“I think it will actually have to be brunch,” Lucian admitted as he stepped into the shower stall with her.
Leigh was fiddling with the selection of knobs on the wall, trying to sort out what would start the shower. Lucian found the curve of her back irresistible and stepped up behind her, his hands catching her waist as he pulled her back against him.
“Lucian,” she said in warning.
“What?” he asked innocently, pressing his semierection against her backside, then he squawked and jumped back as cold water shot out of the shower head.
Leigh laughed and quickly began turning knobs, trying to adjust the spray.
“Sorry.” She turned toward him once she finally got it at the proper temperature. “I couldn’t figure out the—”
Her words ended on a gasp as he kissed her. Leigh allowed it for a moment, then pushed at his chest.
“Food,” she said, her voice husky.
“I have to soap you up. There’s no reason I can’t kiss you while I do it,” Lucian said mildly, and reached for the soap, then put his arms around her to lather behind her back as he bent to her lips again.
Leigh sighed into his mouth, her arms slipping around his neck as he kissed her. Then she shifted and sighed again when he broke their kiss and turned her out of the water, blocking it with his own body as he ran his soapy hands over her back.
“You’re like a cat wanting stroking,” he growled by her ear as his hands drifted lower.
“Cats don’t like water,” Leigh reminded him, pressing against his erection as his hands now slid up her arms, then under them and around to cover her breasts in lather.
“Mmm,” she murmured, and covered his hands, her head lolling against his chest, her bottom pushing back to rub against his now full erection as he caressed her soapy body.
“Where have you been all my life?” she asked on a sigh, and groaned as he dipped one soapy hand between her legs.
Lucian smiled and kissed the side of her neck, then nibbled at her ear before whispering, “Waiting for you,” as he slid one finger inside her. Leigh gasped, and stiffened as he withdrew his hand.
“Food,” Lucian taunted when she groaned in protest and caught at his hand, urging it back.
“Food can wait,” she assured him, one hand sliding back between their bodies and closing over his erection.
Lucian held strong and turned her into the water, rinsing her and wetting her hair at the same time.
“Tease,” she grumbled under her breath, but quit trying to touch him and let him wash her hair. Little sighs of pleasure slipped from her lips as he massaged her scalp. Despite his words, Lucian had gone hard as a rock. Her body kept brushing his in the shower with teasing, fleeting caresses of skin, and he was hard-pressed not to finish what he’d started. But she was hungry, and he actually was, too, and she needed food.
“This is a big shower,” she commented on a little sigh as he moved her back under the water so she could rinse the soap from her hair. While she did that, he quickly shampooed his own hair.
“Yes.” He glanced toward the walls as he massaged the shampoo into his scalp, thinking he’d like to make love to her here as he had in the dream of her shower. “Maybe we should put one in at the house. We could arrange to have it done while we were in Kansas so we wouldn’t have to put up with the inconvenience and noise of the workmen.”
Lucian felt her still, and glanced back to find her eyes open, that same troubled look in their depths. He raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”
“I—You keep talking like we’re—” Leigh frowned, then said gently, “Lucian, I don’t want to rush into anything.”
“What does that mean?” he asked slowly.
She hesitated, then said, “I mean, I’m willing to give it a try and date you, but—”
“Date?” he squawked with amazement. “Leigh, you’re my life mate. We aren’t dating. We’re—”
“If we aren’t dating, we aren’t anything,” she interrupted, and suddenly stepped out of the shower. He watched dumbfounded as she snatched a towel off the rack and began to dry herself, then he turned and stepped under the water to rinse the soap away before following.
“Leigh, last night—”
“Last night was lovely, but—”
“Lovely?” he echoed sharply. “Flowers are lovely, cinnamon buns are lovely. What we shared was incredible, dynamite... rare. Our minds merged, Leigh. We are life mates.”
“Yes,” she agreed. “It was all of that and I still want to just date for a while.” She stomped out of the bathroom.
“So, you sleep with everyone you date?” Lucian asked, following to find her pulling on her clothes. “It meant nothing to you?”
“No, I don’t sleep with everyone I date.” She frowned, then said on a sigh, “You’re angry.”
