Page 54 of A Murderous Crow
“You have a way about you, you know? Elegant and old-fashioned. I like it.”
I blushed faintly at the praise as he continued to gather and twist my hair. There was a claw clip, a faux tortoiseshell, sitting on the edge of the sink in front of me. He took it up, holding it between his lips as he put some final twists in my hair using both hands, scraping some errant strands back from my face beforequickly taking the clip from his mouth and pinning it in a pile at the back of my head.
I stared at ourselves in the mirror and couldn’t help but think that in another life, with a different set of attitudes, we would have fit, like two puzzle pieces meant to nest together. Not only that, but we could have been a powerful couple and run our own little empire.
Corbett Prescott may be an asshole, and a control freak – but I was starting to find that he had a softer side, something kept secret and viewed as a vulnerability. It was as though these sweet moments between us, when he spoiled and held me, were something he had always wished for but had never received, and that made my heart squeeze and flutter with a broken little ache for him in my chest.
“What is all of this?” I asked curiously, after finding my voice. He nuzzled behind my ear and pressed a light kiss there, which made me shudder. He smiled as he reached in front of me and plucked the button through its hole at my collar.
“Just relax for me,” he whispered, and his voice took on that timbre that just made me want to melt.
“Okay.” I decided to trust him, as he took his time undressing me, kissing me, and running his warm hands over my skin as he swept the cloth away and the tub filled.
I had some idea of what was in store, but not really. With the food still warm in my belly and the carbohydrates starting to make me a bit sleepy, I was indeed beginning to relax, and the bath with its mound of fragrant bubbles building… well, let’s just say I felt due for a treat and that looked downright divine.
Chapter Eighteen
Corvus…
I’d like to think that things like this weren’t in my nature, except that it secretly was. I loved to take care of my woman, and I had – once upon a time, but she had been thewrongwoman who had taken advantage and strayed, making a total fool out of me. I wasn’t apt to make the same mistake twice, but I couldn’t deny that there was something different about Savannah.
From the first time she was in this tub, my hands buried in her hair as I made certain any bit of the crime scene we’d left behind was off her – I could tell, and I was positivelyitchingto do things properly for her since that night. She’d been so good back at the club a couple of weeks back that I had been truly frustrated that life and business had gotten in my way of this most just reward.
I undressed her and helped her into the tub. She gasped at the heat of the water, and I know – it was definitely a touch too hot, but I wanted it that way. I wanted the heat of the water tosink into her very bones and work loose the tension she seemed to always carry in her back and shoulders.
“Relax,” I ordered her. “I’ll be right back.”
“Okay,” she murmured, leaning back against the end of the tub. “I don’t think that will be a problem.”
I chuckled and left, going back into my bedroom to change.
I had my phone silenced, but I couldn’t stop myself from checking it at least once. The group text was slightly active, but it wasn’t anything that needed my attention, so I set it down and vowed not to pick it up again.
Syn knew I was…indisposedthis evening, and said he had it in hand, and I believed him. I just couldn’t cede my control over anything for even a moment. I was well aware it was a “me” problem, but it wasn’t actually problematic for me, and thus I felt no need to change it.
A sort of“if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”mentality, if you will.
I changed out of my suit from the day and opted for comfort, putting on a fresh undershirt in my signature color, black, of course, and a comfortable pair of black lounge pants.
I checked the bedside table, set up for the next phase in helping Savannah to relax, and lit the mild candle that would melt into a lovely massage oil and balm.
It’d been a long time for me, rewarding a woman in this way. I still wasn’t sure how to feel about it, other than fulfilling the drivingwantto do it.
I was wrestling with a lot of feelings when it came to Savannah Kittridge – she was a divine puzzle, a challenge, and I was enjoying playing with her and figuring her out. I was also trying to figure out why she seemed to press so many of my buttons. She flipped so many of my switches back to the ‘on’ position. Switches so long dormant they were covered in a layer of dust and cobwebs.
I wish I could say it bothered me, but what truly bothered me the most was the fact that itdidn’t…
I swore off anything serious with any woman years ago, and I was determined to keep this the same – but I had to admit, what she’d done to please me the most over the last couple of weeks, was what shehadn’tdone! Which was that she hadn’t seen anyone else.
She hadn’t gone on any dates or hooked up, and the way she rebuffed Specter’s advance on the staircase had stung him to the point that even he wouldn’t admit what she’d said.
I ran my fingers through the flame of the massage candle and huffed a slightly conflicted sigh before clenching my fists and banging them together one on top of the other in a fidget before taking myself back into the bathroom.
The tub was filling nicely, with her long, graceful neck and shoulders the only things above the mounds of bubbles.
“Where’s the waterline under there?” I asked, taking a seat on the low stool up by her head.
“It’s almost ready to be shut off, but not quite,” she answered, blowing a bit of the heavenly scented foam off her hand and into the mountain in front of her.
