Page 75 of Ice Cold Hearts

“Something rotten, you mean.” Emily shakes her head.

“She’s just assertive, that’s all,” I protest.

“Don’t I know it.” She laughs dryly. “That’s going to serve her well when she gets older, but it definitely complicates things right now.”

“That’s true,” I agree, “but her heart’s in the right place, at least.”

“Are you always this much of an optimist?” Emily accuses.

“Only when I’m around you,” I say, then steal a kiss.

She tries to hold me there, but I pull away.

“No, ma’am,” I say sternly. “The boss said a bubble bath, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

I rummage around under the sink looking for bubble bath, but I’m coming up empty.

“I’m afraid we don’t have any bubble bath. We might never have had it, to be honest, but we do have some bath salts,” I say, showing her the bag. “They’re lavender. That’s relaxing, right? I don’t want Audrey to fire me.”

Emily laughs. “I think that’s a good substitute for bubbles.”

“Fantastic.” I smile. “And it looks like the tub is just about full too.”

“You don’t have to stay,” she says. “I’m fine now.”

“And if I want to stay?” I ask.

“Then I’d accuse you of sticking around just to see me naked.”

“That’s half true,” I admit.

“So, what’s the other half?”

“The other half thinks that if you talk about what happened, you’ll feel a lot better than fine, and this is about as private as we’re going to get with Audrey still awake.”

“All I’d have to say would just be complaining, and I don’t want to put you in a bad mood,” she protests.

“Do you remember that day we had that talk in my room?” I ask.

“Vaguely, why?”

“You said you wanted to do life with me and that when I have a problem, you do too.”

She smiles softly. “I didn’t think I’d made that much of an impact.”

“You’ve tattooed yourself all over my heart,” I say, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I don’t think you understand how much of an impact you’ve made on me, on all of us, really.”

I kiss her with my heart on my lips. She pulls me closer. The feel of her tongue tracing across mine brings to mind the ways she’s able to please me when her lips are wrapped around my dick. I moan as her hands slide down my chest to the waistband of my jeans. When I pull away, she’s actually pouting.

“Plenty of time for that later,” I say. “Now, are you going to get undressed or am I going to have to put you in the tub fully clothed?”

She huffs. “I’ll get undressed.”

I don’t hide my stare as she strips down. My eyes rake over her ample breasts, the curve of her waist, and her full hips. I’m desperate to drop to my knees and taste her pretty little pussy, but I know she needs to talk about what happened more than she needs sex right now.

She moans in contentment as she slips into the large sunken tub.

“I was wrong in the living room.” She sighs. “I did need this.”