Page 129 of Shadow Queen
Norah couldn’t help her smile. She loved his want for her and that he didn’t hide it. “You should let me bathe. I’m terribly dirty.”
“I like a dirty woman,” he argued.
She laughed. “I’ll make better love if I’m a clean woman.”
His jaw tightened, and a protest rumbled in his chest, but he released her. “Go on then. I’ll wait. But not long.”
When the water was ready, Vitalia helped her peel off her dress, and she climbed into the tub, relishing its warmth. Vitalia soaped up her hair and poured pitchers of water to rinse it. Years seemed to wash away, and their heaviness with it.
After her hair was clean, she leaned her head back against the tub and closed her eyes. She was tired, but she knew sleep wouldn’t come.
“You can go,” Mikael’s voice came, directed at Vitalia. “I’ll take care of my wife tonight.”
The door shut behind her.
Norah kept her eyes closed, but a smile crept across her lips. Finally, she opened them to see him leaning against the wall of the bath chamber and watching her.
“So, you missed me, husband?” she asked.
“I did,” he replied as he kicked off his boots. He pulled his shirt over his head, and her smile grew.
“What are you doing?” she asked him.
“I’m getting ready.”
She raised a brow. “Getting ready for what?”
“For when you say you’re clean.”
Norah laughed. She’d certainly missed him.
Mikael shucked off his breeches and braies and leaned back against the wall, naked. She turned in the tub so she could lay against the side and see him. The lines of his body stirred something inside her, and suddenly she didn’t seem quite as tired.
“Are you clean now?” he asked.
She shook her head with a smile. “No, not yet.”
He snorted impatiently. “Hurry up or I’m going to drag you from that tub.”
Norah bit her lip to keep from grinning. She’d love to be dragged from the bathtub. She stifled her smile as she pulled a small round of corian root from the dish on the small table beside the tub. She dipped it into the water and worked it into a lather. Rolling her head back, she rubbed it over her neck and her shoulders, taking her time and working it deep, as if soothing her muscles.
A rumble vibrated from him again. She liked this game. How long would he wait? Slowly, she rubbed the soap down her breasts and swirled the sweet-scented lather around her nipples. Then she paused to look back at him.
Mikael was visibly roused for her now, but he kept his place against the wall, patient—too patient for her taste. Norah ran her hands down over her stomach and raised a leg from the water, lathering one, then the other.
Still, he waited.
Her eyes narrowed. She brought her hand down between her thighs, under the water, and gave a small moan. She rolled her head to look at him again, and finally, he surged forward with a growl.
Norah screamed a laugh as he clambered into the tub with her, spilling water over the sides.
“I still have soap on me!” she protested as he moved to carry her out.
“It’s a root. I’ll eat it off.”
“Mikael!” she screamed.
Relenting, he hurriedly splashed her in a quick rinse as she laughed, and then he settled for a moment. “Are you done now, Salara?” he asked her.
