24
Beckett
“Penny, you alright?” I ask through the closed bathroom door, three days later.
She’s been in there for an hour now, and I don’t hear the shower running anymore.
“I’m fine,” she grumbles, but her response is followed by a sharp hiss that has my alarm bells ringing.
“Love, let me in.”
It takes a minute, but eventually she opens the door. Her long, dark hair is damp, making it look almost black, and she has a little white towel wrapped around her body; knotted between her breasts. “I told you, I’m fine .”
Her sharp tone doesn’t faze me, because despite her bristly exterior, she’s softening .
That kiss proved it, because while she may not have initiated it, she sure as shit didn’t pull away, and for the past few days, we’ve been talking, planning, even exchanging baby names and theories on what our son will look like.
In my opinion, if he looks anything like his mother, he’ll be the luckiest little boy in the world, because she looks like she was carved by God himself, but for his sake, I do hope he inherits my height.
“You sure?” I ask, the smell of her strawberry body wash lingering in the air.
She rolls her eyes. “Yes, I’m just…”
“Just?”
She clears her throat and looks over at the stainless-steel razor blade and the can of shaving gel sitting on the vanity. “Trying to shave.”
“Shave what?”
“Everything,” she snaps. “But it hurts every time I try to get my leg up on the vanity. I’ve already given up on tanning, because it’s too damn hard, but I refuse to turn into a sasquatch!”
I roll my lips together and try not to laugh, because from the look on her face, my girl doesn’t find this situation even slightly amusing. “Okay,” I say, my voice shaking a little.
“Don’t you dare laugh at me,” she growls, pointing her index finger at me.
“I’m not. I’m not,” I reply, unable to stop myself from smiling as I raise my hands in surrender. “I’m sorry. Do you want some help?”
“ You want to help me shave my legs?” she asks with narrowed eyes.
I shrug. “Why not?”
“Because you’ll cut me!”
“Penny. I’m a tattoo artist. I’ve shaved every body part you can imagine.”
I wink, and she cocks her head to the side, purses her lips, and takes a moment to think about the statement. “It’s still a no from me.”
“Why? I’m great at it.”
“It’s embarrassing!”
“I’ve seen every part of your body, in every form of lighting, Love. How could you possibly be embarrassed in front of me?”
She rolls her eyes again. “It’s different .”
“It’s not,” I say, gently pushing past her. “You’re just being stubborn.” I collect the razor and the shaving gel, along with the damp washcloth sitting in the sink, and the small step stool I keep stashed in the cupboard beneath it, before dropping to my knees on the tiled floor in front of her.
Clearly shocked by my eagerness, she stares down at me like I’m a crazy person as I pat the stool. “Let’s do this.”
She looks hesitant, almost, self-conscious, which isn’t something I’ve ever known Penny to be, but before I can reassure her that there’s no need, she raises her foot and places in front of me, forcing her towel to part over her thigh.
I swallow thickly, as captivated as always by her body. Her skin is creamy, and light, which is new, because for as long as we were together, every Thursday night, was fake tan night. One of the highlights of my week used to be doing her back. This is the first time I’m seeing her thick, luscious thighs, in their natural form, and I want to sink my teeth into the muscle.
“Well, go on then, Mr. Shaves Alot. Get to it.”
“Right. Shit,” I mumble before turning my attention back to the job at hand. “Sorry.”
After using the washcloth to dampen her leg, I apply a thin layer of shaving gel, and carefully drag the razor up her calf, trying to keep my hand steady, as I do, which is proving to be a task considering my entire body is trembling.
Eventually, I get both legs silky smooth and after ensuring I’ve removed every last trace of gel from her skin, I climb to my feet and rinse the razor off.
“So, what’s next?” I ask, looking at her in the mirror.
“What do you mean?”
I jerk my head toward the pile of foil packets sitting on the tiled floor. “Well, you’ve got a few face, foot and hand mask sitting over there, so…”
“Oh, yeah. I was thinking about having a little pamper day after my shower, but I don’t know. Doesn’t seem like it’ll be as much fun without Molly and Evie here to do it with me…”
Her shoulders hunch a little and my stomach drops at the sight. “I’ll do them with you,” I blurt out before I can think better of it.
I’d do just about anything to spend five extra minutes with her at this point, and if doing so takes that look off her face? Shit, even better.
An amused smile pulls at her lips as I turn the water off and spin around. “ You want to have a pamper day with me?” she asks.
I shrug in response and hold my breath, waiting for her to answer.
Her grin widens, and for the first time in too damn long, that glimmer in her eyes she used to have every time she’d look at me returns. “Fine. It’s not like I’ve got anything better to do.”
An hour and a half later, I’m opening my front door with green shit smeared all over my face and the minuscule amount of hair on my head pushed back by a hot pink head band to find Ryan and Molly standing on my porch, wide eyed and clearly very amused.
“Wow, Penny . Pregnancy does not look good on you, girl,” Ryan says before breaking into a fit of laughter.
Molly doesn’t laugh, but I can tell she wants to. Penny, on the other hand, cackles from behind me, and I realise that I’ve been played. My eyebrows ache from her going at them with a pair of tweezers for twenty minutes, my feet are wrapped in fucking cling wrap because the foot mask booties didn’t fit, and it took me three tries to open the goddamn door because of the amount of moisturiser I have on my hands, and she’s laughing at me ?
“You planned this,” I say dryly as I turn around to find her bent at the waist and clutching her chest.
“I’d say I’m sorry,” she gets out in between breaths. “But I’m really not.”
Molly finally joins in on the laughter, and I close the door behind her and Ryan as they step into the house.
“Right,” I say, pointing at Penny, who, right in this moment, looks more carefree than I’ve seen her in months, which makes this entire scenario more than worth it. “For this, I’m throwing out the Tim-tams.”
“Beckett!” she squeals, snapping out of her laughing fit real quick as I stomp past her and into the kitchen, my cling wrap shoes squeaking with every step. “Don’t you dare throw out my biscuits. I swear to God I’ll shave your eyebrows clean off while you’re sleeping!”