Even though Bates is gentle with me, I’m incredibly sensitive to his touch. I swear a little when his fingers pass over some places. I don’t feel sore, exactly. Just well-used. And I don’t mind having a physical reminder of what we did together. I kind of like it.
Bates seems less enthused. He watches me with great intensity and constantly adjusts the pressure of his touch to lessen any discomfort I might feel. It’s sweet, but I don’t like the upset expression that appears on his face when his fingertipspass over an achy part of me. He pulls his hand away, but I reach for it and bring his fingers back between my legs.
His eyes search mine, and after a moment, he continues to gently cleanse me under the spraying water. I relax into his arms again, but before long, I snap my legs shut with a gasp. The initial shock passes, and I bite my lip and spread my legs again so he can continue, but Bates looks so ashamed of himself that I rush to find my voice.
“Bates, can you please not look at me as if you regret anything we did? It felt good while we were doing it,” I assure him. “It doesn’t even feel bad now, exactly. I’m all warm inside, and I actually feel as if I’ve been used for what I was made for and stuff. It’s notbad. It’s a new feeling, being this sensitive down there, but I mostly like it.”
He studies my face and then nods. “Still. I shouldn’t have gotten so carried away. I… I’m wondering if I subconsciously wanted to make sure you’d feel where I’ve been for longer than this one night. That’d be bad, so I hope it’s not the case, but part of me definitely doesn’t want you to forget about me too quickly, and that’s…”
“If I say that’s really fucking hot, will you judge me?” I ask in a whisper.
He looks taken aback, and I stroke his chest. “If it makes you feel better, I’ve had a very unforgettable evening with you, and I hope the feelings you’ve left inside me are slow to fade too.”
Bates rumbles softly and pulls me to his lips for a needy kiss that makes my wobbly legs even more unstable.
He presses his forehead to mine when he finally pauses for breath.
“Lana… I… I’m glad you have a name, because there are so many wonderful things I want to say about you I get tongue-tied.” The color rises in his face. “Lanasums them all up realnice, though.” He kisses me again — which is good, because I don’t know how to respond to someone being so nice to me.
His enormous arms come around me as the shower rains over us, then he turns off the water and dries me before tending to himself.
It’s weirdly like being a child, except I get a lot of soft little kisses in some pretty adult places, so it’s definitely not like that, but there is a strangely nurturing vibe to these bathroom activities. I like it. I can’t actually remember the last time someone toweled me off after bathing. I’ve been an independent, fully functioning efficiency expert since I was little, so I was largely left to my own devices earlier than most kids would have been.
Bates squirts some of the hotel-labeled body lotion onto his palm, rubs his hands together, and then applies the moisturizer to my legs in long, luxurious strokes. His fingers knead my muscles like dough, and once he’s done my legs, he gives the rest of my body the same treatment. It’s satisfying and wonderful, and so unexpected that I’m finding it hard to wrap my head around the concept that anyone — let alone a grown, handsome man — might want to care for my body this way.
“Is the guymeantto do all of this after sex?”
“Depends.” Bates gives me a half-shrug and keeps rolling his thumbs over a knot in my shoulder. “If you like it, then heck yeah, he should do it. Your man should take care of you any way you need him to. You’re doing him a favor by letting him touch you, in case you didn’t know that — especially when he’s having a hard time keeping his hands off you. For me, this is a nice way to ease the withdrawal whiplash that occurs between being inside you and then having to give you up when you leave,” he admits with a slight blush to his cheeks. “I’ll dress you too, if you want,” he says with a sly grin. “Anything that’ll make this last longer.”
I glance at my clothes. “I might need fresh underwear after what you made me do to the other ones. My room is only down the hall. You can come and dress me there if you want to?”
Bates nods once and pulls on gray sweatpants. Nothing else.
“I wear more clothes than you,” I say with a smile. “Think you’ll cope?”
Bates shrugs. “If I have to. It’s probably best to cover you up before I try to seduce you again.”
I shiver, and Bates grins as he reaches for his key card. “Do I get to choose your outfit?” he asks.
I glance at the time. “Can you do it in under two minutes?”
His grin broadens. “I can, but you should know that I’ll be wanting it to last for at least sixteen.”
When I walk outof the hotel, I do it in my favorite dress and feeling like a million dollars.
Bates said he thinks it might behisfavorite dress too, and as he loads my gear into the taxi, I don’t want to believe that I’ll never see him again.
I step in close and wrap my arms around his colossal frame in the deepest, realest-feeling hug I’ve ever given anybody.
“Thank you for a wonderful night, Bates. I had a really nice time — the best actually.” I give him another squeeze. “I don’t want to leave yet, but I also don’t want to miss my flight, and I don’t want to seem clingy and annoying, either. I know what this was, and I’m super unavailable until the end of the year — I’m literally going where the phone service is shit and the internet isn’t much better, but… Would you maybe like to have my email address?” I ask before I chicken out. “You can say no,” I addin a rush, as if I don’t care either way, but my high hopes were obvious from the up-notes in my voice.
Bates stiffens slightly in my arms, and he doesn’t reply immediately or with great excitement as I’d wanted.
“Never mind,” I amend quickly as I step back, shaking my head. “That was stupid.”
Bates’s eyebrows plunge as he looks me over. “It’snotstupid.”
“No?”
