Moving my hands up to her cheeks, I pulled my lips away from hers. And fuck me, but that little noise of protest from her was the sweetest thing I’d never heard.
I crooked a smile at her swollen lips and dazed expression. I knew exactly how she felt. I pressed my lips to hers again in a quick kiss, unable to help myself. “Get yourself undressed,” I instructed. “I’m going to go start the shower.”
Like everything else in this fucking mansion of a house, the guest bathroom was extravagant. There were his-and-her sinks, a large linen closet, a fancy shelf thing over the toilet, and a walk-in shower stall with luxury-hotel-level water pressure. Rather than one shower head that angled from the side, it had a large, square head at the top that sprayed down the center and out the four sides of the square like a waterfall.
Personally, I didn’t need all that fancy-dancy shit. But what got my sack squeezing was the fact that I could stand under the spray without having to duck my head.
I turned on the water, steam immediately billowing out like volcano dust. I pushed my thumbs into the waistband of my shorts and shoved them down my long legs. I no longer needed to hide my body’s reaction to her, which released a weight of tension off my shoulders I hadn’t even realized I’d been carrying.
Turning around, I paused when I found her exactly where I’d left her: pressed up against the door and fully clothed.
Shit! Was I going too fast? What if I’d misconstrued her words? What if she’d only wanted a kiss, and here I was droppingtrou in front of her?Lolo!I chastised silently, calling myself all sorts of stupid.
This was the woman I loved, and I was scaring her.
“Ho’oponopono, o ku?u aloha no ?oe.” I quickly reached for my shorts again. Not because I was embarrassed to be naked, but because I never wanted to make her uncomfortable around me.
Caroline cocked her head at me. “What does that mean?” Her eyes lowered to my groin, and she frowned. “Why are you putting your shorts back on? Did I do something wrong?”
The innocence in her voice shook me. I’d been about to take a woman who had been raped and tortured for the better part of her formative life into the fuckingshowerwith me.
I answered her last question before I got distracted with her others. “You did absolutely nothing wrong,Ku?u aloha.”
Her eyebrows went up. “What doesthatmean?”
I ran a hand down my face. Fuck. “What I originally said is roughly translated to ‘forgive me’ or ‘I’m sorry’, ‘you are indeed my love’.”
Her eyes lit up, more blue than green. “And what you said just now?” She finally stepped away from the door, coming closer to me.
“Caroline…”
She rapidly shook her head, her now mussy braid swaying behind her head. “Tell me, please.”
That word truly was becoming dangerous for my health. “I called you ‘my love’.”
She smiled so widely her lips looked broader than her cheeks. “I knew it. I knew you loved me,” she breathed out, almost reverently.
I couldn’t repeat the words to her, though. Not when I’d scared her so. “I still need to shower. I’ll join you in our room when I’m done.”
Her face fell, all that blazing happiness dying like I’d poured abucket of ice water over her. I watched as her eyes flicked behind me to the steam-filled shower. “But you said I did nothing wrong. Why don’t you want to…?” She nodded toward the shower.
Anger sparked inside me at her doubt. “Don’t you dare ask me that. Of course I fucking want to.” I closed the distance between us, gathering her back up into my arms. “You’re perfect.”
“Then why can’t I shower with you?”
Fucking hell, Maui must be having a field day right now. “I didn’t mean to move so fast. I got caught up in the moment. I never want to scare you, Caroline.”
I felt her body jerk slightly, but with her pressed up to my front, I couldn’t see her expression. Had she winced?
Then she started shaking her head so quickly that I figured my assumption was wrong. “I wasn’t scared. I was hypnotized.”
I was suddenly very confused. Needing to see her face, I put her back down and took a step back. “Hypnotized? By what?”
Her cheeks flamed as she admitted, “By your butt.”
I blinked.
And blinked again.