Page 37 of Come Find Me Tonight

I look down at my body and feel a bit gross after everything last night. A shower would be in our best interests. Which reminds me of something.

“Hold on for a minute.”

Robby leans against the vanity. “Okay.”

I rush down the hall to one of the spare rooms and retrieve a PR box I received a while back that I hadn’t re-gifted or donated yet. It’s a men’s care line that’s new, and I think they assumed I had a significant other when the company sent it to me. I opened it enough to see it was men’s items, so Robby can have fun unboxing it. Whenever I received men’s items, I’d either gift them to my friends for their boyfriends or donate them.

I bring back the box to my en suite bathroom, where he stands patiently waiting. A breath punches out of me because he’s really here. In my bathroom. “A company sent me their men’s care line of a new scent or something,” I say, handing the box over to him.

“Cool.” He takes it from me and opens it, pulling out product after product. He smiles widely. “Wow, I use this brand. I haven’t tried this scent, but that’s funny.”

A smug smile crosses my lips. “Should we test them out?”

“I mean, if you’re up for it.”

I twist to turn the shower on. I saw a video once that claimed that women take hotter showers than men, so I opt for a lower temperature than normal. “So…” I trail off, biting my lip. Robby smiles shyly and hooks his briefs with his thumbs, dragging them down his thighs until they drop to the floor, revealing himself. He’s not hard like I’m used to with Rook. He’s soft with two large balls resting below, and it hits me that this is the first time I’ve ever seen him, or any man, naked in the light. I shift my eyes away from him entirely when I realize how long I was staring at his business. “Sorry, I was totally looking.”

Robby lightly laughs. “It’s okay, I was too. Is the shower warmed up?”

I blink at him. This was the stranger who hacked my smart home devices, broke into my home, and took me as if I belonged to him. But he’s not that guy now, and we’re about to shower together like any couple would.

Wild.

“Um, probably.”

We enter the glass shower together. It’s large with three showerheads—one in the middle of the ceiling and one on each side toward the top of the tiled walls. Robby sets the new shampoo, conditioner, and body wash on the empty shelf on the opposite side like he’s moving in and dips under the water. I follow his lead under my showerhead. I squirt some shampoo into my hand and start massaging it into my hair, restoring my hair to its curly state after it had been straightened.

“Here, let me,” Robby says. I turn to face away from him, and his strong fingers massage the lathered soap into my hair and scalp, filling the shower with the floral scent swirling with the steam. I wonder if he’s a rock climber because of his grip strength. I close my eyes and focus on the scalp massage, and holy, this is turning me on already. He’s using pressure, but somehow, his touch seems so much softer and more caring than Rook.

“How are you so good at that? Are you a hairdresser?” I ask as he works the shampoo down the length of my hair.

“I’m a software engineer. I just fantasized about this.”

My breath catches for a second. No wonder he could hack my smart devices; he has a skill set that I could never fathom or compete with. He drops his fingers and reaches for his new shampoo. “This is a good scent,” he says, breathing in the musky fragrance of the men’s shampoo. I duck under my showerhead again to rinse my hair and then I reach for my thick conditioner and hair clip. “You feel so far away.”

I smile at him. “Hardly.” I apply the thick conditioner through the ends of my hair and add body wash to my loofah. “For the record, I thought about you surprising me in the shower,” I finally add when I build up the courage to admit.

“Really?” He rinses off the sudsy body wash and moves to stand under the centered showerhead.

“Yeah, I thought it would be hot if I was in here alone with my eyes closed, and Rook came in…”

Rook isn’t real, but Robby is, and surprising me so much already.

“Hmm, that’s an idea.”

He holds his hand out to me like it’s an invitation to meet him, and I take it. The centered showerhead will just rinse the conditioning mask from my hair, but I step toward him anyway and allow him to wrap his arms around me again. He tucks his finger under my chin to tilt my face up to his and leans to press his lips against mine.

“Ugh, I’m so short,” I whisper against his lips.

Our first kiss.

He carefully lifts me up, and I clasp my legs around his waist, feeling his arousal coming to life just below my bottom. He presses his fingers into the back of my neck and kisses me again. Deeper, allowing his tongue to explore mine. I moan into his mouth, draping my arms around his neck, and tangling my fingers in his wet hair. The pressure of the warm water is showering over us, and I nearly inhale water through my nose.

But it’s worth it.

Robby’s skin against mine feels warmer than the water, but I still get goosebumps thinking about our previous encounters—all in the dark until now.

“Should we…” Kiss. “Take this back to bed?” Robby asks, followed by another kiss.