Without a word, he dropped down, unstrapped his belt from my ankles, and removed each shoe.
“Thank you.” I breathed a sigh of relief to be standing in bare feet on the carpet.
He pulled my underwear up, then undid the knot in his tie and pulled it free from my wrists. “There. But don’t move too much. You’re a little messy.”
I braced myself on my elbows and smiled at him over one shoulder. “It’s okay.”
He went into the master bedroom and returned a minute later with a warm washcloth, which he used to gently wipe off my back. “You might still be a little sticky. And I also got some, uh, stuff in your hair. Want to take a shower or something?”
“Maybe.” I straightened up, my muscles already sore and stiff. I rubbed one shoulder. “Actually yes, that might feel good.”
“Let me run it for you.”
I smiled. “You don’t have to do that. You didn’t break me.”
“It’s not an apology.” He kissed my forehead. “I just like doing things for you.”
Not only did he run the shower for me, he undressed and got in with me, then insisted on washing my hair, applying the conditioner and waiting exactly two minutes before rinsing it off, and soaping me up with the hotel body wash.
He rubbed his hands together to make suds and sniffed them. “It’s nice, but it’s not as good as yours.”
“I brought some lotion in the scent you like,” I told him. “I’ll put it on before bed.”
After we got out, he dried me off with a giant fluffy towel and brought me one of the plush white robes. I combed out my hair while he put on some pajama pants, then he came into the bathroom and wrapped his arms around me from behind. His hair was wet and wavy, messy in the front like it usually was. As gorgeous and sexy as he was all put together in a suit and tie, there was something so familiar and cozy about this Hutton. He made my heart pound just as hard.
“Come here,” he said, tugging me out to the living room. “I have a surprise for you.”
“You do?” I let him lead me over to the couch. A room service tray sat on the coffee table, a silver cloche over the plate.
Hutton pulled it off. “Tada! Warm chocolate cake with raspberry creamsicle ice cream.”
I squealed with delight and jumped up and down. “You made a phone call!”
“I made a phone call.”
“How did you get it up here so fast?”
He shrugged. “I paid a little extra.”
“It looks so good, I bet it’s worth it.”
“Your reaction is worth it.”
I smiled at him. “You’re spoiling me way too much on this trip. I’m going to be terrible to live with. You’ll be glad you’re going back to California.”
He laughed. “Sit down.”
I sat on one end of the couch and Hutton handed me the plate and fork. Then he swung my feet onto the other end and sat down, placing them in his lap. “What’s this?” I asked as he took one foot in his hand and began to rub it.
“It’s a combination of dessert and foot massage.”
Was he serious? Simultaneous dessert and foot rub?
How was I supposed to ration my feelings whilst eating warm cake and enjoying his strong, sexy hands on me? He was making it impossible to hold back the tide.
I stuck a bite in my mouth and groaned as Hutton’s thumbs pressed into my sore arches. “God, this is insane. I might have another orgasm.”
He chuckled. “That would be okay too.”
FOURTEEN
HUTTON
“Your turn,” she said sleepily. “Tell me something.”
“What do you want to know this time?” I asked, curled up behind her between the soft, cool sheets of our hotel bed.
“If you could do anything else with your life, like if it had gone in another direction, where would you be?”
Here, I thought. Right here with you.
In this place where I felt sure of myself. Comfortable in my skin. Were there still doubts buzzing around in my head? Yes. But they were softer. Quieter. I could endure them when it was only the two of us like this. I could accept them as part of me, because she could—just like she’d accepted the part of me that craved power and control in private because I felt so overwhelmed in public.
So often my mind was ahead of itself, on to the next worry, the next room I’d have to enter, the next time I’d have to be on. But when we were alone, it was blissfully quiet in my head. She made it easy to stay in the present—she made it impossible to want to be anywhere else.