Whatever. I'm still fully prepared to save the receipt, send a copy of it to the Accounting department, and CC Gwen in the email.
Of course, being near Khent in line is its own little mistake. Maybe I should have waited by the door or one of the windows, but I'll be damned if I let him pay for my half.
Apparently, I'm vibrating obviously enough that he feels the need to put a hand on the top of my head to stop it, like I'm an antique alarm clock or something that would dance off the bedside table with my fidgety energy.
I make a point of staring at the fingertips resting just over my forehead. Khent rolls his eyes and after a moment, he transfers his hand to just resting on my shoulder. If someone looked at us, they would just see a couple casually, almost boringly embraced while waiting in line.
My chest tightens for a moment. It's been a while since I had that kind of relationship. Wouldn't it be nice to be so safe it’s almost boring? To not be on guard all the time?
The tension I've been holding in my back melts momentarily, or maybe it slips, and then my shoulder is falling into Khent's side.
I’m as still as I possibly can be against him.
I barely pay attention to the transaction at the counter, I honestly don’t hear much, if anything the harpy behind the counter says. I nod along as if I do.
Only when it’s over, I separate myself from him. We follow an Orc woman down a hallway. Normally Khent’s stride could easily outpace me, but he slows himself to walk beside me.
She stops in front of a pair of doors to two different rooms, and opens both of them.
“It’s set up already. There’s a bell if you need anything else, but otherwise, you have the full hour,” she says more to Khent than me, probably because I’m peering around her to see what's inside.
For a few feet, it’s just a normal room, with regular tile and some shelves. Further in, the light is softer, from a ceiling that is nearly obscured with steam billowing down. The walls and floor seem carpeted almost entirely in lichen and shaggy moss. There’s a low bed that looks like it's been carved from stone.
“Thanks,” Khent nods. He glances at me, and I nod vigorously. I’m ready. I cannot wait to feel totally relaxed and rejuvenated and not horny.
Khent’s mouth tips to the side in an unsure smile. We kind of awkwardly wave at one another and go into each room separately, closing the doors behind us.
I look around at the room before me once I’m alone. Lichen is still where it was before. I look to the shelf beside me, and kick off my shoes, some sensible flats have finally stopped cutting the back of my heels open. I stick them in the cubby.
I take in the room for a few more minutes, as it dawns on me I have no idea what to do. I grumble at myself for not thinking to ask Khent more info about these holistic practices he’s been doing.
I open the door and gingerly step across the cold slate floors to Khent’s door. I only just took off my shoes a second ago, so it doesn’t really occur to me to knock.
My eyes find the white towel being unfolded first, then separate the form of the entirely green, entirely bare Orc from the lichen behind him.
Brain short circuits.
Oh, Overlord. Nudity.
Close the door, quick quick quick.
I manage that much, but I’m still on the wrong side.
“Janice?”
Look away. Look down.
My eyes snag on his cock before I force them to the ground. My cheeks scald.
I have a number of thoughts, most of them about the mere logistics of him fitting inside me that I immediately stamp down. I do think I could manage it, maybe.
“If I’d known we were supposed to undress, maybe I would have knocked,” I stammer out.
So the Orc pornstar I’d been ogling before was not an outlier, ok, that's something new. You learn something every day. Knowledge is amazing.
“Maybe you would have knocked?” Khent repeats in disbelief, and stifles a snort. “What are the odds on that maybe, like a 50-50? 60-40?”
“I’ll get those numbers on your desk by tomorrow,” I sigh, scrubbing my hands over my face, and peeking through my fingers. He has the towel wrapped around his waist now, fastened at his hip.