She shook her head, clutching my shirt again. “Said he looked.”
“Looked?”
“For me.” Her hot breaths sank through my shirt and warmed my skin.
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you, okay? Look at me,” I said.
She brought her watery brown eyes to mine and gasped when she saw the nasty bruise on my face. With a shaking hand, she reached up and trickled her fingers down my abused cheek. “I hurt you,” she said, brushing my skin lightly. I leaned into it, unable to help myself. Her fingers were softer than I expected, gentle, timid. She was afraid to touch me but brave enough to try, and my heart leaped at that courage.
She was strong, stronger than she gave herself credit for, and Abigail had no idea of the amount of strength she had. I would show her. I didn’t care if it took my last breath; she deserved to know.
“I am sorry,” she said. “I hurt you bad.”
“It looks worse than it feels, I promise.” I took her hand in mine and clutched it, wanting to kiss the slim fingers, but I held back, not wanting to move too fast. The tub still filled behind me, and I needed to check on it before it overflowed. I gave it a quick glance and saw the bubbles had formed a massive tower. “Shit,” I said, running over to the faucet to shut it off. I broke the bubble tower in half with my hand and yelled, “Timber!” as it fell in a soft foamy hiss, and a light chuckle came from behind me.
Too much bubble bath was worth it to hear that.
“Okay, I’ll leave you be. I’ll be right outside if you need me, okay?”
“No!” She scampered off the counter and wrapped her arms around me. “Don’t.”
“I just wanted to give you privacy,” I said, laying my chin on the top of her head while I rubbed my hands up and down her back.
Her head shook against me in disagreement.
“Okay,” I pulled away and lifted her chin with my hand. “I’ll turn around. Tell me when you’re in the tub, okay?” I wouldn’t be able to see her body due to the bubbles, and I wanted her to know she could trust me while she was naked, right in front of me, without me chasing her like that man did earlier.
I would chase, but only to keep her safe.
Never to take advantage of her.
“Okay, Logan,” she said my name in syllables, as if she were testing it on her tongue.
I liked how my name sounded on her lips. She was different from anyone else I had ever met. “I’m turning around now,” I warned, giving her my back. “I promise not to look.” I knew she’d be beautiful naked. I didn’t need to steal a glance that was unwanted by her. I’d wait until she was ready.
The nightgown hit the floor with a plop. The sound of the water rippling told me she was getting inside it. She exhaled, “Okay, Logan.”
I turned around to see her head bobbing just above the bubbles, and it made me chuckle. She looked so cute. “Your head looks like it’s floating because of all the bubbles.”
She smiled, a real one, not a strained one, but one that reached her eyes. It was beautiful. I sat on the step at the base of the tub and handed her a washcloth. “Here you go.”
Her hand touched mine, and sparks traveled through my nerves, my veins. My entire body came to life just from the quick touch. She dipped the washcloth into the bubbles, and rivulets of water streamed off the black rag as she washed her face, getting the smears of dirt off her cheeks. With every stroke, clear skin came into view, and it looked so soft, so pale. Her lashes fluttered, dark and long, shadowing her cheeks, and when she looked at me with those deep brown eyes, I felt how tired she was.
Not just right now, but in general. She had seen too much, been through too much, and she was tired of fighting just to live. Well, she didn’t have to fight anymore. The fight was over. I could take it from here.
She dipped her head under the water, and when she came back up to get air, she wiped the bubbles off her face and opened her eyes. Her slicked-back hair stuck to her skull, and I saw a few leaves and twigs in it now.
I reached up and plucked the debris free, laying them on the ground. She blushed when she saw what I was pulling out of her hair, and she brought her knees to her chest, hugging them close. She does that when she’s uncomfortable, I noted.
“Were you in the woods?” I joked, pulling another leaf out of her hair.
“Yes,” she said. “Running from that man.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there to keep you safe.”
“I can keep myself safe,” she hissed, jerking away from me.
