The water was hot now. She got in and pulled Teagan after her, smiling at the water pressure. Like everything else in this house, it was excellent. She put his back to the spray,then pressed her naked body up against his. She knew he wanted her. Did Teagan get to have so many things that he wanted in his life that he’d just pass this up?
He sighed and bent his cheek against the top of her head, arms loosely around her. And even though his erection was still poking her in the stomach, she could tell he thought she’d given up.
Darcy considered the various bottles on the floor of the shower before picking up someone’s conditioner. For sensitive skin, that was appropriate. Teagan didn’t catch on to her plan until she’d poured it into both palms.
“Jesus Christ,” he said, covering both eyes with his own hands.
“Is that a no? I assumed you didn’t have lube here.”
“It’s not a no, it’s—Darcy, I’m sorry I’m terrible at this.”
“You’re not terrible at this,” Darcy said, rubbing her slick palms along his shaft. “If you mean sex. Do you remember me coming all over your face earlier? That was pretty great.”
“Thatpart I’m going to remember until the day I die. This part—”
“Are you saying this isn’t a memorable hand job?” she demanded, pretending to be insulted. She tightened her grip and increased her speed.
That small, crooked grin briefly reappeared on his face. He ruefully lowered his hands to brace himself against the tile behind him.
“Top five, for sure,” he said, a beat too late, but Darcy laughed anyway.
It took a long time.
Teagan’s face said he knew it was taking a long time, and that was killing him, and that was at least one reasonwhyit was taking a long time, regardless of whatever drugs he wastaking. But when he finally gave a stuttered gasp and came across her fist, Darcy immediately stuck both arms in the air and gave a loud victory whoop.
She clasped her messy hands together like a prizefighter and shook them above her head, dizzy with the thrill of success.
“Oh my God, I’m incredible!” she said as Teagan sputtered and tried to pull away. “Is this how men feel when they actually get a woman off? I want a medal. I want a write-up. Put this on my resume!”
She wanted to be praised now. She wanted Teagan to kiss her all over her face and tell her she’d done a good job again.This is the good life, she wanted to crow at him. Take the wins you get.
He laughed, but he wouldn’t meet her eye.
“I’m sorry that took—”
Darcy made a chiding noise in the back of her throat and wrapped her arms around his neck. She leaned forward so their bellies were pressed together and she could feel the fluttering beat of his heart against her chest and his softening cock against her stomach.
“Don’t be sorry,” she told him fiercely. “It’s just like spending the day in the park. You’re never guaranteed to see beavers.”
“Up to a month ago, a few things were pretty guaranteed, would have been pretty guaranteed if you did even half of that,” Teagan said.
Darcy rubbed her face into the wet blonde down below his collarbones. “A month ago, you hadn’t decided to get sober. So a lot of things are going to change. Is it so bad if it’s always like this?”
He was quiet for a long minute, and Darcy was glad forthe background noise of the shower. He slid his hand along the curve of her lower back, fingers skidding on damp skin. She was more aware now of the different textures of his skin against her own, the hair and muscle of him. It was almost more intimate than what they’d just done, without the rush of desire or the pounding of her pulse to sweep her away. She looked down at her bare feet framed by his, finding the image oddly compelling.
“I wouldn’t mind if it was always like this,” he said, voice lower than a moment before. His hands pulled her more tightly against him for a moment before he seemed to catch himself, smoothing them almost apologetically away.
He probably didn’t mean how that had sounded. Men said a lot of things they didn’t mean right after they got laid, anyway, so Darcy just nodded, despite the weighty feeling in her chest, somewhere in the district of her heart.
She let go of Teagan and reached down to investigate the labels of the shampoo bottles, ready to interrogate Teagan about their animal testing guarantees and nonvegan ingredients.
“Okay, good,” she said, striving to make her tone businesslike. “Might wanna buy some carbon offsets if we’re gonna spend this much time in the shower though.”
When she next looked up, Teagan’s expression had turned so soft that Darcy wondered whether he really was still thinking about the sex they were going to have, or whether he’d meant it a different way after all.
But all he said was, “Okay, I’ll do that.”
•••••
