“Can we just lie here?” she asked softly, and I pulled my hand away instantly.
I didn’t want to push her, but I’d been hoping to help her with her trauma. If snuggling helped, I was all for that though.
“We can do that. Get under the blanket,” I encouraged, making sure we were both tucked in before pulling her againstme and sliding my arm around her so she was nestled in the crook of my neck. “I love you.”
For a second, I didn’t think she was going to respond, but then she kissed my neck and draped an arm over my stomach. “I love you too.”
Neither of us fell asleep, continuing to just lie there like she’d wanted. She must have thought I was upset about not fucking her though because her hand cupped my dick through my pants.
“Don’t,” I whispered, her hand pausing.
“Why not?”
“I’ll wait for when you’re ready. I’m not going anywhere,” I promised, hoping she knew that.
Was that why she wanted to get me off? She thought I’d get bored and leave?
Her hand left me and she snuggled into me even more, making me feel like an asshole. She was definitely only doing it to keep me happy, which meant I wasn’t doing a good job at making her realize how much I wanted her.
“You want to have a bath with me?” I asked, trailing my fingers up and down her arm.
“I don’t know what you want, dude. Do you want to get me naked or not?” she deadpanned, making me scoff.
“Don’t call me dude. We fuck.”
“Oh, so dude is a hard limit, but stepsister wasn’t? You’re a sick man, Caden Holloway,” she teased as she pulled back to sit up. “But we can have a bath if you want.”
I grinned, climbing out of bed and heading into my bathroom to start filling the tub, while Rory started stripping what was left of her clothes.
I peeked out at her, finding her in her bra and panties in front of one of my shelves, a picture of me and the guys in her hand. She looked over and met my eyes, but she didn’t seem fazed that I’d caught her snooping.
“When was this?” she asked, amusement on her face. “And why are you and Luke beat up?”
A quiet laugh left me as I walked towards her, taking the photo frame from her hand.
“It was the week Luke started hanging out with us. We didn’t exactly get along at first.”
“You beat each other up?”
“I learned you can’t bully Lukas James,” I whisper-yelled, loving the smile that spread across her face.
“Bit hard to bully someone who’s used to dealing with Karen,” she pointed out, making me nod as I placed it back on the shelf.
“He’s a tough little fucker when he wants to be. C’mon, get in the bath and I’ll tell you about some of the shit we used to get up to.”
It was hard not to drag Rory onto my lap and fuck her, she always looked so fucking good naked, but I slid in behind her once she was comfortable, putting her hair up out of the way so I could massage her shoulders.
She relaxed against me, and I filled the silence with stories about the guys and I, knowing I’d done the right thing when she was giggling. It wasn’t a huff of laughter, it was a full girly giggle, and I was pretty sure I’d never felt her muscles so relaxed in the whole time I’d known her.
“Luke used to dress up in my princess dresses, you know?” she laughed when she started telling her own stories.
“Did you have tea parties?” I joked, her hands falling to my legs to tease them under the water.
“Of course. Sarah, my nanny, would make us little sandwiches and everything. Karen had a fit when she saw him in a dress outside one day. She acted like I’d forced him into it,” she scoffed, tilting her head to the side as my lips brushed her neck.
“What happened?”
“She said no girl would marry a man in a dress. I told her I’d marry him,” she murmured, tension starting to coil through her body again at my next question.