“Little Dove?”Shane tried again, and that was all it took to shake me out of my head.I blinked rapidly, refocusing my eyes, and almost immediately got lost as I gazed into his ocean eyes overflowing with concern.
“Huh?”
“Why are you in the shower…with me?”His voice sounded weird, kind of hoarse.“Not that I’m complaining, but…”
“Oh yeah.Um.I don’t know.Why are you inmyshower?I just left to get my razor.”I nervously chewed on my lip, glancing down for the razor I never found, and saw his whole body instead.Every inch of my skin burned with embarrassment.Quickly, I shifted my gaze and stared at a spot above his head, gawking at the showerhead as if it was the most interesting thing I had ever seen.I refused to look anywhere else ever again.This was so embarrassing!I literally fell and smacked against his naked, rock hard body.No one would ever believe this, even if I told them every minute detail.I couldn’t believe this was happening.I needed to get out of here, but how would we explain both of us leaving the bathroom together?
“I’ve been in here for at least twenty minutes.”
“Stupid Cheryl Spaceman!”I grumbled.
Shane cocked his head to one side, lifting his eyebrow.“What?Cheryl?Is she here?Did she make you come in here?”he asked, and the instant change in his tone didn’t go unnoticed.He was overprotective of me, but I didn’t mind.Having a pack of rebel dogs like Shane, Isaac, and even Tate who were ready to pounce on anyone might aggravate other people, but I usually appreciated it.When you were subjected to constant neglect and abuse, it was a nice change of pace to know others had your back, even if they overstepped sometimes.
“No.Not directly.But if she hadn’t made me feel bad for not shaving, I wouldn’t have ended up with razor burn, and my razor wouldn’t be lost along with my duffel bag.”
“Okay?”He wasn’t following.Of course, he wasn’t.I didn’t finish my thought process out loud.
“Gah.I got out of the shower to find my razor and figured I’d only be gone a few seconds.I must have lost track of time, and well…now here we are,” I explained, shivering as my eyes followed a tiny house spider in the corner of the shower.
Laughing softly, he closed the shower curtain.“Cor, look at me.”
I shook my head.I had already seen all of him and didn’t intend to do it again any time soon.I squeezed my eyes shut.“Nope.Already did on accident.I didn’t mean to.I didn’t see anything,” I lied.
“Corinne.”He chuckled.“One, you’re such a liar.Two, we’ve known each other our entire lives, and this isn’t the first time we’ve been in the shower together.It isn’t a big deal.Don’t be embarrassed.”
I busted out laughing, and my eyes opened without my consent.“We were like three and four.That isn’t the same.We’re older, and we’ve…” I stopped myself before I dug the gigantic hole I was burying myself in any deeper.
“We’ve what?”He smirked.
“You know what we did; you were there.”
His tongue swiped over his lips, and he grinned.“Oh, do you mean this?”He laced his fingers together with mine.Putting my hand in his must have completely slipped my mind because of the snake.I didn’t know snakes would actually go across someone’s foot, but after I got home that day, I did some research.Apparently, it wasn’t part of their normal behavior, but it could happen if the snake was too busy stalking its prey.
“Mmhmm,” I answered him quietly, keeping a safe distance between our bodies.This was dangerous territory.It wasn’t that I hadn’t thought of this happening, but I never dreamed it would become a reality.
“Or were you referring to your sweet lips pressed against mine?”
I bit my lip but didn’t dare answer him.His face closed the distance I kept between us, and he rubbed his lips along mine ever so lightly.I wanted to kiss him.No, I needed to kiss him.I had never needed to do anything more in my life.
Wrapping my hands around the back of his head, I pulled our mouths together.His hands found mine, and he lifted and pinned them above my head.His eyes were wild as he stared at me, suddenly breathless.
“Little dove, do you know I—" He abruptly stopped, his attention quickly shifting to the shower curtain.I followed his gaze, expecting to see the tiny black spider scurrying along, but nothing spectacular caught my eye.
“Sh—” I tried to say his name, but he dropped my hands to cover my mouth with his.
“Shhhh!”he whispered.
The door creaked open, and a debilitating fear washed over me.I wanted to scream.This was bad.This was so freaking bad!I didn’t know who opened the door, but every person I considered as a possibility was worse than the one before.Given the three other people living in this house with me would all freak out if they found us in the shower together, none of them were a suitable choice.
“Shane, man, are you good?Do you need some Pepto?”my brother called out as I saw his hand grip the shower curtain.No!Not Isaac!I had protected him for so long to keep his life on track as much as I could.If he saw us together, it would gut him.
“Trust me?”Shane asked against my ear in an almost inaudible voice.I quickly nodded.He held his finger in front of his mouth, stepped to the side of the tub where my brother was, and wrapped his fingers tightly around Isaac’s.
“What are you doing?”I mouthed silently.
Shane smirked, keeping his eyes on me.“If you wanted to see me naked, all you had to do was ask.”He winked, and my skin blushed uncontrollably.
“Ew, dude.Not cool!”Isaac couldn’t yank his hand out of Shane’s fast enough.Shane quickly caught the curtain, steading it as he held it against the wall, and ensured it didn’t open and inch.
