Page 58 of The Chains You Defy

Of course, I wanted to be brave and bold, but nothing could change the fact that I was the opposite of that.

“Stop it.”

“What…doyou mean?”

“Your mind is racing, and according to the wrinkles on your forehead, you’re worrying about something.”

“Perhaps asking you for this wasn’t fair.”

Dion canted his head, alerting me to his confusion. “Huh?”

“You know, replacing and such.”

A scoff tumbled from his lips, and he flicked my nose. “Stupid tiny female.” Amusement was oozing from him as he bullied me into the tub. “Why would you possibly worry about fairness?”

“Well, I’m not exactly…uhh—”

“Let me stop your self-doubting self there. Maybe the truth is hard for you to grasp, but this isn’t a sacrifice for me. Believe me, after your confession that you’re trusting me with your body—gods, Nayana. If you hadn’t suffered a horrible trauma, I would’ve seduced you then and there. Setting up ground rules was for your benefit, and seeing you so beautifully unveiled in front of me, I can only pat past me on the shoulder for being so thoughtful and considerate, because present me has a hard time grasping only a single reasonable thought. So, whatever lie you tell yourself, forget it.”

With that, Dion grabbed a sponge, and, after wetting the soft item, he brushed it over my skin.

My lungs had tightened during his little speech, and even though there had been a lot he’d proclaimed that I didn’t want to unpack, something remained. He wasn’t secretly hating this, and he wanted me to stop worrying. And so, I’d try.

Dion dispensed soap on the sponge and washed every single inch of me, and despite not lingering on any intimate spot, the longer he spent cleaning my skin, the more I feared I’d combust. And when he set the spongeaside, he lathered up his hands and began to wash my hair.

When he foamed up my tresses and massaged my scalp, a groan escaped my lips. “Oh gods, Dion.”

“Look at that. I’ve barely done anything, and you already call me divine. Although…I don’t fancy the competition. It’s god, not gods.”

I didn’t have a retort for that; the center in my brain responsible for witty remarks had shut down as soon as he’d started massaging my head. The motion was relaxing on one hand, but on the other hand, the inferno building within me burned brighter, and when he rinsed my hair, followed by him helping me out of the tub, I was already mad with arousal.

Dion’s nostrils flared as he grabbed a towel and rubbed the fabric over my skin to dry me. “You have no idea how hard a time I have keeping things slow with you when you smell like that.”

“You chose the soap.”

“I’m not talking about the soap.”

“What else then?”

“Your desire is perfuming the air around you, and it’s maddening.”

“You can smell that?”

“My senses are extremely sensitive. Most likely, I could scent you from the other end of the castle.”

Oh no, this was simply a nightmare.

As so often today, blood gathered in my cheeks, and I mulled over this unexpected revelation until Dion hummed in satisfaction about how well he’d done his task of drying me.

Shoving my mortification far, far away, I faced the male.

“Still green, Naya?”

“Yes.”

“Then follow me.”

Instead of waiting for me to trail behind him out of the bathroom, Dion lifted me with one arm behind my back and the other under my knees. Despite my protest, he carried me to the bedroom, where he placed me on top of the bed as if I were something precious.