Page 91 of The Witch and His Crow

I only focused on his first comment. How the wordshouldhad stood out like it didn’t belong.

Because it didn’t.

I leaned out the spray of water, feeling the icy cold air punish me and attempt to force me back beneath the protection of water. ‘You know…there’s plenty of space.’

Still without lifting his eyes, Arwyn moved back towards the door. ‘I really should keep a watch out.’

There it was again, the wordshould. Like Arwyn was using it to convince himself that was what he needed to do. But the word suggested hesitance. It gave the impression that Arwyn knew what he needed to do, but his mind was telling him otherwise. Which was good, because my mind was screaming for him.

Take me. Take my mind. Distract me. When you’re gone, my mind wanders to things I’m not brave enough to face. Please. Stay. I don’t want to think anymore.

Unlike before, when those thoughts wore through me, this time I didn’t hold my tongue. ‘Arwyn, what do you want to do? Forget it all, forget what youshoulddo. What do youwant?’

I regretted the words the moment they left my mouth. Not because I didn’t care for the answer, but because I worried what that answer would be. Rejection always stung, but I felt that it would shatter me if it came from him.

But Arwyn surprised me. No—in fact, he did the very thing I knew he would. He lowered his hand and raised his gaze up. The confidence in his eyes, the way his gaze roamed from my toes, to my legs, stomach, chest and to my face. There, he held my stare as if it was far more interesting than what my naked body could offer.

‘Careful what questions you ask of me.’ Arwyn’s warning was carefully poised. Perhaps he, too, prepared for rejection, even though we were far beyond it. ‘Are you sure you’re brave enough to face the answer?’

‘Yes,’ I said, gasping as if my lungs couldn’t hold the word. ‘I’m sure.’

Arwyn’s serious face eased into his easy smile. It warmed me more than the water could. Without taking his eyes off me, he reached for his t-shirt and lifted it over his head. One, two, three… six mounds of muscles rippled as he stretched his armsup and dumped the t-shirt to the ground. He flexed, which made me laugh, because clearly he was trying to make an impression. But I’d seen him topless a few times now, enough to memorise every inch of him. However, as he kicked off his boots, unbuckled his belt and dropped his trousers, I realised this was a new detail of him I’d yet to see.

He walked towards me. Not towards a faucet at my sides, but atme. I did everything in my power not to look at the bulge resting in the centre of his black boxer shorts. Or the trail of hair that peeked from his groin up to his belly button…

Oh shit, I was looking, and Arwyndefinitelynoticed.

‘The door is locked,’ Arwyn said, so matter of fact I couldn’t help but laugh.

‘I wouldn’t expect anything less,’ I said, gesturing towards his boxers. ‘Did you plan on keeping those on?’

‘Wouldn’t dream of it,’ Arwyn replied, his thumb threading beneath the waistband of his boxer shorts.

I took his hesitance as the reason why he hadn’t completely undressed—I was facing him. Which was stupid, really, since I was so exposed that even the shadows in the room were counting the freckles on my arse cheeks. But to play with the idea of modesty, I turned my back on him.

Removing Arwyn from my line of sight made my other senses explode. The shuffle of his feet over damp tiles was loud. His breathing was so clear it was as if he stood directly behind me. I held my breath and closed my eyes as the water continued to wash over me, waiting for proof he moved to another faucet.

Warm, sure fingers pressed against my lower back. It was a soft touch, and yet I gasped out like lightning had touched me. The thrill was electrifying. Arwyn ran the pads of his fingers up my skin. When he reached the top of my back, his fingers splayed to handprints on either side of my shoulders.

‘You’ve missed a spot,’ Arwyn breathed, voice muffled by the spray of water he now stood beneath. ‘Here, and here. Andhere.’

I swallowed down the lump in my throat, feigning the same confidence Arwyn exuded. ‘Then, since you’re back there, make yourself useful.’

I lifted the bar of soap over my shoulder. It hovered there for a second before Arwyn took it. Then I closed my eyes, lifted my face back to the falling water, and focused on something… anything… that didn’t result in my cock getting harder than it already was.

If that was possible.

Spoiler alert, it wasn’t.

Arwyn covered my back in honey-scented creamy lather, taking the task seriously. Not an inch of me was spared. I couldn’t see him from my vantage point buthells, I felt him.

Arwyn dropped to his knees, continuing his exploration of my body by washing my legs, my hips, down to my ankles.

We didn’t say a word to each other. What was there to say?Thanks for washing me? No, that was ridiculous, and yet all I wanted to do was thank him. To get on my knees and repay the favour and…

Banishing the thoughts I had was becoming increasingly impossible.

‘That’s better,’ Arwyn said, standing slowly, his chest brushing my arse as he passed it. I turned to face him, drenched and shivering, but not from the cold. He held the soap out to me, his long fingers covered in white lather. ‘You’ve healed well.’

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