Guilt makes my stomach drop because she doesn’t know I’ve already seen the whole show. Or does she know? I’m in such mental anguish that I scrub my hand over my face.
Darcy’s hand lands on my arm. “Jake, I’m kidding. I trust you. Unless you really are just trying to see titties.”
My hand is still cemented over my eyes when I blurt out, “I’ve already seen you naked.”
I squint my eyes open to find Darcy glaring at me. “What.”
“It wasn’t on purpose?—”
“When?” she demands, clearing the rasp out of her voice.
“It was an accident?—”
“Jake Elizabeth Warren?—”
My brow lowers at that. “My middle name isn’t Elizabeth.”
“It should be. Like the politician. Never mind. Answer the question!”
“When you were skinny-dipping,” I say, my whole body flashing hot.
Darcy draws one shaky breath, then two. “What were you, like, jacking off in a bush while you watched me?”
“No! Oh my god! I’m not a sociopath!”
“Then what? This is why you told me to take a dip in the pond? And the skinny-dipping Never Have I Ever question?”
My hands rake through my hair and comb down my cheeks. “Your screams sounded like someone in trouble. I thought I had to save your life or something. And at that point, I didn’t even know you existed, or at least that you were living and working here. I was just as surprised as you are now.”
Darcy’s expression softens and her eyes follow where her finger traces the squares on her bed’s pink and white quilt. “Why were you here that early?”
“Bill told me the wrong time. He told Becca and Caleb a different time. Just a simple miscommunication.” I pause. “And just because I saw you naked on accident doesn’t make me think I have the right to see you naked again. I won’t look, but I’ll be there to help you in and out of the bath if you need it.”
With a sigh, Darcy sits up in the bed and scoots back against the pillows. “That’s it. You have to get naked to make it even.”
Shock and horror cross my face, but then I catch her teasing expression. I pull the front of my shirt up to my pecs.
“Oh, stop showing off your perfect abs. It’s exhausting. Go run my bath and throw me a towel so I can get naked in peace.”
I bite back a comment about her saying I have perfect abs and head to the bathroom. I stare into the filling tub while I wait for her to call for assistance. “Ready!”
I find her sitting on her bed in just the towel, her hair up in the ponytail I made. I step to her side, wrapping one arm behind her back and under her arm, and the other hand on her elbow nearest me. “I’m here if you get weak.”
She huffs, but lets me lead her into the bathroom. She stops at the sink, giving me a sidelong glance as she puts toothpaste on her toothbrush. “I must really be sick. You’re being freakishly nice to me today.”
“When am I not nice to you?”
Darcy quirks an eyebrow. “The pestering and heckling?”
“Which you admitted you like.”
She finishes brushing and spits in the sink, talking while she rinses her toothbrush. “But it’s not nice.”
I chuckle. “I’m not sure you like nice, darlin’.”
Darcy scoffs and wavers her way to the bathtub. “Who doesn’t like nice?”
I snort a laugh and she giggles while I hold out my hand. “Help you in?”
