“Can I come in and see? You can cover up, but I want to see with my own eyes that it’s nothing serious and not beat myself up all night thinking I should have taken you to the hospital.”
Even though I knew it was a bad idea, I agreed to let him inside the bathroom. Taking the washcloth, I covered my breasts and waited with my eyes closed. I didn’t want to see the heat in his eyes as he took in my wet, naked body. I was holding on by a thread.
Even with my eyes closed, I could feel him moving in. My body thrummed to attention at his proximity. The water sloshed right before I felt his hand ghost along my side near the cut.
“It looks like it stopped bleeding,” he murmured too closely to my ear. I felt the energy shift right before he growled. “Don’t ever do that to me again, do you hear me, Doc? We stay together, no matter what. I don’t care if it’s to go tampon shopping, I’m going to be right by your side.”
There was a thump and then a groan, causing me to open my eyes. Cal was slumped against the side of the tub, staring at himself in the mirror. “If anything more had happened to you, I’d never be able to forgive myself. Hell, I want to kick my own ass right now for getting separated. How did I not notice you weren’t right by my side? And what the hell was wrong with everyone? Not a single person tried to help or protect you. How could they let a man put a knife to you and just stand there?” he growled and slammed his fist on the marble floor.
“They were probably as afraid of him as I was,” I answered quietly. Moving to the side of the tub, I rolled to my side and placed my wet hand on his shoulder.
Turning his head to look at me, his nostrils flared. “I hate that you were scared. If I had been there, it wouldn’t have happened.”
Probably not, but we couldn’t turn back time. It was my fault for letting him go so I could look at the car. In the end, the only thing that mattered was no one was seriously injured.
My hand slid to cup the side of his neck. “I can’t believe you got my purse and wallet. Everything was in there.” Tears welled in my eyes, and I felt my body start to shudder. “I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to fly to Sochi, and then…”
“I wouldn’t be able to race.” He hung his head for a moment before it popped back up. “I can’t believe that’s what you were worried about while being held at knifepoint.”
He opened his mouth again, but before he could say anything, there was a knock on the hotel room door. I jumped at the noise, and Cal’s face tightened at the sight.
“That would be the food. I’ll go answer while you get dressed.” He hopped up and was out of the bathroom before I could even respond. I started to let the water out and turned on the sprayer to rinse off the soap. Looking down at my hands, my fingers were a pruney mess. I hadn’t realized I’d been in the bath for that long. Putting the hotel’s fluffy robe on, I let it envelop me in its softness and slipped on a pair of hotel slippers.
In the living area of the suite, Cal had set up our food on the table in front of the couch and had the TV on and set to the movie Dirty Dancing.
Damn, he was a keeper. Too bad he wasn’t mine, though.
“You’re perfect,” I told him as I sat down next to him and took in the feast before us. The table had different crab dishes covering the entire surface.
“I don’t know about that, but I try. I wasn’t sure what you’d like so—"
“You ordered everything on the menu,” I interrupted.
“Something like that.” He let out a deep chuckle. “Singapore is known for its exquisite crab, and I didn’t want you to miss out.”
“And the movie?”
“Every girl loves Dirty Dancing?” His cheeks pinked up as he shrugged.
“I can’t attest for every girl in the world, but I love the movie. It’s one of my favorites, and I watch it every time I see it on. I can’t pass it up.”
“So, I did good?” One strand of hair fell over his forehead, making me want to brush it out of the way, but I held back.
“You did great. Thank you for doing all this for me. It’s more than anyone has ever done.”
“No grand romantic gestures from your exes?”
My nose scrunched up as I thought back to all my previous boyfriends. There hadn’t been many, but even the ones I’d had never did anything like this for me. It was always me giving and trying to do the things they liked.
“Not a one,” I answered truthfully.
Cal picked up the remote and started the movie before we filled our plates with crab. I didn’t even want to know how much the bill was, nor did I want to find out how much this suite cost. It was the nicest place we’d stayed at so far, and I’d thought the hotel in Monaco was lavish. It had nothing on this place.
Cal held his forkful of food only an inch from his mouth as he watched me take my first bite of crab. I was expecting spicy since he’d told me the name of the dish was chili crab. Instead, it was sweet and delicious. I moaned around my mouth full of food.
“I’m going to have to come back to Singapore for this crab and dream about it for months,” I commented as I shoved another bite into my mouth.
“It is damn good, and the way you…never mind.” He moved to place his plate on his lap and hit play again on our movie. I hadn’t even noticed he’d paused it for me. When I caught him re-adjust himself out of the corner of my eye, I realized my moans might have been affecting him in ways I didn’t want them to. I couldn’t help it, though. He kept introducing me to the most orgasmic foods on the planet. Maybe if he fed me the worst dishes the country had to offer, he wouldn’t have a problem.