Page 50 of Beneath the Midnight Sky
Me: He’s drawing me a bath and then making me breakfast.
Ivy: AHHHH!
Ivy: As he should. You are a queen after all. He should act as such.
I smiled and set my phone on the side table, getting out of bed and heading to his master bath. I wasn’t sure what I was braced for, but this wasn’t it. He had filled the tub with bubbles and oils like he’d done before. But apparently, he’d also done some shopping. On the edge of the tub were two folded fluffy white towels and a black claw clip.
He was bent over the side of the tub, hand in the water, checking the temperature, I’d assume. So I took a selfish moment to check out his backside. He was still only in a tight pair of black boxer briefs, which left the rest of him very open to drool over. He’d pulled his hair back in a bun, too, which just made me want to yank it down again. I loved it when he left it down and free. After a few moments of much-needed indulgence, I decided to be kind and make myself known.
“Wow, this is. Just. Wow,” I managed to say.
He quickly stood, shaking his wet hand off. “Uhm, it’s not a big deal. I wasn’t sure if it was a hair wash day or whatever. So, I uh…got some clips in case you didn’t have a hair band orsomething to tie it back with.” He cleared his throat, his cheeks starting to gain some darker color.
I couldn’t help but giggle at his level of discomfort. Ivy was right, there was no way he’d done this before me.
“How’d you know about claw clips and hair wash days?” I asked with a smile.
“Well, you know, I have longer hair. When I decided to grow it out, Payton made me go to a professional stylist. Told me if I was going to have long hair, I also wasn’t going to look homeless or some shit. I dunno. But the stylist gave me some tips. The clips I did go out and get…Mom likes those, and you have hair like hers…” His hands were on his hips, and he rocked back on his heels before staring at the ground. “I’m rambling. Anyway—the bath is ready. Use whatever you want. I’m gonna…breakfast. Yeah.”
I threw a hand over my mouth to keep myself from laughing and nodded.
“Oh yeah, there’s also a speaker over there if you want to listen to music. If not, there’s a sound machine—it has nature sounds and shit. It’s in the far corner. Okay, I’m done now,” he quickly said and then walked out of the bathroom.
I shook my head, leaving the door open in case he had any more strange instructions for me. Deciding to turn on the sound machine since I left my phone next door in my temporary room, I clicked through until I found the rain and thunderstorm sounds. Stripping off my clothes, I checked my backside in the mirror. I felt as if something had bitten my ass cheek, but maybe I was losing my mind because I saw nothing there. Shaking my head at myself, I clipped up my hair with the clip, and climbed into the tub and sank down, the water stopping just under my shoulders. Rowan's house was great, but this was by far one of my favorite parts thus far.
I spent what felt like forever in the bath, just soaking and enjoying the warmth. But when my fingers started to prune, I decided it was time to face the music, so to speak. In other words, it was time to face my cowboy.
My cowboy?I internally slapped myself for even subconsciously claiming him, but my heart was ignoring it. She had full belief in the matter, which was just as dangerous.
I grabbed one of the towels and stepped out of the tub, slowly drying myself off. It wasn’t until I stepped up to the mirror and stared at myself that I realized two things. One, just how shitty I looked at the moment. My skin was puffy and splotchy. My eyes were red-rimmed. I looked as if I hadn’t slept in years. I released a slow breath, trying to let go of everything bothering me right now. I pulled the claw clip from my hair, using my fingers to shake my long hair out.
I walked out into Rowan’s room and looked around, feeling somewhat lost. Which brought me to my second problem of the day—I had no clothes. No toothbrush. Not anything. I was…somewhat possessionless at the moment.
I looked around the room, deciding that I had one…well, maybe two options. I could steal some of Rowan’s clothes, or I could stand here and cry. That was about all I could come up with, so his clothes seemed to be the best option. I walked into his closet, pulled a white t-shirt off the shelf, and tossed it on, then grabbed a pair of black boxer briefs. Thankfully, he was larger than me, so they slid on and I rolled the waistband up a few times, so they looked similar to black spandex shorts.
It would have to do, for now.
Tossing my towel back in the bathroom, I walked downstairs to find him making what could only be described as a feast. He was listening to some country artist I’d never heard of before and flipping pancakes. Bacon, sausage, an array of fruit, orange juice, and fried potatoes already sat on the island.
“Are we having people over or something? Wait, shouldn’t you be working right now?” I asked, realizing that he should’ve been out helping his brother hours ago.
“Nope. I texted Oliver last night. He was able to bring Lucas in to help him this morning. I figured we needed some time to chat before you had to be at work this afternoon,” he said while adding more pancake batter to the pan.
I shifted from foot to foot, suddenly wanting to talk about anything else. Maybe he sensed my unease because he looked away from the stove top and over toward me. I swore his jaw actually dropped as he looked me over—head to toes and back up again.
“You’re…you…uh fuck,” he muttered, turning back to the pan and flipping the pancake before it could burn. “Uh, little angel, we uhm…need to eat and you’re…fuck,” he muttered again.
I looked down at my outfit and smirked. Since I’d rolled up his boxers, you could just barely make out the bottom seam of them under the baggy t-shirt, which stopped mid-thigh on me.
“Is there something wrong with my outfit, cowboy?” I asked as I swayed slightly so the shirt showed off more of his boxers, and I bit my bottom lip. I couldn’t even explain why I was trying to drive this man crazy, but damn if it didn’t feel good to do so. Almost as if everything in my life wasn’t a chaotic mess right now—my ex wasn’t in town, and after me, my boyfriend hadn’t gone behind my back in the name of trying to protect me, and everything was sunshine and rainbows.
Rowan finished the pancake in the pan and then set it atop the rest of the stack. Turning off the stove top, he slowly walked towards me, stopping a few inches away.
“Is there a reason you’re standing in our kitchen, looking like a delectable little snack in my clothes right now?” he asked with a quiet growl. I took a small note of the way he saidour kitchen. “Not that I mind seeing this…mouth-watering viewyou’re putting on for me right now, but this wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with the reason behind you showing up with no bag in hand last night, would it?”
I deflated in an instant. I should’ve known that Rowan watched me too closely not to notice that all I showed up with was my cell phone. He must’ve noticed the shift in my mood before he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around my waist.
“Talk to me, angel,” he whispered, and he leaned down pressing a gentle kiss to my forehead.
