Page 15 of The Healer and the Wolf, Part One

15

LEO

“ W ould you like to take a shower?”

The way Ven was looking up at me through her lashes sent desire rushing through my body. Those honey-brown eyes were my own personal kryptonite.

Strange, the things I remembered when I looked at her—like a comic superhero and his weakness.

The silence stretched on for a few beats too long. Shit, I needed to answer her.

“You can go first,” I managed to ground out, my brain moving like molasses. I desperately tried not to think about her naked body beneath the hot water, soap cascading over the ample planes of her body.

I didn’t understand why Ven’s face fell slightly until she cleared her throat and spoke again. “What I meant was, would you like to take a shower with me?”

Oh.

Oh.

Yes, I would like that very much. Enough to make me wonder if I had actually slipped somewhere out on the trail and hit my head.

But, no, Ven was right in from me, asking me something I never dreamed she would.

“Are you sure?” I asked, desire seeping into every word.

“Yes, I am very, very sure.”

Who was I to argue with that?

“Then, yes, I would like to take a shower with you.” The words felt clunky in my mouth, but Ven didn’t seem to mind. Instead, she took my hand, and we started up the stairs.

It seemed so very much like a dream.

It wouldn’t have been the first time I’d dreamt about her, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if I woke up with my cock already straining with need. But no, her touch was too real as she led me up the stairs and into the bathroom.

The last time we’d shared the space together had been the big turning point for me, when I’d gone from an animal masquerading as a man, to a shifter who had control over himself. The thought that I would be sharing the bathroom with Ven again was dizzying. Overwhelming, even.

But I wanted it. I wanted it more than anything.

“I’ll start the water,” Ven said, and although I heard the hitch of nerves in her voice, it was comforting to know she was just as affected as I was, that the gravity of the situation wasn’t lost on her.

It was nice.

Actually, nice didn’t even come close to covering it. I’d been pulled toward the gorgeous woman in front of me ever since that first moment in the woods when she’d taken pity on an injured wolf instead of running away. And I’d been outright attracted to her ever since the first moment I’d regained my human form. I’d imagined gliding my hands down her body and pressing my lips to her neck so many times. I always ushered those thoughts away quickly, banishing them out of my head for fear of disrespecting her.

But now, there was no disrespect as Ven turned to me, the scent of her arousal and excitement filling the room. My blood rushed through my veins in response, my cock rapidly hardening.

Then she started to undress.

I watched, enraptured, as inch by inch of the beautiful woman in front of me was revealed. Miles of skin, flawless and begging to be caressed. She was fucking perfect. I had no other words for it. From her breasts and the darkened nipples that were already beginning to harden, to her soft stomach and the crease just under her ribs. Her generous ass, those thick thighs that I wanted to sink my teeth into, and those perfectly sculpted calves of hers. She was art through and through, and I was ready to worship her.

“You’re incredible,” I whispered, reaching out. I was spoiled for choice, and for a moment, I didn’t know where my hand would land. It settled on her cheek, cupping that precious face of hers so I could look into her eyes.

Could she tell how much she affected me? How she made my blood sing in my veins and my inner wolf howl with desire? Wild thoughts and passion shot through me, so thick I could almost choke on them, and it was so tempting to simply give in to my baser instincts.

But, no, Ven was not something to be rushed through like the wild animal I had been for so long. She required reverence. Devotion. She was a sermon all to herself, and I wanted to give everything over in supplication.

“You’re not so bad yourself,” she whispered, and God, if the huskiness in her voice didn’t go straight to my heart. Or maybe my cock?

Both. Probably both.

“Why don’t we get these clothes off?”

Clothes? Oh, right. I was indeed wearing the T-shirt and jeans she’d got me. I moved to rip the shirt off, but Ven stopped me, gripping the bottom of the shirt and gently guiding it over my head. The back of her nails barely scraped my chest, yet it was like some sort of drug had been injected into my veins. I was acutely attuned to her in a way I had never been with someone, and it was dizzying in its ferocity. But I so very much wanted to be consumed by it. By the fire and passion, by the desire and lust. While Ven had most certainly reawakened my humanity, she also easily called upon other desires, both primal and relentless in nature.