“You’re damned right I am. I offer you my heart, my body, my life, and you say let’s just date?” Lucian stopped abruptly as he noticed the fear that had entered her eyes and the way she’d flinched as he’d gestured with his hand. Leigh had thought he was going to hit her, he realized with shock, and suddenly understood what this was all about. Kenny. The abusive and, fortunately for him, dead ex-husband. She’d dated him six weeks, married him, and only found out then that he liked to talk with his fists. Leigh had only known him a matter of days and—life mate or no life mate—feared making another mistake. This was where the proving he would never hurt her part came in, he realized.
Shoulders slumping with defeat, he sighed. “Okay.”
Leigh blinked. “Okay?” she asked with surprise.
“Sure.” Lucian made himself shrug, turned to find his own clothes, and started drawing them on. “If you need time to adjust and reassure yourself that I won’t start beating you, then so be it. I’ve waited thousands of years for you, what’s a little more time?”
“It’s not that I’m afraid you’ll become abusive,” Leigh began, but fell silent when he turned to stare at her with disbelief.
“If it isn’t that, what do you think it is?” he asked quietly. “Aside from the whole life mate thing, we’re very compatible. We have similar taste in food, homes, and clothing. We enjoy each other’s company and laugh a lot together. From the talk we had at lunch yesterday, I know we both like to read and have similar taste in movies. And we’re more than compatible sexually.”
Leigh frowned and opened her mouth, but he spoke first, saying, “And I like you, Leigh. I truly like you. Long after the passions are spent and the lust has waned—which will happen in two or three thousand years—I know you’ll still be my best friend. You’ve made me laugh again. I love you, Leigh. And you like and love me.”
She opened her mouth, but afraid she’d deny his words, Lucian said, “Our minds merged, Leigh. I know your heart. Whether you’ll admit it to yourself or not, you do care for me. So the only thing left is trust.”
Her shoulders slumped as a sigh slid from her lips. “I don’t—”
“No.” He forced a smile. “It’s okay. I’ve fought Romans, Scots, Spaniards, and Germans, among others over the millennia. I’ll help you fight your fears.” His smile turned wry. “I just wish I could do it with a sword. Unfortunately, this is one of those things that take time, and with all the years I’ve lived, I still hate waiting.”
Finished dressing, Lucian turned and headed for the stairs. “Hurry up. The faster you’re dressed, the sooner we can get to a restaurant. I’ll feed Julius while you finish getting ready.”
Leigh’s mind was running in circles as she dressed, Lucian’s words circling through her head over and over. They liked the same foods, the same clothes, the same movies and books. They were compatible and laughed a lot...
She realized as she tied her shoes that he was right. The only thing holding her back was trust. She didn’t trust him...
That thought didn’t feel quite right. She knew herself well enough to know that she wouldn’t have slept with him and given herself to him if she hadn’t trusted him. Perhaps the truth was that she didn’t trust herself, her own judgment. While she didn’t think Lucian would ever lift a finger to her in anger, she hadn’t thought Kenny would become a wife-beater when they’d married either. How was she to know she was right this time, when she’d made such a mess of things before?
Sighing, Leigh finished tying her laces and stood to move to the stairs. Lucian seemed to think it would take time, and he was probably right, but she wished there was a way to do it faster. Despite his outward acceptance, she knew he was hurt by her insistence on keeping their relationship to just dating for now.
“Stupid dog, cut that out.”
Leigh glanced around the main floor as she descended the stairs, finding Lucian and Julius in the kitchen area. At first she thought they were wrestling. Lucian was lying on his side on the hardwood floor with his legs wrapped around the big dog’s body as he tried to pry his mouth open. Unfortunately, Julius was not cooperating. Squirming and pawing and clawing, the dog was doing all he could to escape.
“It’s for your own good,” Lucian told him firmly, readjusting his grip and trying again to pry his mouth open.
“What... ?” Leigh said in bewilderment as Lucian managed to pop a little colored pill in the dog’s mouth. He immediately forced Julius’s mouth closed and massaged his throat to get him to swallow.
His medicine, Leigh realized. Marguerite had mentioned something about an infection in that first phone call. She’d forgotten about it. She had never seen Lucian try to give it to the beast before. It looked like he had, though.
“There. You’re done. Go.” Apparently sure Julius had swallowed the medicine, Lucian let go of him. The mutt was instantly on his feet and shaking himself, then leaned over and gave Lucian’s cheek a lick as if in apology for being difficult.
