Page 13 of Craving Red

I swing my legs off the mattress and grab my robe from the floor. In the bathroom, I turn the taps and swirl the water with my fingers until the temperature settles. My next stop is the kitchen, grateful for the oven’s keep warm function. Once Alex was out of the apartment, I realized my plan had a glaring hole. I’d fed myself, but I had not, at any point, fed my fiancée. Years of skipping breakfast and lunches are the only reason she hasn’t actually fainted on me.

“Jo?” Her voice floats from the bedroom, soft and slightly nasal.

“One minute, love.”

I find her curled on her side, one stocking clinging to a thigh, the other balled up somewhere in the sheets.

“Up,” I say, sliding an arm under her shoulders. “Come on, gorgeous. Bath first, then you can collapse.”

I get her sitting, peel the surviving stocking down her leg with as much tenderness as I can muster, and help her stand. She wobbles. I steady her with a hand at her waist, and she presses her forehead to my shoulder.

She lets me lower her into the water, hissing at the heat before melting into it with a long groan. I strip off the robe and climb in behind her, settling against the back of the tub and drawing her between my knees.

I reach for the bamboo bath tray spanning the width of our tub, currently holding a plate of salted French fries and deep-fried chicken bites.

“Open,” I murmur, lifting a ketchup-dipped fry.

Alex leans her head against my shoulder, parting her lips. I pop the fry into her mouth, then grab the sponge resting on the rim of the tub. While she chews, I run the warm sponge over her collarbone and down her arm.

“I have to admit,” I say, pressing a kiss to her wet shoulder, “my grand master plan had one fatal flaw.”

“Only one?”

“Don’t be rude…”

Alex swallows, letting out a contented sigh as the hot water works its magic on her tired muscles. “It’s a miracle I didn’t pass out.”

“I know, I know. I’m a monster,” I chuckle, feeding her another fry. “In my defense, I was too busy setting everything up to think about food. I did have a bagel, though.”

Alex turns her head to glare at me with one eye. “Oh, you poor martyr.”

“I needed my strength,” I tease, squeezing some warm water from the sponge over her chest.

Alex laughs, the sound echoing brightly in the space. “I still can’t believe you dragged Mia into this. The clue was brilliant, but my sister’s theatrical reading nearly tipped me into madness.”

“Mia was a very eager accomplice. She told me about your threats.”

“I meant it at the time,” Alex mutters, stealing a fry from the plate. “I was in my office, fully prepared to offer myself up on my desk, only to find a piece of paper laughing at me.”

“Oh, I know,” I purr, trailing my fingertips along her sides, feeling the relaxed rhythm of her breathing. My hands drift lower under the bubbles, tracing the faint marks on her upper thighs and hips. I map the lines with care, checking the skin.

“Are you tender here, love?”

Her hand finds my knee under the water. “A little,” she whispers, her eyes fluttering shut. “But it’s the good kind of ache. You took perfect care of me.”

“Always,” I promise, kissing the damp crook of her neck.

We sit in silence for a few moments, the only sounds the water sloshing and the fries crinkling. But I know Alex’s mind is never truly quiet. I can feel a slight shift in her posture, a subtle tension creeping back into her shoulders.

I wrap my arms around her waist beneath the water. “What is it, love?”

Alex traces a circle on the surface of the water with her finger. “The clues… they were all so clever. But the one you left on the lamp…” She hesitates, glancing at me. “It spiked my anxiety for a minute.”

I frown, my hands stilling on her waist. “The note about you being my light?”

She nods. “You said, ‘You are my light. Don’t forget how much I love you.’ I know it sounds ridiculous now, but when I read it, the apartment was so quiet, and my brain just… spiraled. It sounded like a goodbye. I had to force myself to take a breath and remember we were playing a game.”

My hands still on her waist. The triumphant energy I’ve been riding all day suddenly feels thin.