Astor // Arthur Shelby x Reader - Peaky Blinders

Chapter 28

The dogs greet us merrily as we reach the upstairs floor, racing up to Arthur's ankles and darting about, chasing their tails and following us.

I laugh at their reaction, but Arthur's face is solemn. Only when we reach the bathroom and he's carefully lowered me back to my feet does he speak, and I realise the cause for his change in mood.

"Only the two of them left," he says softly.

He bends down and pets them, scratching them both behind the ears while I run the bath. A small shiver runs through me as my body only now registers how cold I am from the rain and floods. I swirl my hand through the hot water.

"I buried Bernice with Rudy, beside the stables," I say quietly. "She... it..." I take a small breath. "There was no need for it."

I hug both dogs myself and then lead them out to the hallway, closing the door. By this time the bath is half full, and Arthur takes my hand, holding it as I step into the water. He steps in behind me and pulls me down so that I am lying back against him — my spine against his chest, sitting in his lap. His legs are either side of mine. I tip my head back and he presses his lips to my neck. A new shiver runs through me, entirely unrelated to the cold. But even such a heavenly feeling cannot quell the fear setting into me once more.

"I shouldn't have done this," I whisper. "If he finds out you were here... Bernice was a warning."

"Changretta's not hurting you ever again," Arthur says, wrapping his arms around me. His thumbs stroke reassuring circles into either side of my ribcage. "I'd kill him for Bernice alone."

"If you kill him, his men will kill you."

He laughs. "I'd like to see them fucking try."

"This is no laughing matter, brave soldier."

He pulls me tighter to him. "Don't you worry about it a moment longer, my girl. I'm only sorry I didn't get here sooner."

"You were fighting a war," I point out. The bath is nearly full, and so I lean forward to shut off the taps. His hands glide against my body, still holding me as I move, and then taking me back once more. I sigh into him. "You were fighting a war, and telling all about how one day you might hold me like this." 

He begins to kiss his way up my throat. "I spent every moment thinking about you."

"Surely not every moment."

"Bloody well close to it."

I smile. "I love your voice. You sound even more like someone from Birmingham than I expected."

His lips press to my ear, and goosebumps wash over me as he speaks softly. "You sound exactly how I thought you would. All posh and that."

I turn my head right to the side to look at him. "One of these days, I shall make you regret teasing me."

"I haven't even begun to tease you yet, sweetheart," is his reply. "Would you like me to?"

His hand moves down the length of my navel in the water. Every muscle quivers beneath his touch, and I feel his own breath quicken in response.

Everything inside my core clenches for him, begs for him. It's as though my body remembers we have so many years to catch up on. So many ways to explore each other, to show how badly we need each other.

I say, "I think I would like that very much."

His hand reaches the area between my thighs and I suck in a sharp breath, but he only skims over my mound, squeezing the flesh of my thighs before pulling my knee up and draping my leg over the side of the bathtub.