“Yeah yeah,” Lucian muttered, pushing the huge head away as he got to his feet. “Go eat or something and get the taste out of your mouth.”
Leigh smiled faintly at the order as Lucian moved to the sink, then frowned as she saw the blood dripping from the hand he lifted to put under the tap.
“He bit you,” she said with surprise, hurrying to his side. “Are you okay?”
“It’ll heal,” Lucian said with a shrug as the water washed the blood away.
Leigh hardly heard the words, she was staring at his hand. It was a good bite and must have hurt, but Lucian didn’t sound particularly angry and hadn’t been rough with the dog when she’d come down.
“It’s my own fault anyway. I haven’t a clue what I’m doing, and think I’m doing it wrong. And he’s just as dumb as me and doesn’t understand it’s for his own good,” Lucian added dryly. “He thinks I’m trying to choke him or something.”
Leigh lifted her gaze to his face. Kenny would have kicked the dog and blamed him for everything. Lucian was taking the fault on himself.
“There’s probably an easier way to do it,” Lucian muttered, pulling his hand out to see how it was healing. “I’m sure Marguerite and Maria know how to do it without getting bit.”
“They probably put it in his dog food,” Leigh murmured, peering at his hand. It was healing quickly, she noted. There wouldn’t even be a scar in an hour or so.
A curse from Lucian drew her gaze up to see him rolling his eyes. “Of course! In his dog food. You’re brilliant! I’ll try that tomorrow. Thanks.”
He leaned to kiss her on the cheek, then grabbed a paper towel to dry his hand, and Leigh turned to peer at Julius. The mastiff was contentedly lapping up dog food Lucian had set out for him, the trauma over for the day. She could almost believe it hadn’t happened. Julius wasn’t keeping one wary eye on Lucian or anything that would indicate...
Leigh paused as she realized what she was thinking. The scene here had reminded Leigh of an incident with Kenny and his parents’ dog, Dolly, before they’d married. A border collie, Dolly had been friendly with everyone but Kenny. She’d shied away from him, cowering and flinching whenever he raised his voice or moved too suddenly. Leigh hadn’t noticed it until later, after they were married and she started doing the same thing.
The incident she was thinking of at the moment, however, was when they’d gone to his parents’ house for a Sunday dinner. Dolly, asleep in the living room, was startled awake when Kenny clumsily stepped on her paw in passing. Coming awake with a squeal, the collie’s head shot around instinctively to snap at him. She only snapped at the air by his foot, but Kenny kicked out at Dolly in retribution, missing her only because she’d been quicker than him.
Kenny had said “Stupid dog” then, as Lucian often did, but there wasn’t a drop of affection in the words, just dislike. That incident had always bothered her. She’d only realized how telling it was after the wedding, though. Kenny had treated her the same way he treated Dolly, blaming her for his own clumsiness and inadequacies and striking out at her for them. She had often wished that she’d paid more attention to how the dog had reacted to him before agreeing to the marriage.
Her gaze slid over Julius, and she considered his reactions to Lucian. The dog never cowered or flinched around him, whether Lucian raised his voice or moved suddenly, or not.
“Ready to go?”
Leigh glanced around to Lucian to see his hand was mostly healed. Pushing herself away from the counter, she nodded. “Yes.”
“Good.” He slid his arm around her waist, kissing her lightly before urging her toward the door. “You look nice.”
Leigh chuckled wryly at the compliment. Her hair was still damp and slicked back off her face, she had no makeup on and was wearing the suede pants again and a t-shirt she’d found in the drawers upstairs. She was hardly a fashion plate.
“I hope Thomas won’t mind, but I borrowed one of his t-shirts. The collar of the pink top is kind of stretched out. I’m hoping a run through the washer will fix it, but in the meantime, the only clothes Rachel packed was the nightie,” she explained as they reached the front door.
“Nightwear is really a most important consideration,” Lucian said with a grin, allowing his hand to slide over her bottom as he opened the front door for her to walk outside. Then he added, “I shall have to thank Rachel for her thoughtfulness when we get back.”
“Oh, she’ll love that,” Leigh chuckled as she waited for him to lock the door, then she frowned and said, “Rachel said you threatened to have her terminated when you first met.”