Page 33 of Leviticus
I didn’t know how to answer her questions. I didn’t know how to explain… any of this. But this? This right here I could do. I could give her care in the only way I knew how.
Once I had the bath going, I returned to her side.
“May I?” I asked as I fingered the hem of her shirt. It was odd to see her there, clothed in only a shirt and bra and socks. She looked at me with a look of utter confusion, but no fear. No fear whatsoever, and I took hold of that and held on for dear life.
She nodded finally, and I lifted the shirt over her head. Her bra came next, followed by her socks. With each article I removed, I kissed her. After her shirt, I kissed her forehead again. After her bra, I kissed the top of her shoulder. And when I removed her socks, I kissed the inside of each ankle.
I kissed her in gratitude. In gratefulness that she had let me touch her and show her pleasure. I kissed her in awe and honor that she had not shied away or spurned me. I kissed her with thanks that she had not thought me a monster.
Yet.
I lifted her from the countertop once the water in the tub had fully filled and had been turned off. She was a slight thing and fit into my arms better than I could have imagined. I slipped her into the water slowly, softly, and took comfort in her sigh of contentment as she settled there in the steaming depths.
I grabbed the oversized bath sponge on the lip of the tub and began to lather soap into it. When I brought it to her shoulder, her hand reached out, stopping my actions.
“Please?” she asked, barely a whisper. It was hard to look into her eyes. My own fear wanting to take hold and keep me hostage.
“Please what?” I barely managed to utter back, my voice thick with emotion and fear.
“Join me?” Her words made my breath catch in my throat and my eyes finally did meet hers. There was nothing but sincerity and contentment there in the dark brown depths.
“Join you?” I questioned, and she nodded with a small smile that made me want to wrap her up in cuddles and keep her safe forever. With an awkward clearing of my throat, I removed the remainder of my own clothing. She shifted forward in the bathtub as I stepped in, grateful I had installed such a large tub. Granted, this was the exact reason I had done so. I just had never guessed it would be Ruth who would join me here.
She settled in against my chest, sighing sweetly as she found the spot she was most comfortable in.
I picked up the sponge once more, lifting it and running it over the soft skin of her arms, the water trailing down over her skin and mesmerizing me.
My thoughts raced. I had wanted her tonight. Not just in a carnal way, as we had done. But in the way a Dominant wants a submissive. I had wanted to turn her over my knee and make her ass red with my hand. With a paddle. With more. I had wanted to beat her. Not abuse her, but beat her as a Dominant. I had wanted her cries of torture and pain to turn into gasps and begging cries of need and want and desire.
But it wasn’t her who was getting the beating now. It was me. I felt awful for even thinking those thoughts, let alone what I had actually done.
No, I hadn’t actually beaten her. I hadn’t taken her over my knee. But I had commanded her. I had given her command upon command upon command and she— God Almighty save me, she had obeyed without thought, without hesitation, without question. It had been one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen.
What was I supposed to do now? How was I supposed to live out my time in this situation, until we were all able to leave safely, knowing that this little vixen existed under the garb of Zion? How was I supposed to keep my control when I knew she responded so beautifully to everything I asked.
I was well and truly —
“Levi?” her voice cut through my thoughts.
“Yes?” I responded, my own voice sounding gravelly.
“Thank you. Thank you for showing me that you do see me as a woman. As your wife.” With that, she snuggled closer into my shoulder under the warm lapping waves of the bath water, and wrapped her arms around my own arm, drawing me in to her.
Yes, indeed, I was completely unaware of what the hell to do from here.
CHAPTER10
RUTH
I woke up rested and deliciously sore. Was that even a real description? It didn’t sound like it. Deliciously sore. Yet, it sounded like the perfect way to sum up exactly how I was feeling. My body ached like one does after a good run, or after a hard day’s work, the kind where you feel accomplished and sated after. Sated. Now that was a better word for describing how I felt.
I was still marginally embarrassed by the way I had come at Levi like that. I had pushed him and sassed him in a way I had never planned to. But it had garnered results. It had stoked that fire within him that I had never before seen. My father didn’t look at my mother that way. Josiah didn’t look at Adah that way. I had never in my life seen a man look at a woman in such a way; with that intensely burning heat. When Levi had turned his gaze on me that way, I had felt like I would spontaneously combust under the intensity of it.
I had thought perhaps he would kiss me, but he didn’t just kiss me. He had consumed me, body and soul when he pushed me against the wall and took my mouth like … well, like nothing I could describe.
I sat there in the wee morning hours where the sunlight had just started to kiss the darkness and bring light forth, wrapped up in his arms. We hadn’t turned to separate corners last night. No, he had pulled me in and held me close most of the night, making me feel warm and safe and cared for.
My eyes glanced over towards the bathroom and the memories of the night before played back on repeat in my mind’s eye. The way he had carried me to the bathroom like I weighed not an ounce and had then prepared a bath for me. It should have made me feel like a child, to be stripped and bathed. It was anything but that. He had kissed my forehead, my shoulder, my ankles and it felt like the most intimate act we had ever committed. Perhaps it was. He felt open to me, in a way I hadn’t seen from him before.
