When I heard another small crash, my heart buried itself deep in my gut and all I could think wasfind her, find her now. I forced open the closest door, prepared to find Shay trapped under a collapsed ceiling or a mountain of overturned boxes.
That was not how I found her.
She was bent over the lip of an old cast-iron bathtub, scrub brush in hand, ass up, and completely naked.
Shay.
Naked.
In front of me.
And it wasn’t the remnant of a dream. This was entirely real. This was my reality, right now. I knew it was real because the haze of a recent shower filled the small bathroom, mingling with the sharp tinge of cleaning products. My dreams were never lemon scented.
Her hair was wrapped in a towel and her perfect heart-shaped ass stared back at me while she scrubbed the tub like she was trying to cover up a crime.
What the actual hell is happening?
I must’ve spoken those words because Shay hooked a glance over her shoulder and promptly screamed. She scrambled to pull the shower curtain around her while I stood there—too stunned and helpless in the face of all that plush, glorious skin to ever leave her alone again—and I aimed my gaze at the ceiling.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “We knocked. We came inside and called for you. Then I heard something fall and it sounded bad and—”
“I didn’t hear you,” she said, still breathless. “I had my earbuds in.”
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t—I mean, I didn’t see anything.”
An unsteady laugh crackled out of her. “I seriously doubt that, Noah.”
I didn’t know how to respond. The truth was, the memory of her plump ass was going to haunt my descendants for the next thousand years and I had no desire to apologize for it. It was going to haunt me just the same. Worse yet, I had to spend the morning slinging jam and didn’t have a single minute to devote to closing my fist around my shaft and indulging in those memories. At best, I’d have to walk around with that visual for another eighteen hours before I could get some privacy and put the memory to good use, which was a terrible,terribletype of torture.
I gulped down all the words rushing to the front of my mind. None of that belonged here. “Gennie wanted a fancy braid,” I managed. “Obviously, this isn’t a good time so—”
“Give me five minutes. Okay?”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I know.” Another shaky laugh. “I don’t mind. Just give me five minutes. I’ll meet you outside.”
That was my cue to leave. I knew that yet I didn’t move. Even as I stared hard at the ceiling, the shape of her remained in my peripheral vision. The shower curtain shielded her from view but now I knew the look of her bare skin and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. More than that, I wanted to stay here and stand guard.
“I heard a crash,” I said, “and it sounded like you were hurt.”
“I knocked over all the bottles. Shampoo, conditioner, hair mask, body wash, face wash. All of it. But I’m okay. It startled me. That’s all. No worries.”
I nodded to the ceiling. “Got it. Okay.” I couldn’t stop nodding. “We’ll just—we’ll be outside.”
I stepped into the hall, pulled the door shut behind me. Inhaled deep enough to make my ribs hurt. Blew it all out until I saw stars. None of it eased the ache pulsing inside me. Inside my jeans.
I returned to the entryway and found Gennie exactly where I’d left her. “Outside,” I said, pointing to the door. “We’re going to wait for Shay outside.”
We sat on the porch steps, Gennie occupied with tearing the hem on her t-shirt while I stared at my hands. Shay emerged a few minutes later, her hair gathered in a wet bun and a flowery dress swirling around her ankles. I wasn’t sure but it seemed like the long dress had something to do with me walking in while she was naked.
It also seemed like I could have that dress over her head and on the floor in three seconds flat but that probably wasn’t her intention.
“Hello there,” she called to Gennie. She kept her gaze miles away from me. “What are we doing with your hair today?”
“Noah is making me go to the market with him and I need a fancy braid for that,” she replied.
Shay settled next to Gennie. “I think I can manage a fancy braid. Why don’t you sit on the next step down so I can reach you?”
