As soon as I said that, Ashton's brows pulled together hard. "I'm only halfway done."
I pressed my lips together and said nothing back at all.
While I was still trying to figure out how to respond, he hit me with another question out of nowhere. "What would you have done if I hadn't come home tonight?"
"I'd probably have scalded my whole body and called you." The thought had genuinely crossed my mind earlier that same evening. I knew he wouldn't be able to ignore something like that, not with the way his instincts always pulled him back no matter what else was happening.
He tightened his grip on my thigh and I gasped sharply. "Does that hurt?" His voice carried a clear and deliberate edge to it. "Have you really thought carefully about what happens if you actually manage to hurt yourself badly doing something like this?"
I stayed quiet and let my fingers trace lightly along his arm while he continued applying the ointment.
He stopped. "What are you doing?"
