A Beautiful Life

Beautiful Life [Ace of Base]

It was the way he saw the water drip down her leg. How it kissed ivory flesh, tracing the curve of her shin, dipping into her ankle and the arch of her foot. She rubbed a loofah into the perfection, spreading bubbles and soap. More water splashed, spilling down her curves. The light hit her skin and the water like reflective glass in trickles on her body.

The tops of her breasts peeked from the water, and he could see her nipples were soft. Hair wet and flat and away from her face. Droplets clung to her eyelashes, caressed her cheeks. Aiden placed the towel he brought for her on the sink. Their gazes crashed, a frantic collision. And his eyes narrowed as he swiped the loose hairs by his forehead.

"You've got the dog in there with you?"

Jax sat between her legs, silent and unusually still, fur drenched and stuck to his skin. He looked like a little rat. Aiden witnessed the smile that spread to Sakura's lips, heard the sweet giggle that escaped her mouth.

"I figured, well, since he was due for a bath."

He felt the cold wet tile of the floor against his feet as he moved closer to her before kneeling at the edge of the bathtub. There were ripples in the water when she readjusted herself. And the dog remained unmoving, his eyes two large beads on a cute, petrified face.

"He looks miserable." Aiden paused. "And that's gross. It's like you're bathing in dog debris."

He squinted when she splashed water towards his face. His forearm flung to shield himself as she continued her assault, a slew of giggles fleeing her mouth and echoing. The sound was like a beautiful, teasing chorus of her laugh. His shirt was drenched, pasted to his chest and stomach.

He felt the tie of his ponytail loosen, and as he reached to fix his hair, he caught her eyes fastened to his body. Carving into his black shirt, tracing the muscles of his torso, watching the flex of his arms. A flush took her. Dark red, swirling into the apples of her cheeks. She picked up the dog, pressing into the joints of his legs. Water dripped down his body like an endless stream. Black and white fur matted and disheveled.

"He's clean. Can you dry him?"

A strange look crossed his face, his brows twisted, lips furled into something that resembled a smile but wasn't. Sakura made the motion to hand Jax to him, and Aiden shuffled briefly, grabbing the towel from the sink that had been meant for her. The dog was so stiff to the point where it was comical.

Aiden sat on the floor with open legs, his back hurled forward as he ruffled the towel into Jax's fur. A struggle ensued, as he had suddenly sprung back to life and attempted to run away while soaking wet. Entrapped between Aiden's legs, his little body squirmed in his grasp, and Aiden took his feet, squeezing them like sponges. Getting behind his ears, his tail. Little whimpers grumbled in the dog's throat like he was being killed.

"Would you relax? I'm trying to fucking help you."

Jax slipped from his hold, his fur damp but no longer dripping, and with a yelp he scurried out of the bathroom, slipping on the watery mess he left on the floor. The silence was deafening, pulsating. Bouncing off the walls somehow. Aiden looked down at himself. Sweats stained at his thighs and crotch, his shirt even more saturated. And he turned around to look at Sakura, who sat in the tub with her knees pressed against her chest. Her grin was ample, flashing her teeth. She hugged her knees and her cheek rested there in enjoyment.

He crawled to her, dipping his arms into the tub to pull her body towards him. And she released the laugh she had been hiding, trying to resist him, and they became a giggling mess of water and stolen kisses.

Warm, wet skin, glowing as fair and luminescent as a pearl. He felt the heat of her body when his tongue grazed her neck, dipping into the junction of her shoulder. His teeth seeped into her, and he fingered her ribs, felt the ripples of each individual jut of bone. Trailing upwards, until he pressed along the skin beneath her breast.