A Price Above Rubies

Chapter Nine

Leon stands by Hilal at the counter as she washes the dishes and he helps her dry. "I asked Eleni if she could watch the kids for a few hours tonight. If you want to." Leon runs the back of his hand along her bare forearm. His eyes hopefully conveying his intention. Her cheeks pinked. Oh yes. She understood. They could always read each other well.

"Where are we going?" she asks, her voice low and a little nervous, but nervous with excitement and that knowledge makes his body respond instantly.

"We could get a room at the bathhouse?" he asks. They keep dancing around the idea of adding a turkish bath to their house but the amount of work it would take keeps making them put the idea off. Leon can admit he isn't particularly handy, an earlier attempt at a tree house for their children had come out looking like a giant chicken coop and earned him a broken arm when he'd fallen through it, prompting his daughter to pat him sympathetically on the uninjured arm and assure him that "s'okay, Daddy. You good at other things. Just not buildings."

The color in her face rises and he doesn't miss the flare of lust in her beautiful eyes. He loves that he's the only one that gets to see this side of her. Lord knows he had to work for it when they first started to acknowledge this thing between them. She'd fought it for so much longer than he did, having so much more to lose, being a girl and he the enemy, but once she had opened her heart to him, given him her body for the first time in that abandoned shed after they'd exchanged their wedding vows, the passionate woman she'd become was a gift for him alone.

"Oh, I'd like that," she admits. They've gone a few times and only half the time does it end up with sex. The other half, they work themselves up and force themselves to wait until they get home, enjoying the anticipation. The first time she'd bathed him, the ritual of it almost felt sacred.

He plays with Yorgo and Acelya and the new train set for an hour before its time for their bath and bedtime when Eleni arrives. She lives close enough, closer than Yildiz so that she can arrive in a few minutes and be home quickly and she assures them she doesn't mind.

Leon fights a giddy little skip as he wraps an arm around his wife's waist and they walk down the street in the moonlight. He wants one more night. One more carefree night before he tells her about Luchas and his escape from Greece. He needed to be sure that his brother Ali Kemal was all right. He'd called his mother when he was at the newspaper and Veronika had assured him that his brother was fine. He hasn't been able to reach his brother yet, but owning a restaurant means he keeps odd hours so Leon isn't worried.

He pushes away thoughts of tomorrow. Tonight, he plans to enjoy his wife, free of any burdens or worries, just the two of them sharing this delightful practice she'd taught him on their first wedding anniversary.

He'd heard about Turkish baths, but as a Greek had certainly never been welcomed into one during the war if he'd even thought to try one.

They make their way to one of the empty baths. The attendant is professional but Leon doesn't miss the quirk of his lips, the knowledge in his eyes. He's glad Hilal misses the tiny gesture cause it would make her blush and really, Leon only wants him blushing for her, not because she's been made to feel uncomfortable. The room is warm and heavy as soon as they enter and it takes Leon a disoriented moment to suck in enough air to breathe. He's better than he'd been in the beginning but Hilal is so used to them that she's already peeling clothing off while he's a few steps behind her, his movements slower as the heat seeps into his muscles, making them feel heavy, but not in an unpleasant way. He undoes the button just below his neck as Hilal makes a little pile for their clothes on one of the warm white marble benches that surround the cool pool of water in the center. They might use it after, or stick with the faucet fixed above the bench opposite the one containing their clothes.