“I know you can. You have all this time; I’m just saying, you aren’t alone anymore, Abigail. I care if you’re running from someone, I care if you’re hurt, I care if you feel scared. I never want you to feel like that again.”
Abigail didn’t say anything; she just stared at her knees as I took an entire forest out of her hair. “Turn around,” I said, laying the last yellow leaf on the ground.
She narrowed her eyes at me.
“Trust me.” I knew it was easier said than done, but we had to start somewhere.
She wanted to protest, but she kept her lips firm, jaw set, and spun around. Her hair traveled down her back, covering her spine until her ends floated on the bubbles near her waist. From this angle, her ribs showed, and I had to take a few breaths to not get angry. It wasn’t her fault, whatever happened to her, it changed her for life.
Abigail survived on her own this long, and I believed she survived for me. I’d make her life better, more than she could ever dream of; I just needed her to give this a chance. It would be hard to gain her trust, but I was up for the challenge.
I squirted a bit of shampoo in my palm and rubbed my hands together to suds it up. It smelled like coconut. I loved the smell. It reminded me of the beach. She jumped when I touched her head and started to wash her hair. “It’s okay. Relax. You can trust me,” I crooned. Her shoulders were tight, nearly up to her ears, but the more I rubbed her scalp, the more they lowered until she was leaning against the side of the tub, letting me take care of her.
And it felt so fucking good.
“Have you ever been to the beach?” I asked. I wanted to learn everything about her, everything she remembered about herself, I wanted to know.
Her head turned, and that small, pointed chin landed on her shoulder. “I don’t know.”
“Is it because of this?” As gently as I could, I rubbed down the large scar on the back of her scalp, she hissed but didn’t move.
“Yes,” she said. “An accident.”
“Do you remember it?”
She moved her head left to right, telling me no. “One year. That’s all I know.”
I didn’t understand what she was saying. She didn’t give me enough context. “Your accident was a year ago?”
She nodded.
“And everything in the last year,” I started to piece things together. “Those are the things you know? Nothing before that?”
“Nothing. Gone. Like smoke,” she said in those short sentences again. The way she spoke told me she didn’t feel comfortable talking at all, so the fact that she was talking to me, that made me special. Maybe I wasn’t as special to her as she was to me, but still, it made me feel good.
“I’m so sorry. If you want, we can be friends, and we can experience things together, make new memories.” Scaring her away was something I never wanted, so telling her that I wanted her to be mine forever might be too much right now.
“Friends,” she tried the word out. “I’d like that.”
I hung my head, relieved. This mountain I decided to climb wasn’t easy. I’d need to take a breather every now and then, but I wouldn’t give up. Especially when I had come this far. I had a feeling she didn’t have any friends. She picked me.
And she wouldn’t ever regret it.
We fell into a comfortable silence as I washed her hair. Taking care of her like this was something I could do every day for the rest of my life. It was effortless, easy, and it felt natural, like I was
always meant to do it.
“Okay, time to wash the shampoo out,” I said. “I’ll turn around again.” I wiped my hands off on the towel and turned around. When I got up, my eyes caught the mirror, and I saw her dipping her head under, and the peaks of her dusty pink nipples skimmed the surface. I jerked my head away and cleared my throat, feeling like an ass for seeing what I did. I said she could trust me, and I violated her privacy.
It was an accident, but still, I should have been more aware. Not getting to see or touch her was going to be so much harder than I thought.
Chapter Eight
Abigail
I loved baths. I loved sitting in hot water. My muscles relaxed, and when Logan washed my hair? Wow. I thought I was going to fall asleep, face first, right in the water. I felt clean, really clean for the first time in a long time. I never wanted to leave this place, but I knew Logan was only being nice until I got on my feet.
He was so kind and had a big heart.
Logan was handsome too. Really handsome. Every time he looked away from me, I stole a few glances. He had the kind of looks that no woman could ever look away from.
“I’m going to get your pajamas, okay?”
I gripped the side of the tub and shook my head. I wasn’t ready to be left alone. I knew I depended on Logan too much, but now that I had company, being alone was the last thing I wanted. “No, don’t go.”
