Minutes pass without us talking.
Until her phone chimes with a text and she looks up at me, brushing the hair out of my face.
“I should probably go home and study.”
“Not yet.” I hold my grip on her as she tries to get up.
“I’m serious!” She laughs.
“So am I, but fine.”
She disentangles my limbs from her own and climbs to the edge of the bed. I feel cold at once.
Maybe it’s because I know I’ll be seeing my parents soon.
She throws me a mischievous smile. “Want to take a shower together before I go?”
I’m powerless to resist.
Stark naked, I open the door and peer out in the hallway. Nobody except Lucifer, who gives me a pleading look. I give him the finger and take her hand in mine.
It’s early yet, and Boone and Reece are still asleep. “Coast is clear.”
Rushing and trying not to laugh, we dart to the bathroom.
She leans against the door, her face flushed. “I can’t believe we did that.”
“Living on the edge.” I grin as I open the stall shower door and start up the water.
She looks at the shower and gapes. “Wow. Can you even fit in there?”
The showerhead only goes as high as my forehead, so I usually have to bend and turn myself to get my whole body wet. “Barely.” I wink. “We won’t take up too much room. What did you have to ask me?”
A slow smile comes from her. “What did you have to ask me?”
Steam is wafting up from inside the shower, casting everything in a hazy mist.
I shrug. “You go first.”
“No. You.”
I pretend to think. “I forgot.”
“I bet.” She steps in and water soaks her hair then drips down her curves.
“I remember,” I say, knowing I need to get it over with. “I like you naked, but you do have to wear something to my parents’ house.”
“Duh. I wasn’t planning on going like this.”
“Only thing is . . .” I step in with her, flattening myself against the wall. Even doing that, she’s an inch away from me. I’m not complaining. I grab soap and start to lather up. “You don’t happen to have a formal dress, do you?”
Her eyes widen.
“Dad’s events are over the top.” I grimace. “Don’t be intimidated, though. I’ll be there.”
“Oh.”
“If you don’t want to . . .”
She winces. “I thought it’d be us and your parents. It’s a party?”
“The guest list is over two hundred people. My father has it every year.” I begin to lather her skin. My hands massage her, but her muscles are tight and tense. I’ve worried her.
I wash her back, then her front.
“So . . . dress. Do you have one?”
She doesn’t meet my eyes, instead finding the wall of the shower fascinating. “I don’t own fancy clothes. I mean, I have a prom dress from prep school, but I’ve filled out since then.”
I recall her at prom. She wore a strapless white dress that sparkled. She came alone and sat with her friends.
I’d been to a pre-party with the hockey team and arrived trashed. I wanted to talk to her, but part of me, the sane side, held back. I’d taken her virginity, then dumped her. What could I say?
“At prom . . . you looked pretty.”
Like a lost princess who didn’t know how to navigate the world.
I was similarly lost. I didn’t know how to manage not being Kurt.
Her gaze searches mine, then she clears her throat. “Oh. Thanks. Alright, let me think . . . a dress.”
I open my mouth to tell her I’ll buy her one but stop. She’ll say no.
“Poppy’s a bit of a debutante, and we’re the same size, although she’s shorter. She’ll have something.”
I watch her, trying to gauge her true feelings. “I should have told you earlier it was a party.”
There it is. The anxiousness. She draws her lower lip under her teeth.
“We’ll have fun,” I say, but the truth is she could be a queen and my father would complain she’s getting in the way of my career. Kurt had a girlfriend. Janis. Dad never liked her and tried to get between them.
That won’t happen with me and Julia.
Law, hedge funds . . . I want her to be part of it.
“My parents can be stuck-up, but my mind about you is already made up,” I say with a grin, trying to lighten the mood.
She holds out her hand for the soap. “It is?”
I hand it over. “Yep. You’re a pain in the ass.”
She hip checks me out of the water to where it’s freezing.
I chuckle. “Kidding.”
Grinning, she pulls me back in and lathers me up, her hands moving over my body. When she reaches for my cock, she pumps me up and down, her fingers grazing over my crown.
“What did you have to say to me?”
She stops and frowns. “Oh . . . just that I have some ideas for a Christmas gift for you.”