“Come on, sugar. I need to have a shower. You can wash my back.
She stood and swung around. “You’re stopping?”
His lips twitched but his gaze remained stern. “You haven’t earned the right to come yet.”
The right to come? Say what?
She gaped at his back as he walked away.
Seriously! She had to earn herself some pleasure? She had a damn decent vibrator at home and all it required were a few AA batteries.
Earn her pleasure. She so didn’t think so.
“Laken.”
Ahh, damn it. She knew very well that no vibrator would ever substitute for Duncan. Shaking her head, she followed him into the bathroom.
***
Duncan leaned his palms against the side of the shower, letting the water flow over his head and down his back. Having Laken in the shower with him had proven to be too much temptation. He’d had to fight the urge to bend her over and take her from behind. Or to lift her, lean her against the side of the shower and push his way inside her.
But he had drawn a line in the sand when he told her earlier that she would have to earn her own pleasure. Sure, he could take his pleasure, but that would make him feel like a complete asshole.
So he had sent her to start dinner.
Christ, how was he supposed to do this? To push her? He’d seen the uncertainty in her gaze. He wanted to help her through her pain and fear, to ease her past the terror. But he didn’t have time to do that slowly.
He had to shove his way through her barriers, tear them down and steamroll her. He hated it. Why hadn’t he fallen for a dependent, shy woman who would look to him to take care of her?
No, he had to fall for a feisty, too-full-of-courage-for-her-own-good woman who would tear him inside out by the time she was finished throwing herself into danger.
He was upset by the way she’d kept things from him. But he was even more upset at himself. He should have paid closer attention to what was going on with her instead of focusing all his attention on getting her back into bed. He should have told her that she was in danger as soon as he had found out.
They’d been so busy trying to protect each other that they had both forgotten to lean on one another. She would learn to rely on him once again. He had let her down once and with horrible repercussions. But he wasn’t that guy anymore. He was here for her.
He couldn’t blame her for not telling him everything about her attack. He hadn’t exactly treated her well in the past. Now he would put her first. Always.
An alarm screamed and his head shot up as he reached out to turn off the water to the shower.
He quickly wrapped a towel around his waist and sprinted down the hall to find Laken standing on a chair, waving a dish rag in front of the smoke alarm. Duncan grabbed her around the waist and lifted her down before reaching up and pulling the battery out of the alarm.
Laken dropped her fingers from her ears, looking at him with relief. “Thank God, I thought I was going to go deaf.”
He looked over at the sink where a pot of something lay steaming.
Grabbing the pan up with a towel, he stalked over to the back door to place it on the porch. He left the door open to let in some fresh air before turning back to Laken.
She stood, her eyes square on the ground, her shoulders hunched.
Reaching out with one hand, he grasped her chin and raised her face. Tears dripped down her cheeks and his heart melted.
Poor little subbie.
He drew her into his arms, rocking slowly.
“Hey… hey now, it’s just a few burnt veggies.”
“I-it’s not that,” she sobbed, her whole body shuddering with the force of her tears. “It’s everything.”