“I’m happy to help, Reed. Really, I am.”
There was such a serenity in her expression, such a sincerity in her voice, that he didn’t doubt her words. It made the feelings within him that were growing for her suddenly double in strength. He had to break the connection before he blabbered he was in love with her.
In love with her, and he didn’t even know her!
The thought was preposterous, to say the least. Yet the feeling was real. Very real.
He let go of her hand with a silent reluctance, and headed toward the pink frosty glass shower enclosure. As he did, he could see Sara-Kate in his peripheral vision exit the bathroom. Opening the door to the shower, he slung the pink towel over a silver plated railing and stepped inside, pulling the door closed behind him.
Stepping into the cascade, he allowed the water to pour over his body, drenching him from his hair, to his feet. He leaned against the tile wall, closed his eyes, and allowed himself to be lost in the moment, the rushing sound of the water lulled him into peace. Only a minute later, he felt a presence, and his eyes shot open. Clearing the water from his face with his palm, he saw a silhouette of a female shape outside the shower enclosure.
Was Sara-Kate wanting to join him in the shower?
The thought of a fantasy come-to-life caused his arousal to surge almost at once. To make love to this angel under the water fall of wet warmth, boggled his mind. He reached for the door.
“Reed, I brought you a bar of soap.”
And just like that, the fantasy flopped.
“I didn’t think you’d want to use the pink soap. It’s rose scented. I have been experimenting with basil and mint, it’s more...unisex. It’s both soap and shampoo in one bar.”
“Oh, okay,” he said, hoping to hide the disappointment from his voice. Only now did he realize how insane his thoughts of just a moment before were. Sara-Kate was a wonderful woman who was trying to make her unexpected houseguest comfortable, not become the object of his physical desire.
“I’ll just toss it to you,” she said.
A second later, a green rectangular bar sailed over the enclosure, and landed at his feet with a soft thud.
“Thank you, Sara-Kate.”
“You’re welcome.”
He watched her shadowy silhouette walk away, followed by the sound of the bathroom door closing.
Once again, a feeling of loneliness and isolation enveloped him. There was only one other time in his life he felt so vulnerable, and he had been little more than a child then. That experience toughened him emotionally. Quickly, he shook off the intrusive thought, and reached down to pick up the bar of soap. It was ridiculous. Over the years he rehashed his past enough. No need for it to rear its ugly head once more, especially when he was already beyond confused after the events of the last few days.
As he soaped his hair and his body, a warm heady feeling filled his body and his mind. Was it the soap, the warm water, or just the thought of Sara-Kate? As he thought of her, her flame colored ponytails and perfect link lips, all thoughts of his past circled the drain below his feet, and vanished along with the water.
***
Reed wasn’t sure how much time passed when he emerged from the shower. The bathroom mirrors were almost completely covered in condensation, and he used one hand to wipe away the fog.
He wrapped himself in a pink bath towel, and reached for his shaving kit, intent on running a razor over his chin and upper lip when a wave of exhaustion overtook him. Abandoning the shave, he mustered all the strength he could manage, and rubbed the soft towel all over his body, the millions of tiny fibers caressing his skin as he went along.
Even Sara-Kate’s towels seemed magical.
For a moment, his thoughts filled with images of Sara-Kate’s fingertips massaging his naked body.
Then the annoying voice in the back of his mind interrupted his daydream to warn him that Sara-Kate wasn’t his little plaything. That if she caught wind of his ever increasing attraction to her, she would put him out of her home...and her life.
Then again, he had to leave soon any way, didn’t he? He would go on with his life, and Sara-Kate with her life. She would become nothing more than a memory of a sweet, beautiful angel who took him in, and cared for him after his accident.
And this thought depressed him.
He folded the damp towel and laid it on the vanity before reaching for his sweat pants.
It seemed nothing short of a miracle when he reached the empty bedroom. Sara-Kate was nowhere to be seen, and he shuffled his way to the bed, noticing immediately the sheets and blankets were freshly changed. As he crawled back into the bed and flopped back on the pillows, he wondered how in such a short time he could go from feeling so bad, to so good, to so bad again.
Then he saw her in the doorway. Just the sight of Sara-Kate, the beautiful Sara-Kate, was enough to lift him both emotionally and physically. It was a marvel he couldn’t understand, but was exceedingly grateful for.
And then she smiled, and his joy bubbled up. He was hopelessly, utterly in love with a stranger. He never been hit so hard, or so fast by a woman, and it wasn’t just because she was being so nice to him, either. As ludicrous as it all seemed, in that moment, he grew determined to make her fall in love with him forever.
“I hope you’re ready for a little something to eat.”
He really wasn’t hungry, but he wouldn’t disappoint this woman who was trying to make him comfortable and well again. “That would be great,” he answered.
After she disappeared from the doorway, he forced himself into a sitting position. No more pathetic invalid, he thought as he
