Roommates Box Set #4-6

10. Raphael

10

RAPHAEL

I had it all planned out. A way for her to get clean with her dignity intact. But my plan crashed and burned at step one.

“No way,” Alyssa said, eyeing the flowery fabric in my hands.

“It’s Nana’s. It’s big and loose, so you can just pull it over your head, and then I can help you cover your cast and get into the shower.”

“It’s a house frock, and it’s the size of a tent,” she protested.

Frowning, I looked over the garish purple and orange fabric. “I’d say it’s more of a house dress.”

“That’s not better.” She looked like she was ready to flee, even though that was physically impossible.

I tried again. “It’s just me here. No one else will see you in it. You can take off your clothes and put this on, and then let me know when you’re ready for me to come help you.”

“I’m pretty sure I’d rather be naked.” Alyssa said it flippantly, but certain parts of my body missed the sarcasm. The house frock — or dress — was at least good for holding in front of my groin.

“All right,” I said with a sigh. “I’ll go see if Spencer has a robe.” I shook my head as I climbed the stairs. The twins hadn’t been this hard to give a bath to when they were little.

Spencer’s closet was neat and orderly and completely devoid of robes. The best I could find was a button-down shirt. He was taller than me, so it would dwarf Alyssa and cover almost as much as a robe would. I was halfway down the stairs with a white shirt before I thought of something. If she pulled it on after her shower and her body was still wet…

That thought did nothing to help the tightening in my pants, but I dutifully exchanged the white shirt for a light blue one and headed back downstairs. “No robes, but you can use this.”

She took the shirt doubtfully. “Won’t Spencer mind?”

“You’ve got a get out of jail card with him for the next hundred years or so.” I ran through the logistics once more. “Take off what you can without hurting yourself, and then put on that shirt. Then call me and I’ll help with the rest.”

She nodded, her cheeks turning an enticing shade of pink.

In my bedroom, I paced back and forth, reminding myself that my goal was only to help her. I needed to think like a nurse at the hospital. Or an orderly at the nursing home Charlotte and I visited once a month. We brought cookies, and Charlotte spent time with the deaf residents who always looked forward to her visits. In fact?—

“I’m ready.”

Alyssa’s voice, made echoey from the tile walls of the bathroom, cut into my thoughts. Slowly, I opened the door. Her shirt and bra were slung over the towel rack, and she had on Spencer’s shirt. It covered her to mid-thigh.

She gestured at her legs. “I tried to get the pants off, but bending hurts so much.” She looked tired. She’d definitely need some rest after her shower.

“Not a problem. That’s what I’m here for.” I knelt down on the bathmat in front of her and stretched the sweatpants so that I could ease them past the top of the cast. Belatedly, I realized that her pink panties were bunched up around her thighs, too. Keeping a neutral expression, I pulled those down as well. I focused on the leg covered by the cast, not the shapely, bare one next to it.

When her pants and panties were pooled on the ground, she made a move to step out of them, but I put my hands around her waist and stopped her. Rising to my feet, I lifted her up and put her right at the edge of the tub. She grabbed onto one of the handrails that Flynn had installed.

Moving quickly, I put the shower bench back down and gathered shampoo and body wash and anything else she might need. I put a towel and washcloth within reach. “Now for the hard part.”

She gave a small sigh. “Pretty much all of it is hard.” The honesty in her voice touched me. My concern was helping her to recover, but I couldn’t lose sight of how difficult and exhausting this was for her.

“I’m sorry, cher. Can you raise your leg a little?” I asked as I crouched in front of her with the plastic sleeve for her cast. “Like you’re going to take a goose step?”

She did so, and I saw her knuckles whiten on the handrail. The shower sleeve for the cast had a big plastic circle at the top, sort of like the embroidery hoops Nana used for her needlework. Then there was a tight rubber seal that would prevent water getting on her cast. I had to stretch the seal wide to slide it over her foot, and then wider still as I tugged the sleeve up her cast. How on earth could any injured person do that without help?

Finally, I got it pulled up over her cast. It snapped into place, and I tried not to notice how it made the hem of the blue shirt rise up. “All set.”

