The Accidental Countess (Forever His Series Book one)

Chapter 28

***Explicit content ahead! You have been warned people! *****

Max asks one of the maids to organise the filling of the bath in our room whilst he gathers some food from the kitchens.
He obviously famished and is loading masses of meat onto a platter, when I give him a funny look he merely replies,

"What? I don't plan on leaving your side or our bed for the rest of the day" and he leans over to kiss me again.

When we get up to the room the bath is full and steaming and he sits down on the bed clearly exhausted from his trip.

My face drops as I get a good look at him, he's dirty and soaking wet by the look of his clothes and my chest tightens just looking at him.
He's clearly lost a bit of weight and he has dark marks under his eyes.
He's obviously been through a lot.

"What happened out there Max?" I ask tentatively, trying not to upset him.

He looks up at me sharply, before quickly blinking and looking down at the floor. I approach him on the bed slowly, before sitting down and gently squeezing his arm.

He looks up at me as if he's a broken man.

He says nothing for a long time and I just sit and wait patiently before he decides to speak.

"I failed my men Cassie. I couldn't protect them and now one of them is dead because of me."

I feel so powerless and unable to help this incredible man in front of me that I love.
He's always the strong one, the one protecting me and making sure that I'm alright, but now it's him that needs me. I'm scared.

I don't know what to say to him, nothing I say can make him feel better or ease even an ounce of his pain.
So instead I just hug him to me gently and he drops his head onto my shoulder, his breath shaking. I stroke his hair softly and he grips me tightly, holding his emotions inside.

"Shall I help you out of this armour?" I say finally, hoping to distract him and help him relax a bit more.

"There's nothing I would like more, Wife" he pulls away and smiles softly.

His smile does things to me, it's been so long since I've seen it and I stare at him mesmerised.
His strength is astounding but I know that he must need to talk about this. No one can experience loss so strongly and not need to talk about it in some form.

"Do you want to talk about it Max?"

He looks at me calmly before standing slowly and looking down into my face and cupping my cheeks.

"I can't think about it now. I just need you Cassie."

With that we move slowly and remove his armour piece by delicate piece.
His stance changes with every piece that we remove, each part taking a small part of his guilt and grief away as it falls to the floor. I can see him returning to me, slowly.

He's eventually left in just his filthy undershirt and I move to help him but he has other ideas.

He turns me in his arms so my back is to his front, before removing his tunic and throwing it to the floor and pawing at my dress. I can tell he's as desperate as me to be in that bath, close to each other, surrounded in the heat.

He manages to get the last of the dress over my head and drops it unceremoniously to the floor; it falls at my feet in a pile. He lifts up my under dress exposing my naked rear and my back before pulling it over my head and throwing it to the ground along with the rest.

He grasps me from behind clamping an arm around my waist and palms one breast with the other. It feels so good to have him touching me again that I moan in satisfaction and he murmurs closely in my ear "Does my touch feel good Wife?"