I knew Pierce well enough to know he would have followed through with his threat. I also knew that fucker hadn't been lying when he told her he had someone on the inside watching me. Motherfucking Baker. The screw hated my guts, had fucked with me whenever the chance presented itself. Which had been often.
The parole board didn't look kindly on a man who beat the shit out of two other inmates. That kind of thing was frowned upon. Thanks to Baker, I'd been placed in a position where I either fucked those guys up or got myself fucked, literally. I had, of course, chosen to the former. It had destroyed my chance of getting out early. And as far as I could see the screw had done it for shits and giggles.
Lulu wasn't responsible for that. If I could take that from her, release her of that burden, it'd be a start.
I tested the bathroom door. It wasn't locked, and swung open when I gave it a shove. Lulu stood by the tub, staring blindly at the water as it rushed from the faucet.
"Babe?"
Her head shot up, twisted toward me-then she took a step back. And Jesus, did that cut. The old Lulu had never looked at me with fear in her eyes. Ever.
"Does Josh need me?"
I shook my head and shut the door behind me. "We need to talk."
"No I . . ."
"Lulu, we need to talk."
"I can't do this now." Her voice was strong, but it shook like hell.
I gritted my teeth. Pierce had a lot to answer for. As soon as they tracked him down, I'd enjoy every fucking minute of making sure he paid for what he'd done to her. What he did to me. What he took from us both.
"Why don't you get in the tub? I'll do the talking."
She didn't move, just continued to stare into the water, biting her tempting, full lower lip. Shit. My cock swelled in my jeans. I hadn't touched her since the night on the couch.
I'd resisted taking it further that night, and instead carried her to her bed after she'd fallen asleep, reluctantly going to my own. I'd stayed away since, to give her time to heal. Her body was pretty much back to normal, besides a few bruises, but her mind . . .
I moved up behind her, placing my hands on her hips. "Please, Lulu."
Her body relaxed against mine. I didn't even know if she was aware she was doing it. She'd already taken off her jacket and shoes, and the top she still had on clung to her, showed just how full and perfect her tits were, how they'd gotten fuller over the last few years.
I lifted it over her head. She didn't try to stop me, so I carried on, removing her bra. Jesus. Her nipples were darker, too. They used to be pale pink-now they were strawberry tipped and so fucking tempting I could barely think straight.
She sucked in a soft breath when I dropped the bra to the floor. The sound was a nervous one, but it was also needy as hell. I felt it across my balls, like she reached down and cupped them. I undid her jeans and slid them down her legs.
"What do you actually do for the agency?" she asked out of the blue. She was trying to deflect the attention away from her, from whatever I wanted to talk about.
I ran my hands over her silky skin. "Fugitive recovery, provide muscle, security. Run-of-the-mill P.I. work."
"That's not all, though, is it?"
I gave her hips a squeeze. " No." I decided to tell her the truth, the best I could anyway. "People come to us when a situation is too dangerous for anyone else, and we . . . fix it for them."
"What does that mean?" She stepped out of her jeans, and I kicked them away.
"We help people out of impossible situations. Sometimes the police have their hands tied, can't legally do what's needed, that's when we step in. But we know how to cover our asses. We have a kind of . . . working relationship with the NYPD. We scratch each other's backs from time to time to get shit done."
She didn't ask for more. I glanced at the mirror beside us, growling when I got an eyeful of her fading bruises. The sight threatened to take me to an ugly place, a place Lulu did not need to see me go. Somehow I managed to squash it down, the rage. Letting her see my anger over what happened would help nothing. Right now, she needed to be taken care of.
I tucked my fingers in the sides of her underwear and slid them down as well, unable to stop myself from sliding my hand over the side of her ass as I went. Rising back up, I moved my hand higher, over her belly. She was rounder there too. Softer. And it was sexy as fuck. I carried on, until I was cupping her tits in both hands, testing their weight.