Then the shirt was gone, and her hands went to my jeans.

Fuck, her fingers applying the slightest bit of pressure as she popped the button open and unzipped the fly nearly had me losing it right then and there. I wanted to grab her and push her up against the wall in the growing steam surrounding us. I wanted to ravage her. Wanted to leave her so thoroughly marked and used that anyone who laid a single eye on her would know she was mine.

I didn’t, though.

I knew better.

Although I desired Ven so deeply that it hurt, I understood this moment for what it was. We were two likeminded companions sharing comfort and simply living life like we’d talked about in the cave. Although I could feel myself falling for her and becoming obsessed with every single aspect of her existence, it didn’t mean she felt the same. Far from it.

So, though I wanted more—craved more all the way down to my bones—I wouldn’t be greedy. I would take the moment for what it was and lose myself in the pleasure knowing that it didn’t go any further than that.

“Holy shit,” Ven breathed, bringing me back to the moment as she slid my jeans and underwear down my legs to pool at our feet. I didn’t need to follow her gaze to know exactly where she was looking. My cock was so hard it ached, and I could already feel liquid beading at its straining tip.

“That’s all because of you,” I rumbled, and even I could tell that my voice was less actual tone and more animalistic.

Goosebumps spread out across her flesh in a fascinating wave. Fuck, every aspect of her enraptured me, but when Ven reached down, I caught her hand. Her head snapped up, eyes locking to mine, concern written across her face like she was afraid she’d done something wrong. I smiled as I brought her hand up to my lips and kissed it gently.

“We should step into the shower, yes?”

As much as I wanted her to touch me, as much as I craved it like I did oxygen, I also didn’t want it to be over too soon. Even in the intensity of the moment, I wanted the same intimacy we’d had that first night, except more. Because I was more now. I wasn’t a scared, confused, new human who was just stepping out of curse and didn’t even understand how to live. I was a man now. And a wolf. And an alpha.

“Oh, yeah…” A different sort of pink flooded her cheeks. She was just as affected as I was. Still holding my hand, she carefully stepped into the tub, and I followed her.

The water was delightfully hot, singing along my skin like a Greek chorus championing the moment between us. And by all that was holy, watching the water drip down her gorgeous, curvaceous form was every bit as riveting as I’d thought it would be. Beads of water made a valiant journey over breast, stomach, and hip before falling to join their brethren at her feet.

Finally, I couldn’t resist anymore. I reached out with my free hand and let my fingertips move over her. It was hardly even a touch at first, more like a feather-light ghost of a touch, like I hardly dared for it to be real. But it was real. Ven was real, and so was I in this moment with her.

Her shuddering breath had my length hardening even more between us, to the point where it was almost painful. But I relished it just like I did everything else with Ven, because each and every moment was its own revelation.

I couldn’t remember the last time I had been intimate with someone, but that didn’t matter, because they weren’t Ven. They weren’t the resplendent woman who had captured every part of me so thoroughly.

“The soap,” she whispered, turning away to grab her bodywash and the loofah. It wasn’t the one I’d used. She’d replaced it after scrubbing all the filth off me. She was so constantly thoughtful. I knew money was tight, and she’d let me, a wolf who had butted his way into her life, ruin something so useful to her.

My heart stirred, but somehow I managed to keep my voice steady when I gently took the ball of netting from her. “May I?”

The column of her throat bobbed as she swallowed and nodded.

Perfect.

I’d showered plenty of times since that first instance when Ven had reconnected me to my humanity, and yet there was something so significantly poignant about foaming up the loofah for someone other than myself. I adjusted the nozzle so the majority of the spray fell over Ven’s gorgeous figure until she was nice and wet, then moved it again, so the soap wouldn’t wash away instantly.

