my naked body. There’s nothing rushed or lewd about his silent appraisal. It’s the look of a man who is savoring something rare. Something he waited a long time to have and wasn’t sure he’d ever get.

His tone drops, becoming low and rough. It scrapes against a part of me that’s been dormant for years.

“Would you like me to wash you?”

A response sticks in my throat.

A tight nod is all I can manage.

River pushes up the sleeves of his Henley, revealing strong forearms that are dusted with dark hair, before kneeling beside the tub.

That shouldn’t be so sexy.

“Lean forward.”

I do as he says, my body shifting through the water with a ripple. The heat wraps around me, but it’s nothing compared to the fire spreading beneath my skin.

His hands, slick with soap, find my back. He moves slowly, working in gentle circles. My shoulders loosen as my jaw unclenches. The stress I wear like armor begins to slip from my bones.

He’s so careful. As if I’m something breakable.

Something that matters.

His fingers rise, gliding over my shoulders, then down my arms. They drift across my ribs, the curve of my waist, teasing a shiver out of me. When he reaches around to my front, his palms flatten against my stomach, and everything in me goes still.