He gathered up the heavy locks and tied them in a loose bun. I watched him in the mirror in front of me, feeling too shy to meet his eyes directly. A man had never touched me like this: with tender care. There was nothing sexual about the way he was handling me, even though I was mostly naked. Warmth pulsed in the center of my chest, chasing the last of the chill from my bones.

When he was finished, he brushed a kiss over my nape, then dropped to his knees before me. His thumbs hooked through my panties, and I didn’t resist as he slowly slid them down my legs. I stepped out of them, and he took my hands in his. Wordlessly, he guided me to the tub.

I sank into the warm water, until the bubbles tickled my chin. Luca rolled up his sleeves, revealing corded forearms. Then he picked up a washcloth and dipped it into the suds. I pulled back slightly when he reached for me.

“What are you doing?” I asked, my voice strangely soft and slow. I felt sleepy and a bit drunk, so tired after everything that’d happened to me in the last twenty-four hours.

“Taking care of you,” he replied, as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

He began to wash me, and I didn’t protest. It felt strange, but good. Maybe this was normal for married couples? I didn’t know anything about what happened in private between a man and a woman. My naivete was a little embarrassing, but I was too relaxed to feel any shame.

“I’m sorry for upsetting you earlier,” he said after a while, his voice a deep rumble.

My eyes fluttered open, and I found him watching me with a heavy-lidded gaze, as though he was feeling slightly drunk too.

“When?” I asked. He’d upset me so many times since he’d kidnapped me. Upset wasn’t even a strong enough word.

“When I insisted you take birth control,” he reminded me.

A needle of anger pricked at the peaceful cocoon that’d engulfed me, but he immediately soothed it away with a stroke of the cloth down my spine.

“I think I pushed too hard, but I need you to understand that everything I’ve done is for your own protection. We can’t risk a pregnancy right now.”

My cheeks heated at the memory of how he’d humiliated me with his erotic touch after he’d given me the shot; how he’d promised to reward me with pleasure if I behaved at the reception.

“And after that?” I asked, still too lethargic for the demand to hold any venom. “When you touched me and teased me. How was that protecting me?”

Another stroke down my spine. I melted into his touch.