"These are bigger," I whispered in her ear. "You always had a great body, but fuck, Lulu."
She laughed. It was breathy, a little unsure. "Having a baby, breast feeding. It changes you."
"You're beautiful." I tentatively massaged one of her tits, while my other hand went back to her belly. "You've never been sexier than you are now."
She was breathing heavy, ass nestling my aching cock, the smooth skin of her back hot against my chest and stomach. She was temptation, a dream; all my fucking wishes come to life when I thought I'd lost her for good. But I needed to take this slow. No matter how much I wanted to spin her around, spread her wide and slide inside her, I couldn't. I didn't think she was ready for that, not yet. I'd already fucked up with her, when I'd had her at the cabin, at the agency. Jesus, the way I'd behaved. I was disgusted with myself.
Lulu deserved so much more.
Reluctantly, I released her and, testing the water, turned it off. "Climb in, baby."
It was hot and steamy in the small room. The humid air coated her skin, made her entire body glisten, even as goose bumps broke out over her creamy flesh. I wanted to lean in and lick her, taste her, but I refrained. Barely.
She did as I asked, stepping into the warm water. I went to my knees beside her and, taking a washcloth, lathered it up with bodywash. She'd tied her hair up, out of the way, so I started on her shoulders and back. Her head dropped forward and she moaned softly. Fuck. Another hit to my aching balls.
"Josh is an amazing kid," I said into the silence. "You've done a great job with him."
She stiffened, but just for a moment. "Thanks." I barely heard her, she was talking so quiet.
"I know you're used to doing shit on your own, and I know it won't be easy for you at first, but I want some of that burden you've been carrying."
"My son's not a burden."
There was steel in her voice this time. I preferred it to how damn broken she sounded a second ago. "No, he's not. He's a miracle, is what he is. If you hadn't had that little boy, giving you something else to focus on, to worry about, to keep you moving forward. To live for . . ." Just saying those words were a gut punch, but I shook it off and kept on talking. "I hate to think what might have happened to you. After what Pierce did, babe, that could've destroyed you."
Her shoulders tensed. "Hunter . . ."
"Let me finish." I moved the cloth to her front and slid it over her chest, and her head dropped back against my arm. "You blow me away. You're so damn strong. But you've buried what happened for too long, all of it. It's time to work through it. I know it'll never be gone completely, but babe, I can see you fighting to keep it locked down, so hard it's fucking crippling you. You opened up to me, and that opened the floodgates. Don't slam them shut again."
I knew how dangerous it was, locking that kind of shit away, shoving it down deep. I'd seen it with my own mother, seen how what she'd been though had slowly but surely destroyed her. My father had stood by and let her sink, too caught up in his own damn pain and anger to notice. I wouldn't let that happen to Lulu. No fucking way.
She was quiet a long time, so long I thought she wasn't going to say anything.
"You don't understand," she finally rasped. "You don't get it. If I let it out . . . if I-. . ." She cut herself off abruptly and bit her lip.
"Let me help you. Tell me what you need." I trailed my hand down over her stomach. "Let me get you through this. Let me be there for you and Josh. Where I belong. Where I was always meant to be."
I skimmed the cloth lower and kept on moving down her leg. She leaned back farther, slid down in the water deeper, watching me as I moved. I could feel her eyes on me, my side, on the ink there. Then around to my back. Her name. I'd put it there a month after we got together. Knew even before then she was meant to be mine. Had never stopped wanting her. Even when I tried, even when I believed she'd betrayed me, I never stopped wanting her.
As I slid the cloth back up, and her knees lifted, then fell open. The water was murky from the body wash, but not that fucking murky. She was totally exposed and so damn beautiful.
I looked up at her. Her eyes were on me, lids heavy. She wasn't hiding what she wanted. Not at all. Jesus. She was gorgeous. Face flushed, lips plump. Tits floating in the water, nipples dark, making my mouth water.