Chapter 90

The air was still warm and damp from our shared bath, tasting of steam and the lavender soap we’d used. I stretched out on the cool cotton sheets, the last droplets of water from my hair making tiny, dark stars on the fabric. The only light came from the handful of candles I’d placed around the room, their flames dancing and throwing long, seductive shadows up the walls.

My skin hummed, sensitive and alive.

I turned my head on the pillow, finding him. Milo stood by the bed, a dark silhouette against the warmer dark of the room, the bottle of aromatic oil in his hand catching the light. I beckoned him with just a look, a slow, deliberate closing and opening of my eyes. My smile was a secret I was giving him permission to know.

He didn’t need words. He knelt on the mattress, the dip of his weight rolling me gently toward him. The pop of the bottle’s cap was loud in the quiet. The scent of sandalwood and orange blossom bloomed between us, rich and heady.

“Come here,” I murmured, my voice