“There,” I said. “You’re showered and covered up. I think that’s good enough for now, and you can deal with getting dressed once your energy levels are back up.”
He looked deathly pale already. He slung an arm over my shoulders just before his left leg buckled. We almost fell together—I barely stopped us—and I glared at his hands when I realized he’d placed a priority on holding the towel together as opposed to reaching out to brace himself. “I don’t want to give you a show you didn’t ask for,” he offered by way of explanation.
“Don’t worry about being modest.” I huffed. “Just don’t fall. James and Marley would kill me if something happened to you on my watch.”
“You’re only helping me for them, huh?”
“I suppose there are other reasons.” I leaned back to make an exaggerated show of checking out his butt.
He barked a laugh.
In the bedroom, I sat him down on the edge of the bed before drying off his hair and the rest of his body with a fresh towel. He watched with hooded eyes as I ran the soft cotton over his head and neck, then along his arms. I kneeled in front of him to dry offhis knees, calves, and feet, pushing up slightly against the towel he still had wrapped around his waist.
After I finished, I pulled back the clean top sheet.
“In you go,” I ordered. “Drop your towel around your waist on the floor. I’ll close my eyes to protect your virtue.”
I heard a rustling before Will said, “Okay.” When I turned around, he was lying against the pillows, the sheet covering him to mid-chest.
Gingerly, I lowered myself to the mattress edge. “Whelp, that was way more exciting than it needed to be.”
“Sorry I overestimated my abilities.”
“S’okay. At least we got it done.” I handed him his sweatpants. “I bet you’ll be able to slip these on in a few minutes, once your next wind comes. No one here is gonna blink if you go commando.”
He chuckled. “James told me you and Marley grabbed my suitcase from the hotel. Thanks for doing that. I have fresh underwear in there, but yeah, I think I’ll wait a few minutes before I move again, if that’s okay.”
“Fine by me. Whatever you need.”
I got up and rolled my neck from side to side, working out the kinks from three days of sleeping poorly, stretching my arms and fingers in an arch above my head. At the motion, Will sucked in a sharp breath. His intense gaze met mine. I glanced down to find my tank top completely soaked, the curve of my breasts and the pebbled state of my nipples entirely on display.
His eyes burned.
“I’m going to heat some soup for you,” I said, and got the hell out of there.
Chapter nineteen
Will
Iflopped my head against the pillow as Maureen shut the door behind her.
Jesus Christ. That shower. Even with dizziness bordering on nausea, my body tense and strung out, head aching a hundred times worse than any hangover, I was rock hard.
Maureen’s hands—undressing me, washing me, rubbing my arms and legs—had me struggling for control. I could not stop picturing that confident sway of her hips. The way she’d taken control. Not to mention the outline of her breasts in her soaking wet tank top. When she’d given me that scalp massage, I’d almost blown right there.
And the attraction wasn’t all sexual. I could tell it pleased her to comfort me, to make me feel better after I struggled to do something as basic as showering.
I’d desired her two days ago when she’d been furious, expression blazing at me. But her kindness? It made me want to lie down at her feet.
Last week, I’d been determined to get to a new normal with Maureen. To take whatever she’d give me, just to have that buzz of being near her. I never dreamed it would lead me here.
To a moment when she blatantly checked out my ass.
This was it. This was where I wanted to be. Every day since my accident, I’d been waiting to experience this certainty in my decision-making, to feel this strongly about something. Anything.
Sleep came for me again. But I surrendered this time, knowing it would be okay. Even if I had to wait a little longer. For the first time in eleven years, I found myself planning for a life beyond the recovery stage.
When I woke up, the fogginessin my head had lifted further, and I no longer felt as dizzy.
