Page 69 of We Are Just Us

“No. Just...sensitive.”

Rory stepped in behind him, crowding the small space, and immediately grabbed the showerhead.

“Okay,” he said. “I need to test this thing.”

“Rory, no!”

But Rory had already detached it, examining the settings. He turned the trigger.

A jet of water shot directly at Kieran’s chest.

“Rory!”

“Sorry!” Rory laughed, adjusting the pressure. “Okay, that’s aggressive. Let’s try this.” He squeezed again, gentler this time, and the spray stopped attacking Kieran. “Better.”

“Are you having fun?”

“Absolutely.” Rory aimed the spray at his own legs, rinsing off sand. Then he turned it toward Kieran’s back. “Turn around.”

Kieran obeyed, and Rory ran the water over his shoulders, down his spine, methodical and careful.

Rory aimed the spray lower, gentle, clinical, and Kieran felt the water work its way into places that were, indeed, full of sand.

“Oh my god,” Kieran muttered.

“Told you.”

“This is mortifying.”

“This is teamwork.”

There was a pause. Then Kieran heard it, the unmistakable sound of water hitting water.

He turned his head. “Are you…are you peeing?”

“Yeah,” Rory said, still holding the showerhead.

“Now you’re going to pee on me?”

Rory laughed. “I’m not peeing on you. I’m just peeing. In the shower. You don’t pee in the shower?”

Kieran opened his mouth to argue, then stopped. “You’re...really comfortable, aren’t you?”

Rory glanced back at him, his expression softening. “I am comfortable. You make me comfortable.” He paused. “Sorry if that makes you…uncomfortable.”

The words landed somewhere low in Kieran’s chest. “It doesn’t.”

“Good,” Rory said, finishing up and switching the spray to a softer setting. He handed Kieran the showerhead. “Your turn. Get my back.”

Kieran took it, grateful for the task, and turned Rory around.

He rinsed Rory’s shoulders first, tanned and freckled, muscles shifting under the spray. Then lower, down his spine, watching water cascade over skin that was somehow both familiar and new.

Rory groaned. “Oh, that’s good. It’s like I’m being power-sprayed at the car wash.”

Kieran bit back a smile. “You’re welcome.”

“Little lower.”