Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 105697 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105697 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
I think that’s my cue to get ready for bed. With Daniel being in the room, I need to get a head start anyway. Standing up, I dust the back of my shorts off. “I’m going in. It’s almost ten, and I want to do a face mask.”
Daniel appears to be working through my words like they’re code for something else. I add, “It’s a jelly mask.” I’m not sure that helped pull him from the path his mind was already traveling like a bloodhound on the scent. “Peach. Vitamin C.” I shake my head. “Forget it. Night, everyone.”
A chorus of “night” and a giggle from Roman is heard before I trek upstairs. I kind of want to take a bath. It would feel so good after running around all day. I glance toward the window that overlooks the others and decide. “A quickie.”
After turning on the water in the bath, I strip down and twist my hair up again, this time higher so it doesn’t get wet. I pull a mask from my mask organizer and smooth it on before dipping one foot, then the other, and slowly sliding under the water. The water hits the peak before it spills over, so I turn it off, then rest back on the bath pillow and close my eyes so the mask can do its job, and I can relax.
My muscles give in under the warmth of the water, but my mind is still swimming around the agreement Daniel and I made. Have logic and good sense gone out the window? Am I desperate enough to be one-half of a public spectacle of a couple to buy the cottage?
Yes.
And yes.
I’m not seeing any other way to get enough money in time to fight the other offer. I can’t ask my sisters. They have their own lives and dreams to pay for. This is it. Daniel is the only option I have.
Beads of sweat form at my hairline as the heated water sinks into my skin. I’m surprised to see some bubbles remain. Clearly, I’ve not been in long enough if those haven’t disappeared. Closing my eyes again, the worries of money and broken pipes, and faking it for the cameras fade away. But the idea of being on Daniel’s arm stays. Like the first time I saw him, the memory has me biting my lip. Counting those abs has my hand shifting under the water and between my legs. My heart thumps as my body embraces the desire I have for him.
I stop and look back over my shoulder. I’m not worried about him walking in while I’m bathing. The suds hide enough. But catching me masturbating is a whole other story. Holding my breath, I listen.
Normally, my sisters sound like a stampede on these wooden floors. I’m greeted with silence, which means they’re still out back. Good.
Closing my eyes again, my thoughts go back to the first time our eyes met, an intensity like I’ve never felt before washing through me to take notice. Rubbing slowly over my clit, I can still feel the spark from when we first touched. When I was leaving and peeked back over my shoulder, I was met with a promise and a dare, as if he were my savior and the forbidden.
I tease and circle, rub and touch—
“Would you like company?”
My body flails as my legs slip out from under me when I hear his voice, the water splashing while I struggle to secure a hold of the sides of the tub. I catch myself, but not before the bubbles end up in my eyes and dissipate in the water. “Don’t look.”
“If it makes you feel better, I’ve seen a naked woman before.”
I swipe the suds from my eyes before they start burning. “It doesn’t, Daniel. Go.”
“Okay. Okay.” He walks away with heavy steps, and the door protests as it closes.
Turning on the faucet, I pour more bubble bath under the running water, letting it spread so the cooler water tempers the hot water I’ve been lying in. I pull off the mask, wad it up, and stick it to the edge.
I don’t know what he saw, but he’s the only thing that’s inspired me to feel anything sexual in an unhealthily long and dry stage of my life. I should be embarrassed for what I was doing to his memory, but I can’t seem to muster the energy. It felt too good to be ashamed. “Daniel?” I look back when the door cracks open, but it’s not enough to see him. “Don’t leave.”
“I’m here. What do you need?”
Gnawing on the inside of my cheek, I fear being rejected. I don’t need the blow to my ego right now. Or ever. But the question is loaded. He just doesn’t realize it yet.
Do I ask?
Should I?