Page 10 of Selkie AU: Beyond the Storm

When it was done, I brought the plates to my small dining table and set them down. “Come eat.”

Milo dashed over fast enough he almost tripped on the corner of the rug, and I reached for him on instinct, pulling his body into mine before he could topple over.

He looked up at me with surprise, then smiled. “Hehe, thanks.”

I quickly let him go, taking a large step backward and feeling my face heat. What the fuck was wrong with me?

Milo didn’t dwell on it, yanking a chair out from the table so he could perch himself on it in a crouched position. I’d set out cutlery beside the plate, but he already had his fingers scooping up the food before I could show him how to use them. I guess it didn’t matter.

“Oh my goddess!” he nearly shouted as he began shoveling cooked fish and vegetables into his mouth even faster. “Vish ish increbable” he mumbled with his mouth full.

“Don’t eat too fast, you’ll choke,” I warned him with a sigh, before grabbing the plate I’d set for myself and moving it closer to him. “There’s plenty.” Maybe he hadn’t eaten in a while. I could find something else for myself later.

“M’kay,” he mumbled after swallowing a mouthful.

When I was satisfied he was eating at an acceptable pace, I took a step back again.

“I’m going to shower. Don’t leave the house, okay?”

“Okay. What’s a shower?”

“Just… a place to get clean.”

“Okay.”

Figuring the food would buy me a little time before he got into god knew what else, I excused myself briskly as I went to the bathroom, only feeling like I could take a decent breath once I had the door closed between us.

Get yourself together, Rowan, I told myself. Yes, there was a very beautiful, very naked man in my house. But that clearly didn’t have any of the same implications for him as it did forhumans. I’d seen how he reacted to trying to put on clothing. He didn’t like it, and I didn’t want to make him uncomfortable. I’d just have to find other ways to handle my own discomfort.

It’s only for now. Later tonight, when the town had gone to sleep, I could take him back to wherever it was he’d come from.

Then I’d be alone again.

With a sigh, I peeled off my clothing, already feeling better at having the dirty fabric off me. I tossed them in the basket and started the water, waiting until it was scalding before stepping under the spray and letting it wash away more of the grime from my skin.

Steam billowed around me, and I inhaled it deeply, as if getting enough of it could cleanse my mind. My chest. My soul.

My plans had been interrupted in that storm. It didn’t really change anything, though. Sure, now I knew things like selkies existed, but my life was still the same.

There would be another storm.

Water cascaded down my face and chest as I blindly reached for my cinnamon-scented shampoo on the rack where it always was, only for my hand to fumble in the air and come up empty.

I turned my head out of the spray to look, and sure enough, the spot was vacant.

I heard the cap of it click open and quickly spun around to find Milo standing behind me, the shampoo in his hands as he inhaled it deeply. A pink tongue darted out to taste it, and he pulled a face of disgust.

“Milo!” I shouted, quickly covering my junk behind my hands as my whole body heated more than the water still streaming over me. “What are you doing in here?”

“I wanted to see what a shower was,” he explained, tucking the shampoo under his arm. “It’s like a waterfall!”

He extended a hand into the flowing water, and I retreated until the cool tiles pressed at my back to get away from him. “You can’t just come in here like this.”

Silver-gray eyes were filled with fascination as he reached up to the shower head, grabbing hold of it and trying to pull it down, presumably to steal it.

Water sprayed all over my face as I grabbed his wrists. “Stop that. You’re not supposed to take it off the wall.”

“Why? Oh!”