I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until I touched the loofah to her and let it glide down that incredibly soft skin of hers. It was every bit as silken as I had imagined, and I knew I would never get that out of my head. Not that I wanted to. I planned to burn every moment of our time in the shower together down into the marrow of my bones, so generations to come would have some sort of genetic memory of it.

“You’re gorgeous,” I practically growled, and the little hitch in Ven’s breath pushed me close to the edge of losing it. But I clamped down with all of my control, not wanting to waste or rush a single second.

“You don’t mean that,” Ven said on a shaky breath, and the vulnerability in her voice struck me. Ven was so strong, and I was sure she’d gone through impossible things and had beaten it at incredible odds. I was honored that she was willing to show her insecurities around me, but at the same time, it baffled me that she couldn’t see what I did.

“I assure you, I do,” I said, cupping her face with my free hand. When she pressed her cheek into my palm, like she was seeking my assurance, my heart nearly melted in my chest.

I was so close to being a goner, and I knew that, but I didn’t stop. Didn’t withdraw. Even if this was a one-time offer and I spent the rest of my life craving another moment with her, I would rather know the bittersweet sting of eternal longing than deny myself anything Ven was willing to give me.

No more words were needed as I made sure to pay attention to every single inch of her. She looked ethereal, covered in white, foamy bubbles.

The need to kiss her overwhelmed me. So I did.

I dipped down and pressed my lips to hers, featherlight and cautious, just as much of a ghostly presence as when my fingertips first slid over her. I wrapped my arm around her soft, plush waist, and dragged her to me, pressing our bodies together.

Fuck, fuck, fuck . The feel of her against me was unlike anything else I’d ever experienced; all cushion and silk with the steel of hard-earned muscle along with it. She was womanly. She was strong. A healer, but a warrior, too. Ven was a complex mix of things I adored more than I could ever articulate.

Which was fine, because my mouth was quite busy moving against hers, growing more and more intoxicated off her scent, her body, her everything.

It was a herculean effort to break away, but eventually, I did. The heat in Ven’s eyes was almost my undoing. I had a sudden, desperate urge to bend her over right there and then, but I pushed it down. All in good time.

All in good time.

Instead, I detached the showerhead from its holder and ran it over her body to wash off soap. Ven’s very presence made something quite simple into a work of art I could watch forever. An entire spectacle I could watch forever.

But she was fully rinsed long before forever happened and gently took the showerhead and loofah from me.

“My turn,” she said, voice so full of heat that my cock jumped again. If she noticed, she made no mention of it as she lathered me up.

Not for the first time, my every sense was full of her, leaving room for nothing else. The gentle rasp of the loofah, the water cooling across my body, her silken skin sliding across mine every so often depending on where she was lightly scrubbing. If I never knew another day as a man, I would die happily because this woman caring for me was so far out of my league it was laughable.

God, I really was falling for her, wasn’t I?

Well, there was no stopping my descent, so why fight it? Instead, I kissed her again. That seemed like a much better use of my time.

The world around us became hazy between her touch, the thick scents of our arousal and the bodywash, the steam, and the water. Before too long, Ven rinsed me off, her hands gliding down my body to encourage all the soap to slough off.

It was so much— too much—and I couldn’t contain myself anymore. My inner wolf was howling with desire, throwing himself at the barriers of my mind that had kept him contained ever since Ven had broken my curse.

Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to let him out a little.

Reaching past Ven, I turned off the water and stepped out of the tub, then carefully helped her out as well. Once I was sure we both had stable footing, I picked her up, not wanting to waste time with both of us walking.

Ven let out a surprised gasp and a giggle, and I swore the happy sound could make me float. A rumble shuddered through my chest, and I knew she felt it by the way her heart skipped a beat. I carried her down the hall to the one room in the house I had never been in.

Her bedroom.