Forty-Two
Hale
Getting Bay to loosen up during breakfast hadn’t been easy, but I’d managed.
Not talking about her cunt anymore seemed to do the trick.
I’d even gotten her to smile a few times.
She was going to have to be eased into what I wanted from her.
Which was a challenge I wasn’t used to, but challenge fucking accepted.
“Still against showering with me?” I asked her as we walked into my bedroom.
“Yes.”
“You’ll find my shower is a lot roomier than the one you’ve been using. Mine has hydrotherapy body jets, a built-in steam generator, and a rain showerhead.”
“You sound like a commercial,” she quipped.
I wouldn’t push it. She would come around. I’d never been turned down by a woman yet. Snow wasn’t about to be my first fail.
“All right, suit yourself,” I drawled, glancing at the unmade bed as a grin tugged at my lips, thinking about this morning.
She hadn’t fought me off real damn hard on that. I’d get her in the shower soon enough.
As we stepped into the bathroom, the lights came on, illuminating the shower she was so against. The damn thing had cost more than most people’s cars. She had no idea what she was missing. Not that I could enjoy the jets with this damn gunshot wound, but the rain shower and steam were nice.
“Gonna need help with the sweats,” I told her.
She remained frozen, staring at me wide-eyed. Damn, this was going to be fun.
“I can’t take them off on my own,” I reminded her.
Bay cut her eyes to the shower. “Uh, shouldn’t I turn the shower on first?”
“You’ll never figure it out without my help. It’s complicated. And I don’t want to get my clothes wet…sweats, darlin’.”
I watched as she nervously chewed on her bottom lip, then nodded, straightening her shoulders before taking a step toward me.
It was as if she were walking to her execution.
My naked body wasn’t bad. In fact, I worked hard to keep it fit.
But I had a feeling she knew that. It was the intimacy of the act that was bothering her.
How many men had she fucked? Her tight pussy and shy reaction to something as simple as undressing a man were making me think her body count was low. But just how low?
When she stopped in front of me, she stared down at the waist of my sweatpants, then glanced up at me. I reached inside and pulled out the drawstring.
“Gotta loosen this first,” I informed her, although I was capable of doing it. Just like if I really wanted to, I could get the sweats off. Once they were loosened, they’d fall down easily enough. But why deprive myself of this opportunity?
Her shoulders rose and fell as she took a deep breath, then began to untie them. Once she was done, she hesitated before pinching the fabric on my hips and tugging. They easily slid to my ankles while she gasped and took a step back.
“You-you’re not wearing underwear,” she stammered.
“One less thing you gotta take off,” I replied.
I stepped out of the sweats pooled at my feet. For a moment, she stared at my cock, which had already been stiffening with her so damn close but was growing in size with the attention. That took her a second to realize before she snapped her eyes closed and spun around to face the wall.
Chuckling, I kicked the sweats over to the corner and made my way to the black stone and marble shower.
“The plastic wrap that protects my bandages is over by the far sink,” I told her. “It’s labeled waterproof dressing.”
She picked it up and brought it over to me while reading the directions on the box.
“It takes two of them,” I told her. “Peel off the backing, and it’s an adhesive.”
I watched, amused by the way her brow puckered while she was concentrating. Again, I could have probably done this with one hand, but why even try? This was much more enjoyable.
Her touch was so light that it was as if she feared my skin would burn her.
“You gotta press down harder than that, Snow.”
She sucked in a breath and began to smooth the covering over the bandage, making sure the edges were sealed. It took longer than it had Ransom yesterday, who had slapped them on with no concern about hurting me. I much preferred having Snow do it.
Once she was finished, I started toward the entrance to the shower. “You coming?” I called over my shoulder.
She said nothing at first, and I looked back to see she was still turned away from me.
“Uh, don’t you need to turn the shower on first?”
“The covering helps keep my bandages dry, but I don’t need to immerse them in the rain shower. I need to show you how to turn the shower on properly,” I told her.
“Oh,” was her soft response.
I bit back a smile as she finally turned back to face me.
“It’s all right, Snow. You’ve seen naked men before.”
Her eyes narrowed as she made her way toward me. “Yes, but not like this.”
“What? Was it always in the dark, under the covers?” I asked, teasing her, but also real damn curious as to why a woman who looked like her in her mid-thirties was so fucking shy about seeing a man naked.
“Do you want my help or not?” she snapped.
“All right, don’t answer me,” I replied. “Might want to take off your socks. Don’t want to get them wet.”
She glanced down as if she needed to think about it, then went about getting rid of them.
When she was done, I nodded my head into the shower. “Go on inside.”
“It’s like a cave,” she said, hesitantly stepping past me and into the stone entrance.
“I designed it to resemble one,” I told her.
“You designed this?” she asked, sounding shocked.
“Yeah, I designed most of this house.”
She paused and turned to look back at me. “So, you’re an architect too?”
That got a chuckle out of me. “No, not even close.”
She started to say something, but stopped and went back to going farther into my cave.
There was back lighting along the bottom of the walls, where the steam also pumped from when turned on, giving off a blue glow.
I’d never had a woman in here with me. When my wife had been alive, I’d not had this shower.
It was something I’d had designed five years ago.
“The black handle on the left, turn it until it is vertical. Then turn the right one to the three-o’clock position,” I told her. “Might want to stand over closer to the wall on this side to keep from getting completely drenched.”
She simply nodded, then flattened herself against the wall while turning the water on and getting it to the right temperature. Water still managed to reach her. She was going to get drenched regardless, but I had offered to let her shower with me. There was still the chance she could strip down.
“Okay, what is it you need help with?” she asked, moving back toward me and away from the rain shower.
“I normally just use my hands, but I’m guessing you don’t want to rub me down like that,” I said.
“Correct.”
Ransom hadn’t washed me at all. He’d handed me the scrunchy thing that Noa had sent with body wash on it and let me figure it out myself.
“The scrubby thing hanging over there.” I pointed. “Use that. Body wash is underneath it.”
She glanced over at the items and then up at the shower falling from the ceiling.
I stepped back so she could walk around the rainfall and get to the other side to get the supplies, then make her way back to me.
She got splashed more this time, and her top was starting to stick to her tits. Wished the damn thing had been white.
Holding the two items up, she stared at me as if she didn’t know what to do with them.
“Soap me up, darlin’.”