Chapter 17: Under the Water

The doctor came to the lake house at four and left at five.

Kendrick's legs had gone numb from overuse, the doctor said, and the feeling should return by morning.

"No standing for a day," the doctor told him. "Not at the rail, not for a moment. Do you hear me?"

"I hear you," Kendrick said.

Becky saw his hand close on the chair, and said nothing until the front door shut.

"You hated that."

"I hated every word."

"Come upstairs."

She wheeled him to the bathroom at the end of the hall and turned on the shower.

It was a big stone room with a bench built into the wall under the water.

Max had built it for him two years ago.

She suspected he had never used it for anything but the necessary.

"You don't have to," Kendrick said.

"I know."

"I can manage."

"I know that too." She pulled her sweater over her head. "I'm not offering because you can't."

His eyes dropped to her bare shoulders and came up again, dark.

"Then why?"

"Because I want to wash your back, and you have a lovely one."

She heard him breathe in through his nose.

He let her unbutton his shirt, and she kissed the scar as she had the night before.

She helped him from the chair onto the bench, and he took her hand to steady himself and did not let go.

The water was hot and loud.

She stepped under it in her underwear, and it soaked through at once, and he made a rough sound in his throat.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Dumped at the Altar, Claimed by a Hidden Tycoon from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.