“Well...I guess Gabe is wanting to close the house early, so I need a place to stay.”
I blinked. “And...?”
He blew out a big breath. “Okay, fine. Can I stay here while the house is closed up?”
“Here? With me?” I swallowed hard. He had been staying at my place most nights and it was amazing to fall asleep in his arms, but to make it official kind of scared me. It meant we were moving up in our relationship.
“Trey and Monica are leaving on Wednesday, but I guess I could stay there if you don’t want me around.” His eyes took on a sadness I hadn’t seen before.
I leaned over, putting my fingers under his chin and forcing his eyes to mine. “I didn’t mean it like that. If you want to stay here, you can. Valerie might just try to kick you out when she’s here.”
He laughed. “I’m sure we can get her some earplugs if need be.”
Finals on a Saturday morning were murder. John didn’t technically have to be out of the house until the following Wednesday, but somehow he and all of his stuff migrated over to my apartment.
I tried not to wake him as I crept out of bed and into the bathroom. A shower and a hot cup of coffee would hopefully help me wake up enough for my damn Spanish final. I closed the door to the bathroom and stripped off my clothes. At first I tried to look cute for bed when John spent the night. I wore newer pajamas that showed some skin, but after about the second night I got sick of that and went back to wearing my old t-shirts from high school and plaid pajama pants.
I kicked my clothes to the side and turned on the water, waiting for it to spray a steady stream before I stepped in and let the hot water fall over me. Just the wake up I needed. I pulled my face wash from the rack and scrubbed my face. Just as I was about to rinse it off, I heard the shower curtain open.
“Mornin’ Red.”
John’s foot squeaked as he stepped into the shower and then I felt the warm ripples of his chest against my back.
“John!” I screeched, rinsing the soap out of my eyes and covered myself at the same time. It was the first time he had seen me naked and I didn’t envision it being while I hadn’t shaved my lady bits in awhile or been to the gym.
I sucked in a deep breath and scrubbed the last remaining soap out of my eyes and turned toward him. There wasn’t much room in the tiny shower, but I could see exactly where his eyes roamed. I guess he cared more about my chest than the parts that weren’t shaved. My nipples betrayed me and hardened the minute they met the cold air.
“I thought we could save some water and shower together.” He grinned and took a step closer, covering my nipples with his warm hands. His hardness pressed against my belly button. I was glad that my bleeding had stopped or that could have been really embarrassing.
He took my hands, moving them to the side, his eyes roaming down to my chest. “Don’t hide that beautiful body of yours.”
“My body is not that great.” But his was. The water dripped down his rock hard body and I wanted to lick every droplet off of it.
He cupped my breasts in his hands and leaned over, his lips grazing my nipple before he nibbled them lightly. I moaned in response, arching my body towards his. He put his chin between my breasts, his fingers replacing his lips and rubbing against my nipples in a slow, circular motion. “You have the hottest body I’ve ever seen.”
“You do.” I gasped and reached for his flawless ass, digging my nails into it for fear I’d fall over if I didn’t have something to hold onto. I wanted him so bad. My body ached for him. Stupid cancer surgery recovery time.
“I like that, Red.” He kissed a trail up from my chest to my lips. The water cascaded over us, stimulating my nipples as John kept his fingers on them. His kisses were feverish, his tongue dancing behind my lips.
I broke the kiss slightly and whispered into his lips, “Do you like this?” My fingers trailed from his butt to his abs. I grazed his muscles before letting my fingers stop right at his length, grabbing it with both hands and stroking it gently.
He let out a hissed breath. “I like that even more.”
I would have rather had him between my legs. I ached for him so much. It was getting harder and harder not to go all the way. But this would have to do. At least for another week.
I tightened my grip on him, his hips bucking forward in response, while I traced small circles over his tip.
“Damn, baby,” he whispered, before crushing his lips back to mine. I moved my tongue in the same rhythm as my fingers and he moaned into my mouth.
I moved quicker, eager to get him to release. For me. For both of us. I wanted to know that I was the one to do that to him. The only one he wanted.
He broke the kiss. “I’m going to come.”
“Good.” I moved faster and his body stiffened before he shuddered and released all over my hand, the water washing it away as quickly as it came.
He let out a ragged breath and pressed his forehead to mine. The water droplets fell down his face and onto his oh-so-kissable lips. “I wasn’t expecting anything.”
I gently kissed the water droplets from his lips. “I wanted to.”
“Now let me do something for you.”
“John...I…”
He put his hands on my hips, quickly turning me around. “I know. No sex. But I can still do this.”
He reached in front of me and then grabbed my shampoo off the shelf. I heard the sound of his hands rubbing together and then his fingers were in my hair, massaging my scalp. It always felt great when my hairdresser would wash my hair before she cut it, but John took it to an all new mind-blowing level. I tilted my head back, closing my eyes, and his fingers continued massaging my scalp down to the ends of my hair.
“Rinse,” he commanded, turning my back away from him and toward the shower spout. He kept his hands on my head, rinsing out the shampoo from my hair and moving his fingers through my curls. He continued the same process with the conditioner and the pulled me against him. His lips replaced his fingers down my hair and to my cheeks and neck.
I turned around to face him, wrapping my arms around his neck and trying to deepen the kiss, but he pulled back. “As much as I’d like to spend all day in the shower with you, I can’t keep you from your final.”
I pouted. “Seriously.”
He kissed my forehead. “Seriously, but there’s always after your final. And tomorrow. And the next day. And the next day.”
“I look forward to it.”
I was almost late for my final and had to run across the quad with wet hair just to make it in the nick of time. There were icicles dripping off of my curls when I walked into the room, but it was worth it to spend the time with John in the shower. Ever since I found out about my cancer I felt like less of a woman. Finding out that a part of me had been damaged made me feel like all of me was damaged as well. And then there was the surgery that made me feel even more broken. Slowly, but surely I was building back up again and putting the pieces back together. It helped that there was an incredibly sexy guy who was always around.
Of course I had to put those worries aside to finish my finals. Spanish wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, mainly because John still kept encouraging me to speak Spanish in the heat of the moment and I found myself burning up every time I thought of the different verbs I would use and how they would roll off my tongue and into his mouth.
My other classes were another story. I had two final papers, a history final, and my Physics final. None of my teachers knew what was going on with my cervical cancer so I felt like all of them glared at me when I walked in. Like they knew I had been missing class and just assumed I started slacking. It was like I had to re-prove myself. As if the first few months of me doing nothing but showing up to class and diligently turning in my homework on time were forgotten and I was just another slacker in the crowd.