“You know exactly what you’re doing, so handle it however you see fit. Don’t mess this up.”
“What part exactly?” I ask.
“Julie. She’s the best thing that’s happened to you, and I know your thirty-day deadline is soon.”
“She’s different,” I explain.
“Yeah, but areyou?” He hangs up before I can respond.
I move to the bathroom and step into the shower with Jules.
“Well?” she asks.
“Everything isgreat. Asher’s in a mood.”
“Oh. Sorry to hear that.” She smiles. “Can we really stay a little longer? I like our bubble here.”
“A few more days in the grand scheme of things won’t matter,” I say as she takes her time washing me.
Her touch comforts and calms me as we stand under the warm water.
The stream cascades over us. She starts at my chest, then moves up to my shoulders. She touches me like she’s memorizing every inch of me.
“Turn around,” she says softly.
I do, bracing my hands against the tiles as she washes my back. Her fingers work out knots I didn’t know I had, and I groan.
“You’re so tense,” she whispers. “Everything is going to work out how it should.”
“I know it will.” I glance at her over my shoulder, and our eyes meet. “It’s us against the world right now.”
“A battle I will happily fight next to you.”
She moves lower, taking her time, and it’s not sexual. It’s intimate. When she’s done, I turn to face her.
I wash her hair first, massaging her scalp until she’s practically purring. The suds slide down her body, and I follow them with my hands. She watches me with those green eyes, and something unspoken streams between us.
“Nick,” she whispers.
“I know.”
And I do. I feel it too. I feel this thing we’re both too scared to name.
The steam surrounds us, the water still perfectly hot. It’s like the cabin knew we needed this.
I pull her against me, and we just stand there, holding each other. Her arms wrap around my waist, her cheek pressed to my chest. I rest my chin on top of her head, breathing in the scent of the shampoo, mixed with steam.
“I don’t want this to end,” she says so quietly that I almost miss it.
“Which part?”
“Any of it.All of it.”
I tighten my hold on her, and we stay like that for who knows how long. The luxury of endless hot water lets us exist in this moment.
When we finally step out, it’s not because we have to, but because we choose to face the day together.
We dry each other off in comfortable silence, stealing glancesand soft touches. Julie wraps herself in one of the plush robes while I pull on sweatpants.
