Chapter 232: Take a Bath With Me

She was very certain that if someone took care of her the way Orion did, then she had to pay him back with something. It was a normal transaction. But anyway, if Orion wasn’t going to accept it openly, she’d do it secretly and pay him back, getting the nagging feeling out of her head.

"But that still doesn’t explain the wood, though," he told her. "Or the food and everything you carried in here."

She smiled at him. "What do you think about spending the lockdown together?"

"Just me and you in my house fulfilling my fantasy?" he asked her with a smile.

"You’ve had fantasies about me staying in your house?" she asked him.

"Come on, shorty, I’m vocal about it. I’ve always wanted you to spend the night here with me instead of on your small bed. You know that, so don’t pretend like you don’t," he told her.

She laughed. "I know. That’s also one of the reasons why I wanted to surprise you here."

"The surprise may have fallen through, but that doesn’t mean we can’t spend time together. The wood is to keep the hearth burning, right?" he asked her.

She gave him a nod. "Yes, but they are—"

Before she could finish, he turned to the door, and she frowned.

"Where are you going?" she asked him.

"Getting the rest of your wood," he called over his shoulder. "And then, when I’m done, you are going to do that strip show you planned on doing for me."

"It’s not a strip show, you ogre," she told him.

"Whatever it is, as far as it involves you being cute and sexy, I don’t care," he told her.

Her mouth parted slightly as she watched him step into the cold, the wind tugging at his hair. Within moments, he was already crossing toward her house. He returned with the remaining firewood in his arms like they weighed nothing.

Sophia stood frozen for a moment, her heart unexpectedly full. There was something strangely intimate about the sight—Orion, usually commanding and unbending, now moving between their homes like it was the most natural thing in the world... which, given their current situation, it was.

A fine layer of frost dusted his shoulders. He set the wood by the fireplace with a quiet thump, brushed his hands together, and looked at her.

"There," he said. "Now you’ve got your wood, your food, and your Alpha. Anything else?"

Sophia closed the door behind him, shaking her head. "That should be enough."

"Good," Orion said, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Because I plan to enjoy these three days a whole lot."

Sophia laughed at that.

"By the way," he added, "I just have to point this out, but you know we didn’t need to carry your wood to my house just because you’re staying over, right? The items delivered to each house were meant to be enough for that house. The firewood in my house would have been enough to keep both of us warm for the duration of three days."

She gasped. "Then... why... why did you go to my house to carry the rest?" she asked him.

"That’s because you wanted me to."

"I didn’t ask you to."

"I didn’t want your effort to be in vain. I had to do something," he told her.

"You could have just told me," she cried out, burying her face in her palm. "This makes me look like an utter fool."

"Um... most days you look like one," he told her.

She glared at him.

Orion chuckled as he pulled her closer. "Tell me that me carrying wood and showing off my manliness didn’t do something for you."

"Okay, you carrying wood and showing off your manliness didn’t do something for me."

Orion laughed as she said it. "I did tell you to say that. I dug my own pit, but you get what I mean," he told her.

She groaned. "Every passing day, I wonder why I like you."

"I’m charming. Of course you’d like me," he told her, leaning to brush his lips against her ear.

Her pulse jumped, and she stepped back quickly, glaring up at him. "You’re insufferable."

He only grinned wider. "You like me that way."

She opened her mouth to argue, but words failed her. Instead, she just sighed and shook her head, muttering, "You’re lucky I like you at all."

"Very lucky," he agreed without hesitation. "Now that that’s done, do you want to take a bath with me, shorty?"

"I don’t think the tub will be big enough."

"I have a tub big enough for both of us. You don’t need to worry about that," he told her.

"Are you sure?" she asked him.

"Yes... and I’m also tired after all the work you put me through, so... how about we wash up together and get to bed?" he asked her.

"Are we just going to wash up?" she asked him.

"I’m not the one who wanted to do something sexy or cute. Why are you making it seem like I’m the one with the dirty thoughts alone?" he asked her.

She laughed. "Fine, let’s bathe together."

Orion smiled. He looked at her for a moment—long enough for the firelight to catch the flecks of gold in his eyes. Then, with that same easy confidence, he smiled again.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Did agreeing to us bathing together do something to you?" she asked him.

"Things you can’t even begin to imagine," he said with a groan.

Before she could react, he leaned down, one arm sweeping under her knees, the other at her back. In one smooth motion, he lifted her effortlessly off the ground.

"Orion!" she yelped, gripping his shoulders. "What... what are you doing?" she asked with a laugh.

He chuckled as he placed a kiss on her mouth. "We are going to be making up for those days you worked yourself to the point of exhaustion."