Taken

Chapter 14 (Part 3)

Or so I had thought. Silas must have had the same idea.

Striding into the room, Silas made his way to the tub I had been eyeing with disappointment and set me down beside it. His hands remained on me, as untrusting of my ability to hold myself up as I was.

"Here," he said, reaching for my coat to help me remove it when he didn't need to catch me again.

As he turned to toss it onto the bed, I pulled one of my gifted gloves off with my teeth while my other hand reached down to grab the edge of the wooden tub. I felt the stretch down my spine acutely. I kept the pained hiss that wanted to escape contained as I switched hands to remove the other. As I finished, Silas took them from me to set them down on the nightstand before returning to the hot water valve to release the steaming water. I shifted on my feet as he adjusted it by releasing some cold water. The hand that he had returned to hover near my hip brushed against the strip of my skin that my shirt had lifted to expose.

The shock of the touch nearly had my knees buckling. It only grew worse when that prompted him to press his hand against me firmly and increase the contact to keep me from falling while his other hand gripped my arm over my sleeve.

"Good?" He asked in a gruff voice.

I nodded, tightening my hold on the tub as I steadied myself again. I didn't think I could speak if I wanted to with him touching me. Once he was sure I wouldn't fall, he pulled his hands back abruptly, but his touch still lingered, seared into my skin.

"The warmth will help," he remarked, referring to the running water that I could tell was too hot as he stepped back. He didn't venture too far.

My eyes left the running water to roam around the room while avoiding him. "Umm..."

"I'll go downstairs to give you some privacy, " he said, not missing my wandering eyes filled with uncertainty. "You could use the soak. I don't want to be carrying you around."

I didn't want that either. I could still feel the lingering sensation of where his arms had banded around me and knew it was going to last longer in my mind. I had no idea why his every little touch had such a big impact.

Though I had some experience with men when I was on a self-destructive path during my teens, none of them left me thinking about their every touch like this. No, they were ones I wanted to forget.

But the ones I didn't...

Not even Ash, whom I had shared a single kiss with that occupied my mind for years, left me feeling this way with his touch. And that drove me mad. A dejected part of me knew that even if we had gone past the one kiss that I had initiated or the soft pecks he placed on my cheek or hair ever since it wouldn't have been burned into my body the way Silas's touch had.

"There's a restaurant downstairs. I'll take some time to eat then grab our stuff and bring you up a warm meal. Do you think you can manage to get yourself in and out?"

"Yeah," I said a little too quickly, sounding more sure than I was.

Apparently, it wasn't convincing enough of an answer for him to hold much confidence in it. "I'll give you plenty of time to soak and will knock before entering when I come back," he reassured, giving me a skeptical once over.

I sent him a forced smile over my shoulder as my locked knees and grip on the tub held me up while he backed toward the door.

"I'll be back in an hour or so," he said, turning to make his way out.

When he shut the door behind him, I let out a harsh breath that turned into a pained groan as I hung my head.

Testing the water with my fingertips, I adjusted it to ensure it wouldn't scald me before trying to straighten my back and roll out the tension in my shoulders. It wasn't very effective.