Laughing, I grab her hand and pull her up. “Bring your personal business and come with me.”
“Where are we going?”
I look back and study her eyes. “Shower with me?”
As predicted, her face drains white.
“I promise I won’t look at anything you don’t want me to look at. You truly have my word.”
“Spencer…” Her voice quivers. “I don’t know.”
“But you should also know, there’s nothing I haven’t seen in my life, and nothing that could change my mind about you. If you don’t want to show me anything, I won’t look. I can get you a tank top to shower in. You can leave your bra on. You can take it off and trust me not to look. The choice is yours. But I promise this isn’t as scary as you think it is.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” she whispers. “I don’t have the kind of body you’re expecting. I don’t look like Ashley Bates, or even Jess and Laine Lenaghan. I… well… I look how you said that first time. I look like a child, like Gumby. I don’t look like what you expect of a twenty-five-year-old woman.”
“Babe.” I turn back and absorb her grunt when she walks into my chest. I hold her up and wait for her eyes. “You broke me. You walked into my world and fucked everything up.”
“Crappy speech.”
I chuckle. “I’m saying that no one has ever walked in and changed the very fabric of my being before. It doesn’t matter to me what your body looks like, because I’m already in love with it. I’m in love with your brain, your heart, the fact you visit sick kids most days, and the fact you took those expensive-ass flowers to Jess and said they were from me. I’m in love with the fact you’re so honest and unfiltered about who you truly are.”
“I’m filtered,” she murmurs. “It took me weeks to tell you about… You know.” She looks down at her chest. “I’m extremely filtered.”
“But your face, Priss. Your beauty. Your personality. You don’t allow anyone to come around and cuss if it makes you uncomfortable.”
“You still cuss.”
I grin. “I know. But I’m working really fucking hard to stop.” I bend lower and press a kiss to her lips. “Trust me with this, okay? Trust me to love you.”
“Don’t make a big deal about it, okay?” She waits for my nod.
“I promise.” I tug her hand a little. “Come on.”
I lead her through the room and into the bathroom without another word. She’s terrified, possibly more so than when she announced she wanted to make love. So I treat her the way I’d fully intended to treat her; like she’s precious, but strong. A diamond that took thousands of hard years to become as resilient and beautiful as it is today.
I pass the mirror above the vanity and lean into the shower. I keep her hand in mine and hold her close before she sprints away, and I use the other to flip the taps on.
I’m naked. She wears a bra.
The shower comes out cold for a second, then gives way to steam as I turn to Abigail and find her teeth chattering from fear.
“It’s gonna be okay, baby. I promise.”
Her eyes flicker between mine. “Eyes up here until I’m ready.” She brings a hand up and points at her face. “I’m begging you.”
I nod and wind my hands around to her back. My fingers find the bra hooks, but my eyes remain on hers. “Pinky promise. And I never break a promise.”
Swallowing, fear clouds her vision for far too long as my hands hover at her back. Finally, she gives me the nod and scrunches her eyes closed.
I unclip her bra and make no comment when it begins to fall and weighs heavy on one side. True to my word, despite the curiosity that eats at my soul, I keep my eyes on hers and drop the bra to the floor without looking. I step closer until our bare chests touch.
She’s insanely warm, soft, and so fucking perfect, I find it hard that she doubts herself.
I press close enough that she knows I can’t see, then I step backwards and bring her into the shower with me. Her breath shudders out, but when I gently stroke her back and nibble on her bottom lip, she relaxes enough to step under the shower, and smiles when the water cascades over our heads and nearly drowns us.
“That’s so warm,” she purrs. “Feels good.” She reaches up and pushes wet hair out of her face.
“Too warm?”