I throw my tops on the tiled floor and risk a glance at Saoirse. She’s staring at me, and her tongue slides across her lower lip. I look hastily away and drop to my knees, testing the water temperature.
‘Let’s get her in. She can sit in it as it fills and then I’ll shower her down.’
Saoirse sets Bea down on the bath mat. Her little face is a picture of misery, and she’s still weeping piteously. I plant a careful kiss on the top of her head and peel the toy away from her, throwing it in the sink.
‘It’s going to be alright, angel. There’s my brave girl.’
Together, Saoirse and I strip her and I sit her in the bath. I give her a tiny bottle of the hotel’s bubble bath.
‘Why don’t you pour this in? See how many bubbles you can make? That’s my girl.’
I get to my feet, painfully aware that I’m still topless and that the reek of vomit is rising from my chest. I risk anotherlook at Saoirse. She’s valiantly dealing with Bea’s clothes. Oh, God. She has vomit down her jeans, too.
‘Leave them. We can deal with them later. You get yourself sorted out. There’s a shower in the spare room. And robes.’
‘Do you not want me to wash her?’ She’s avoiding looking anywhere near me.
‘No. I’ll jump in with her, kill two birds.’
‘Well, if you’re sure, that would be great.’ She looks down at her front. Bea has done a great job of drenching her, and the vomit is all the way up to the collar of her sweatshirt. She holds the front of it away from her body. ‘Oh, yikes. I have absolutely no idea how I’m going to get this thing off.’
I grimace and take a tentative step towards her. ‘It’ll get all over your hair and face if you pull that off. Would you like some help?’
That gets her to look at me. ‘Um. I mean …’ She shrugs uselessly. ‘I suppose so, if you’re comfortable…’
‘At least I won’t be the only one getting my kit off.’ I smile at her, to show her I’m joking and to try to make her feel more comfortable in what is an excruciating situation, one day in to her new job, for God’s sake. First my daughter vomits all over her. Then she has to deal with her creepy boss taking off her clothes. Jesus.
‘Right. Let’s do this.’ She nods firmly, like I’ve asked her to walk over hot coals and she’s got herself on board mentally with the necessary sacrifice.
‘Pull your arms out first,’ I tell her. ‘Then use your hands to cover your face, and I’ll take it off and try to keep it away from you. Okay?’
She does what I say, so the sleeves hang limply at her sides, and then she sneaks her hands up under her sweatshirt and through the collar, covering her face with them.
I grab the hem and gingerly tug it up, avoiding her face and hair as much as humanly possible. And when I’m done, Isee she has a t-shirt too, and she’s also removed her arms from it, and that, like my t-shirt, it’s covered in damp, brownish slime.
‘Oh.’ I freeze. ‘Should I take this off, too?’
She nods vigorously behind her hands. ‘Yes, please.’
Right.
No big deal.
I pull the t-shirt up. It’s clingier and harder to get off. And, when I have it up to her shoulders, a sheer lace bra comes into view, cupping breasts whose generous, luscious curves are sheer perfection. There’s even a shadow of the darker skin around her nipples through the lace. To make matters worse, the way she has her arms up pushes said breasts even closer together, and fuck.
My jeans stir, because, for Christ’s sake, it’s been a while, and I’m only human, and this woman is even more stunning when she’s half naked. But I cannot possibly allow myself to get a boner in front of my poor employee and traumatise her even further.
I turn my head away from her as much as I possibly can and yank the t-shirt up over her ears with pretty much zero consideration for whether the patch of vomit touches her hair or not, and I grab a huge bath sheet from the towel rail and practically shove it at her. I toss the t-shirt on the tiles, where it lands with a wet slap.
‘I can take it from here, thanks.’ I clamp a hand over my eyes while she scurries out of the room, towel pressed to that heavenly chest.
And breathe.
Breathe, for God’s sake, mate.
CHAPTER 8
Saoirse: Wednesday 8 December