“I’ll only be in the bedroom for a second, and then I’ll be right back, okay?”
“Please. Stay.” I pointed at my chest, then him, then the direction of the bedroom.
“You want to go with me?” he asked.
I nodded.
“Anything you want,” he smiled. He took a white towel off the rack and unfolded it. “Are you ready to get out?”
“Yes, Logan.” I wanted to speak more with him; I had the urge to learn again with him, something I never had before. I hated how the sound of my voice. I sounded stupid. I didn’t want to sound stupid around Logan. He could have anyone he wanted, so desiring him would be foolish.
Yet, my heart wanted Logan, no matter how many times I told myself it could never happen.
I stood, and in a rush, the bubbles and water cascaded down my body.
“Oh. Uh, sorry,” he turned his head to the side, and the outline of his jaw was square and cut, his cheeks were red, and Logan coughed, staring at the ceiling. “I didn’t see anything. I swear. Well, I might have seen a little—you know, it’s fine, it doesn’t matter. I didn’t see anything.”
Right. I was naked. Did he not like my body? Why would he? I was too skinny. I had no breasts, and my hip bones stuck out. I turned around, not wanting him to see the tears swimming in my eyes. He wrapped the towel around my body and then dried off my hair with another.
He was oddly good at this.
He twisted the towel up until it sat on top of my head. And when I stared in the mirror, it looked like I wore a big hat. “How do you know to do that?” I pointed to the towel.
“I took care of my sister growing up. I know a few things, but I’m not a pro or anything, so if I do something wrong, tell me, okay?”
“Okay, Logan.”
“Okay, baby,” he said, sliding his knuckles down my cheek.
The name he called me confused me too, but I liked how it sounded, so I wasn’t going to correct him. It made my insides all warm and fluttery.
“Sister’s name?” I asked as he pulled me behind him while holding my hand as we walked into the bedroom.
“Lucy. She’s married and has a son. My nephew is adorable. You’ll meet them one day.” He walked to a large closet door with a shiny bronze handle and turned it. When he opened it, my jaw fell to the ground. It was the size of a small bedroom, one that I stayed in at a shelter one time. There were built-in shelves along the light blue wall, or maybe it was grey, I couldn’t tell. The way the light hit it made it seem like a mixture of both.
There were two sections of the closest. One side was filled with his clothes and shoes, while the other was more sparse but had women’s clothes hanging on the rail. They all had tags. Logan opened the drawer, and a few pairs of underwear showed, and then he opened another drawer, and I blushed when I saw bras.
“I…uh…I didn’t buy you actual bras because I didn’t know your size.” He coughed again, and his face turned red, why was that? “They are sports bras, comfortable, and that seemed more doable than getting you a bra with the wire thingy under the…thing,” he made a circle over his chest with his finger.
I laughed. I knew what he was talking about, but I hadn’t worn an ‘actual’ bra, at least not in the last year. They were too expensive.
“Anyway, I wanted you to be comfortable. Here we have some sweatpants, shirts, dresses; I didn’t get too much. I figured you’d want to shop for yourself. I don’t know your style or anything.”
I didn’t even know my style. I hadn’t been in a place where I could think about that. “Thank you, Logan.” No one had ever done anything like this for me. “All for me?”
“It’s all yours.”
I’d be careless if I didn’t show any emotion at all. “Why? Why do this?” I swirled a finger around the room. I felt a little stressed, overwhelmed with all the support Logan gave me. My words came out broken and more slurred than usual. It happened when my thoughts went through my mind quicker than I could verbalize.
He lifted a muscular arm, and his bicep flexed as he scratched the back of his head. “Something about you, Abigail. I’ll tell you when the time is right, but please know, my intentions are nothing but honest and good.”
I stepped forward, heart slamming against my chest as I lifted my hands and circled my arms around him. My cheek landed on his chest, his strong pec flexing under me and his heart drumming a beat. I hugged him. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, baby,” he said. “Get dressed. We will put on a movie or something, and I’ll fix you dinner.”
