Page 96 of Love Wells Kept

“Okay, well then, guess we better make it quick. Come on, Kate. Don’t make me soak in here all by myself.”

Jackson swings the gate back and forth, wincing at the grating noise it makes as if he’s not the one responsible for it. I swear, if that man ends up with a migraine in the morning, he can take care of himself while I treat myself to Belgian waffles in the restaurant.

“You keep fucking with that gate, somebody’s going to hear you and come out.” I roll my eyes and push past him, already pulling my sweater overhead.

If we’re going to get caught, I’d like to have at least plunged into the hot water for a few minutes first. Make it worth my time.

Jackson’s the first into the water, and he hisses at the feel of it hitting his cold, goosebump-covered skin. Then he sinks until there’s nothing but his head showing above the water, obscured by a cloud of thick, billowing steam.

I set my clothes to the side and kick off my sandals, then gingerly walk across the stone pool deck and make an attempt at being graceful and ladylike when I hop in. The water prickles across my skin, stinging my frozen fingers and toes.

The warm steam rises in slow, drifting curls, immediately dampening my hair and coating my face in a thin layer of condensation. I push through the water toward my husband, smiling all the way into his big arms. He pulls me in, letting me cling to him like a koala, and carries me toward the deepest section of the pool.

The water swells around us and I smooth a wet hand over his hair—messed up and standing on end from sleep. Speaking of sleep, every muscle in my body is so relaxed, I could doze off right here.

We wade away from the singular light on the pool house, where during the open hours, one would shower off before and after being in the springs. In the dark, it’s only me and him and the moon.

He calmly sets me down on a bench seat along the far edge of the pool and settles in beside me with a relaxed exhale.

“There,” he says triumphantly, finding my thigh in the dark water and giving it a light tap. “An entirely uninterrupted soak for date night.”

“I love this…even if I didn’t love being woken up in the middle of a great sleep.”

“I thought since we’re going home tomorrow, and I screwed you over this morning, that I should try to make it up to you.”

I pepper his jaw with soft kisses. “Thank you for this. All of it. We needed this trip.”

“I needed to see you in a bikini.” He fiddles with the long strings, flicking the small beads on the ends.

“You planned a romantic weekend away just to see me in a bikini?”

His touch moves upward, skimming my ribs before rolling the thin fabric of my top between his finger and thumb. “Money and time very well spent, if you ask me.”

I laugh softly. “You could’ve asked me to wear one at home for you.”

With a wet smack, his palm meets his forehead. “Now you tell me…. Still worth it, though. Getting out of the house, away from everyone—I like having you all to myself.”

I like having him all to myself, too.

We’ve talked, we’ve cuddled, we’ve had plenty of loud, uninhibited sex. It feels a lot like when we snuck away to elope years ago.

“Plus, you’ve been dealing with all my shit. You deserve a break.”

“First of all, I’m not ‘dealing with’ anything. I’m being a good wife—”

He leans in and nips my earlobe. “A very, very good wife.”

That sets my entire body ablaze. Every part of me burns with the need to feel his touch.

“When did you become such a flirt?”

“It’s that damn bikini,” he says, eyes lifting to meet mine, heat blooming in the quiet space between us. “Distracting as hell.”

“Oh yeah?” I adjust the triangles covering my tits, not because they need to be adjusted, but because I want to give the girls a little boost. Earn that stare of his. “Distracting from what?”

“Doesn’t matter.” He shakes his head, all the while fucking me with his eyes. “All I can think about is tearing it off and seeing if you’re as wet as I am hard.”

“Of course I’m wet, Jackson.” Shooting him a flirtatious smile, I drag my fingers through the water, doing my best to appear entirely unperturbed by the thought of him being hard right now. “We’re in a pool.”