By this point, Alyssa looked like she’d prefer a nap to a shower, but I suspected she’d feel better after she was clean. I lifted her up, as I had many times this week, but it was different now. The backs of her thighs were bare as I cradled her against me. Gently, I set her down. “I’ll be just out in the room if you need me, or if you feel like you’re going to fall.”

She nodded as she clutched the handrail inside the shower. “Um… could you leave the door open? Just in case?”

“Sure.” As I pulled the shower curtain closed, I saw her start to undo the top button of Spencer’s shirt.

I felt like an anxious parent as I listened to her progress. As I sat on the edge of her bed, I heard the water go on. My bed, I meant. It was funny how I already thought of it as hers. Then the tone of the water changed, and I wondered if she’d taken the handheld showerhead off the wall. She still couldn’t bend her leg, but hopefully she could perch on the edge of the shower seat and have her leg stick straight out in front of her. That damn shower sleeve had better do something besides cut off her circulation.

A whimper made me leap to my feet. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” she called back. “It’s hard, but the warm water feels really good.”

“Glad to hear it.”

Except I wasn’t just hearing it, my mind was also trying to envision it. I shut those thoughts down hard. Alyssa deserved whatever privacy I was able to give her. But then she moaned, and it reminded me of the sounds she’d made when I gave her a foot rub.

Then I heard a yelp, a genuine cry of shock, and I rushed into the bathroom, worried that she’d fallen. “Are you okay?” It seemed ridiculous to address a bright blue shower curtain with toy boats on it, but that was the one the twins had picked out years ago.

“I’m fine. The water just, um, hit the spot.” I detected notes of embarrassment and amusement in her voice, and I suspected I knew exactly what spot that was.

Damn. I stalked out into the bedroom again, angry with myself and my body’s reaction. For years, I’d prided myself on being unflappable. When your sister gets married, gets pregnant, and gets cancer in less than twelve months, nothing less than that can really shake you.

But I hadn’t seen Alyssa coming. Or not her , exactly, but my reaction to her. I just couldn’t get her out of my mind. For nearly a decade, the only thing that had mattered to me was my career and my family. Nothing else even came close. I’d dated a little, sure, and I’d been hit on by my female clients at the gym and a persistent ex. But none of them had mattered the way Alyssa did.

She got through my defenses in a way no one had in a very long time. Not just because of what she’d done, but because of who she was. A beautiful young woman, inside and out.

There was no way I’d ever act on it. I owed her the best recovery I could give her, and her having to fend off unwanted attention wasn’t part of the plan. But still, my reaction to her caught me off guard. It had almost felt like that part of my life was over, like those feelings were gone.

But now they were back.

I’d never burden her with them, however.

Never.

The shower shut off, and as I waited for her call, I vowed to be as professional as I could be. That’s what she needed.

“Raphael?”

Hurrying into the bathroom, I saw a wet towel slung over the top of the shower curtain rod. “Are you decent?”

“Yes.” She sounded exhausted. I pulled back the shower curtain. Her hair was damp, as were patches of Spencer’s shirt that she’d put back on. Carefully, I lifted her out of the tub and set her on the bathmat. Then I began the painstaking process of peeling the tight sleeve back down over her cast. It took some doing, but I finally got it off her. “Looks like it stayed dry. Now, I’ll towel off your other leg, and then I’ve got some clean clothes that I can?—”

“I’m sorry, I—” Alyssa clutched my shoulder, her hand shaking. “I need to lie down.”

Her face was pale. Immediately, I picked her up, carrying her to the bed. Laying her down gently, I smoothed the damp hair away from her face. A citrusy smell floated up to me. “It’s been a long day for you. I’ll just get your meds and then you can rest.”

“Okay,” she said, sounding half asleep already. I used a hand towel to dry her good leg and feet as best I could. The weariness in her voice worried me, even though it wasn’t surprising given everything she’d been through this week.

Her creamy skin wasn’t completely dry, but it was close enough. I eased a pillow under her cast and pulled the covers up to her chin. She gave a deep sigh, and it was as if her consciousness drifted away with her exhalations.

The medicine could wait. I kissed her on the forehead, closed the blinds, and let her sleep.