“Not hungry.”
His eyes grew hard, but I didn’t take a step back, which surprised me. Usually, when people looked at me like that, I got afraid. Not with Logan. My instincts said I was safe. “Too bad. You’re going to eat. I want to take you to the doctor and make sure you’re okay. You need to gain weight. You’re beautiful how you are, but healthy, remember? We need to make sure you’re healthy. So you’re going to eat, got it?”
“Yes, Logan.”
“Good girl.” He bent down and kissed my forehead. “I’m going to turn around so you can get dressed.” And he did exactly what he said. His large frame took three steps, and his wide back came into view. Even under his shirt, I saw all the tight lines and firm muscles, probably from all the heavy labor he did if he built houses like this every day. I wanted to reach out and touch.
As badly as I wanted to feel him, I dropped my hand and untucked the towel from around my breasts. It fell to the floor, and the damp material hit my feet. I searched through the panties and grabbed a pair of black ones. They were soft and cut differently than the underwear I was used to. I slipped them on and turned my head over my shoulder to see what they looked like, and my eyes went wide.
Half my butt hung out.
Was that normal?
I shrugged, too tired to care, and yawned to solidify it. While the clothes and pajamas were nice and soft, just like the underwear, I only wanted to wear one thing. I snatched a big t−shirt from Logan’s side and slipped it on. I fell well past my panties. It was dark blue with ‘Stoneridge Construction’ stamped on the front of my left breast. It was cozy, and it smelled like him.
I inhaled the collar of the shirt by bringing it to my nose, and I knew I’d feel safe tonight. He had a masculine scent, but it wasn’t overwhelming, it was just right. “Okay, Logan,” I said, letting him know I was done.
When he spun around, his eyes went wide, and he looked me up and down. The knot in his throat bobbed. I glanced away and crossed my legs, tugging the shirt down further. Maybe I wasn’t allowed to wear his st
uff.
“I’m sorry. I should ask.” Stupid. So stupid for not asking.
“No, no, don’t ever apologize. You can wear anything of mine. It took me by surprise, I—I like you wearing my shirts. You look better in them than me.” His hand moved, and when I looked down, I saw he was touching himself, moving his length out of the way, but he couldn’t hide that thing, no matter what he did.
It was big.
And he was… alive, plumping by the second.
“How about you get in bed? I’ll get dressed too, and then I’ll order us food.”
I turned around and gave him my back like he did to me.
He chuckled. “Okay, that’s fair.”
I heard his shirt come off, then his pants, and I wanted to look so badly, but he had shown me so much respect. I had to do the same for him. Warm energy left his body and cloaked around me. I shut my eyes and took a few deep breaths, waiting for him to tell me he was good to go.
“I hope you don’t mind. I usually sleep with my shirt off. I sweat like crazy if I have one on, I’m sorry in advance. If it makes you uncomfortable, I will.”
“It’s okay,” I managed to say. Holy cow. He was going to have his shirt off. I’d see his body.
“Okay, I’m ready. Just tell me if it bothers you.”
Like it ever could.
I might be a little slow in the head, but I wasn’t crazy. Come on now.
Inch by inch, I moved my feet, taking my time to face him. My eyes worked their way up his body. First, his legs. He had strawberry blonde hair on them and a lot of it. His gym shorts hit his knees, and they were blue, like the shirt I wore, and I guessed it might be his favorite color. My eyes lingered a bit too long on his bulge, but it was huge, I could see it against the material, hanging low and against his thigh.
I blushed, twisting my fingers together as the ridges of his abs taunted me. He had red hair all over his chest too, with light pink nipples. Freckles adorned his entire chest and down his arms. Logan was a dream, the kind that I strived to have.
His fingers rubbed against my chin before he lifted my head to make me look at him. His brows tucked in, and his lips were red and dry, but then he licked them with his pink tongue, and they shined. I’d never kissed anyone before, but I wanted to kiss him.
Always The Hero Page 6
