The Stranger I Married
Chapter 104: The Bath

Chapter 104: The Bath

She turned to bolt, water sloshing around her legs, but she didn’t get far. His arms caught her around the waist and hauled her gently backwards into the sea, laughter spilling from both of them.

She shrieked as the cold hit her, kicking wildly. "Nicholas! I hate you!"

"You love me," he said into her ear, breathless with laughter, water dripping from his jaw onto her shoulder.

"I’ll love you when I’m dry!"

But her arms had already wrapped around his neck, legs half-floating, half-kicking under the surface. He held her up easily, steady even as she wiggled in his arms like a very splashy protest.

"Okay, okay," he said, laughing. "Call a truce or I’m flipping us both."

Ella narrowed her eyes, lips twitching. "Truce. For now."

He let go of her slowly, and she floated away on her back, arms spread, hair swirling in the water around her. The sun hit her face, and she sighed like her whole body was unwinding.

Nicholas swam a slow circle around her. "You’re doing that serene ocean goddess thing again."

She cracked one eye open. "You’re doing that smug Greek god thing again."

"Would you like me to pose?"

"I will dunk you."

He drifted lazily closer. "You can try."

She lunged toward him without warning, splashing with both arms. Nicholas yelped and tried to block her, water flying everywhere as they wrestled clumsily, laughing so hard it echoed off the rocks lining the cove.

When the chaos finally settled, she was clinging to his back like a very smug koala, breathless from laughter.

"You’re a menace," he said, treading water with her still latched around him.

"And yet," she said sweetly, resting her chin on his shoulder, "you carry me anyway."

He shook his head, smiling. "Can’t help myself."

She leaned in and kissed the space behind his ear. "You’re not very good at pretending to mind."

Nicholas turned in the water, shifting her into his arms again, this time facing him. Her legs floated lazily around his hips, her hands on his shoulders. His eyes swept over her face—eyes soft, lips parted, hair dripping wet and sticking to her cheeks.

"I don’t mind," he said softly.

She ran a thumb over the ridge of his collarbone. "You look ridiculously good wet."

"I was going to say the same thing."

Ella smiled, slow and quiet. "Is this what you meant by ’ruining you with one twirl on a balcony’?"

"No," Nicholas murmured. "That will happen later. This is just step one."

She leaned in and kissed him then, slow and warm, the kind of kiss that made the whole world go still. The sea lapped gently against their shoulders. A gull cried somewhere above. But all she felt was him—his hands on her back, his mouth tasting like salt and sun and something that felt suspiciously like forever.

When they pulled apart, breathless and still close, Nicholas whispered, "We’re never going home."

Ella nodded. "No. We live here now. We become sea people."

"I’ll grow a beard."

"I’ll wear flowy dresses and ignore clocks."

"We’ll eat fruit off the vine and nap twice a day."

She brushed water off his cheek. "We’re such good planners."

He grinned and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "You’re happy?"

"I’m... content," she said, then added with a mischievous glint, "But I still expect that drink."

"Oh, Sun-Kissed Trouble is coming tonight," Nicholas promised. "And just wait until you see what I packed for the balcony."

Ella raised an eyebrow. "Nicholas."

He only smirked. "I brought a portable record player."

She threw her arms around him again. "You’re ridiculous. You’re perfect. You’re mine."

And they stayed there in the water for a long time—laughing, floating, occasionally splashing, and always touching. The sun climbed higher above them, the beach quiet except for the two of them and the sound of waves.

Nothing else mattered.

They had salt on their skin, each other in their arms, and all the time in the world.

The sun was beginning to dip by the time they made it back up the path to the villa, towels slung over damp shoulders and sandals in hand, hair tousled from salt and wind. Ella’s skin was sun-warmed, kissed pink along the tops of her shoulders, and her limbs moved with that lazy, stretched-out kind of ease that came only after swimming and sunbathing and laughing too hard to remember why.

Nicholas opened the door for her with a hand on the small of her back. Inside, the villa was cool and dim, the light from the terrace spilling long and golden across the tile. Ella dropped her towel by the bedroom door without much ceremony and padded barefoot toward the bathroom, calling over her shoulder—

"I need a bath or I will physically dissolve into a puddle of sunscreen and seawater."

Nicholas’s voice drifted from behind her. "That sounds very poetic. Do I get to watch?"

"You get to run it."

"Even better."

The tub sat near a wide window overlooking the sea, framed in ivory stone with brass fixtures and a ledge made perfectly for leaning against with a glass of wine or, in Ella’s case, a slice of peach. The water started with a gurgle and rose fast, warm steam curling into the air as Nicholas adjusted the temperature.

He added a capful of something luxurious-smelling he’d found beneath the sink—a bottle with Italian writing and sprigs of lavender on the label. Then, without being asked, he folded a towel and set it on the nearby bench, placed a glass of water within reach, and lit a single, small candle.

When she came back, wrapped in nothing but a towel and a sleepy kind of smile, the bath was waiting.

Her eyes softened at the sight. "You did all this?"

Nicholas leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, watching her. "Always."

Ella stepped closer, trailing damp fingers across his wrist. "You’re gonna ruin me."

He kissed her cheek, slow and warm. "That’s the plan."

She let the towel drop and climbed in with a quiet exhale, sinking down until the water kissed her shoulders. The scent of lavender and something sweet filled the air. Nicholas sat on the edge of the tub and dipped his fingers lazily into the water, watching her.

Ella let her head fall back against the tub, eyes half-lidded. "This might be the best part of today."

"I was pretty sure that was me carrying you like a soggy princess out of the ocean."

"That’s second place."