Page 68 of Wait a HO HO HO Second!

“Yep,” he said with a wink, kicking off his shoes. “I figured you could use a good, relaxing soak in the tub after the past few weeks. I swear it’s better than a massage.”

Shifting uncomfortably, Joy didn’t make eye contact. As much as she appreciated what he’d done for her, she hated to ruin his fun, but she couldn’t get into the tub. Not to mention, stripping naked, or at the very least, to her underwear, was not how she expected Kian Van Adler to see her body for the first time.

Missing the expression on her face, Kian walked into the bathroom and returned with a contraption, which he set on the edge of the tub. After tightening a lever and extending two legs to brace on the floor, he spun the seat to face the room.

“What is that?” she asked, walking closer to inspect the device. A seat sat atop a platform. He pulled something on the side, and it swiveled toward the hot tub before locking again.

“When you told me a few days ago that you can’t get into hot tubs in hotel rooms, I realized it was an accessibility issue we were missing for our holdings. After a few minutes of research, I found these. I had them ordered for all our rooms with a hot tub. That will take a few months, but I insisted they get one so we can try it out. You’ll be the first.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” she admitted, inspecting the seat. “What’s the weight limit?” Her grimace likely said more than the question.

“Not to worry. It’s rated for four hundred and fifty pounds.” Once he locked the seat, he motioned for her to come over, but she stayed put.

Nodding, she dipped her hand into the warm water, picturing how wonderful it would feel. “My feet are sore,” she admitted.

“Then let’s get you in this tub,” he said, pulling her into him and planting a kiss on her lips that made her believe that if she agreed, this night wouldn’t end with them simply falling asleep wrapped in each other’s arms. The question she had to ask herself was whether she wanted to make love to Kian Van Adler tonight. The answer? Of course, she did, so the real question was whether it was safe to give him her heart, because if they made love, that would be the end result. She knew herself that well.

“But then I have to take off my clothes,” she said against his lips. “That wasn’t exactly how I pictured you seeing my body for the first time.”

“Marci packed a bathing suit for you,” he said, nuzzling her neck. “But I’m not opposed to seeing you without a bathing suit if you’d rather.”

“I don’t own a bathing suit, so Marci didn’t pack one of those,” Joy said, shaking her head.

“No, but you do own an outlet mall,” he said with a chuckle.

“You own an outlet mall,” she corrected him, noting his grimace. “You own seven, actually. I just work at one of them.”

“Regardless of who owns what, Marci had your back.”

“That was nice of her, but I have to learn to trust you if we’re going to be together, right?” Joy asked, confident in her decision. They were on the precipice of their relationship here, so it was now or never.

“You can trust me, Joy. I have no plans tonight other than to enjoy your company and give you a few hours to relax before we finish out the holiday season.”

Stepping back, she propped her crutches against the tub and stripped off her coat, handing it to him. He hung it by the door. By the time he returned, she was reaching for her sweater, but he caught her hands.

“Let me,” Kian whispered, grasping the hem of the sweater and carefully pulling it over her head. Her lace bra drew a moan from him, but to his credit, he did nothing but lay the sweater on the dresser.

“The pants are going to be harder,” she said, walking to the chair attached to the tub, unbuttoning them, and pulling them down to her thighs before she sat. “I’ll need you to take my shoes and braces off while I sit here, and then the pants will come off.”

“Easy peasy,” he promised, unzipping her boots and pulling them off, then unstrapping her AFO’s thigh strap, following her directions from last time until they were on the floor with her socks. Her pants fell off once they were no longer trapped by the braces, and he laid them on the dresser beside her sweater. “Do you want the suit?”

Joy could hear the confusion in his voice, but she’d already decided there had to be a reckoning, one in which he either liked what he saw or didn’t. This was that reckoning.

“I’ll just wear my bra and panties in. No different from a suit, right?” she asked nervously as his gaze devoured her from head to toe.

“Something tells me the vibe is different, but you will not hear me argue because, gotdamn, Joy. You’ve got me coming and going, sitting there like a goddess in the golden light.”

“Oh, stop,” she said, embarrassed by his words. If there was one thing Joy was, it was confident in herself, and she accepted and loved her body, but she wasn’t used to men doing the same.

“I won’t,” he said, tenderly massaging her right calf. “You are gorgeous, and in my opinion, a man should tell you that every day. I’ll be that man for as long as you allow it.” Without waiting for her to respond, he pulled a lever on the side of the chair. “Can you hold your legs up and out?”

“Sort of,” she said, showing him what she could do, which wasn’t much. “My muscles below the knees are weak, so they mostly sag rather than extend.”

“No problem,” Kian said, lifting them to rest on his forearm as he spun the chair. Once her legs cleared the tub’s edge, he lowered them into the water. “Now all you have to do is slide off the seat.”

“Oh, that water feels good on my legs,” Joy sighed, sliding into the water and sinking to the bottom of the tub. “This is better than sex.”

“Ha!” he exclaimed, shaking his head at her little ploy to rile him. “If that’s true, you’re having the wrong kind of sex.”