Page 31 of Moonlight and Mischief
Rain patters on the roof, filling the cabin with soft music. Perfect weather to curl up with a book and leftover cookies. The afternoon is quiet, at least until Marigold comes home.
Her scent reaches me right before her voice hollers, “I blame you!”
“What?” I call back, loving her sass.
“It finally happened.” She leans around the doorway to my room and I set my book aside on the round table beside my armchair. Her hair is dark with water and her shirt and sweats cling to her.
“Elwood and Starling were fighting, and it was kinda bad, and then Elwood had his very first shift - while we were on a freaking nature walk! And he took off, and then it started raining so we couldn’t even track him properly!”
“I’m so sorry,” I say, jumping up and meeting her. “I wish I had known so I could have helped.”
My hands go to her upper arms. She’s chilled.
“It’s fine. His brother was right there, we actually found him pretty quick.” She shrugs with a cute half-smile. “Just not quick enough to keep me from getting totally stressed out and drenched.”
She motions down her body as if I hadn’t already been acutely aware of the way her clothes plaster to her figure. Her giggle is a bit manic and it leads to her entire body convulsing in an uncontrolled shiver.
“Geez, Marigold, you’re freezing.” The giggle redoubles followed by another shiver. “Stay here. You need to warm up.”
Grabbing a blanket off my bed, I wrap her up and hand her one of the snickerdoodle cookies off the kitchen counter. While she nibbles on it, I crank the tub faucet all the way to the left. Once the water heats, I set the stopper of the vintage claw-foot tub.
Marigold follows me into the bathroom and stands by the sink.
“Since you had such a stressful day and you’re cold, I thought a bath would be really good for you.” The Epsom salts dissolve into the hot water easily and the air fills with the scent of lavender.
“A bath?” she echoes, like it isn’t right in front of her.
“Yeah, it’ll warm you up and the salt will help your muscles relax so you aren’t sore tomorrow.” Rubbing her arms, I slide past her in the narrow bathroom and pause at the doorway.
“You’re spoiling me.” Her smile makes it worth it.
“I’m not done. It’s almost dinner, so I’m gonna grab us food. And after your bath, we can eat by the fire and I’ll open a bottle of wine,” I find myself saying.
“That seems excessive.”
She might be right about that, but I can’t help it.
“You don’t need to do any of this,” she protests.
Chuckling, I tug the blanket off of her and give her a little push toward the steaming tub. “I want to. You deserve it.”
“I don’t want to be a burden.” Her vulnerability shows through.
My hands grasp her shoulders so I can look her square in the face. “You’re always taking care of everyone else.” She opens her mouth to argue. “Don’t deny it, I’ve seen it. So now it’s your turn.”
She scowls at me. “That’s not your job.”
“Well, someone needs to do it.”
She reaches up and tugs at my shirt. “Can I convince you to letmeget food whileyouenjoy the bath?” She cocks her head. “You seem like a bath guy.”
I know she doesn’t mean to flirt, but my breathing slows as my heart rate increases. Deliberately, I step back. “Absolutely not.”
“Oh come on.” Even her whiny voice is adorable. Her lip pouts and I raise my hand to touch her on instinct. Catching myself, I twirl my finger, ordering her to turn around.
“Get in your bath now, or I’m going to put you in it myself.”
“You wouldn’t dare.” She crosses her arms.
