Coming Home(138)

Danny eyed the teeming bubbles, looking totally unconvinced.

“Oh my God,” she said. “Would you quit being such a baby and just get in?”

His lips curved into a small smile. “You know what would make this seem a little less effeminate?”

Leah threw her hands up in defeat. “I don’t know. A cigar and a dirty magazine?”

He burst out laughing. “That’s not a bad idea,” he said. “But no, I was thinking it might not be so bad if you got in there with me.”

She put her hands on her hips, shaking her head before she turned to leave the room.

“Where are you going?”

Leah looked over her shoulder. “To get another towel.”

Danny smiled before he reached behind his head and pulled his shirt off.

By the time Leah came back to the bathroom, he was already submerged in the frothy bubbles with his head resting on the bath pillow and his eyes closed. She smirked as she stripped off her clothes and grabbed a clip, pinning her hair up in a messy twist as she approached the tub.

As she eased herself into the water, Danny sat up, taking hold of her waist and turning her so that she was sitting between his legs with her back up against his chest. Leah rested back against him, letting her head fall onto his shoulder with a sigh.

“Mmm,” she hummed as the heat of the water began to permeate her muscles. “Nice, right?”

“It’s okay,” he said, and she laughed. Danny’s hands trailed up her arms and over her shoulders, and he gripped them gently, pressing his thumbs into the back of her neck as he began rubbing soothing circles.

Her head fell forward as he continued his ministrations, using a bit more pressure as he worked his way down her shoulders, and Leah groaned softly as he worked out a muscle knot on the right side. “I should be doing this for you. This is supposed to be about helping you relax.”

“Making you feel good helps me relax,” he said, bringing his arms under the water and wrapping them around her waist. He pulled her flush against his chest, kissing the side of her head. “Thank you. I really did need this tonight,” he said into her hair.

Leah trailed her fingertips over his leg under the water. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really.”

Leah nodded, and for a minute they just sat there, her head on his shoulder and his arms around her waist.

“Was there something you wanted to know?” he asked.

“No, not if you don’t want to talk about it.”

Danny shifted his head, looking down at her. “No, it’s okay. Ask me. You have a right to know what’s going on.”

Leah chewed on her lip before she said, “Okay, well, I just wanted to know if you knew what the worst-case scenario was.”

“You mean what’s the most time I could get?”

Leah nodded.

“Ten years.”

She closed her eyes, thankful she was facing away from him, because she knew the piercing pain in her chest would be written all over her face. “Is that probable?” she asked weakly.

“My lawyer doesn’t think so,” he said, rubbing his thumbs over the skin of her stomach. “One of the main reasons we copped a plea was to avoid that. Plus, he’s building his entire case around the fact that I’m a respectable person with good standing in the community, that I was blatantly provoked. The more evidence he has to support that, the more likely the sentence will be mitigated.”

“Okay…so what does he think you’ll get?”