Put Me Back Together(98)

Get control of yourself, Archer, I commanded. You are not a sex monster.

Except this was a whole new world and a whole new Katie Archer, wasn’t it? Who the hell knew what I was.

Lucas gave me another one of those frustratingly chaste kisses before leaving me alone in the bathroom to undress. I wanted to ask him to stay with me, to get into the bath with me, to do ungodly things to me with his insanely chiseled body, but instead I let him go. I had to get a grip on myself. Getting my freak on on the same day I broke my sister’s heart was way inappropriate. Besides, my body had just been through a terrible ordeal. I needed time to recover, no matter what my loins were telling me.

I took of my clothes and stood in front of the mirror as I peeled the bandages off of my face. Mom was right; they were starting to scab. I could probably leave the bandages off tomorrow.

As I gazed at my ravaged face, the blue-green bruises on my upper lip and chin, the dark red wounds in the center of either cheek, I realized that this face was mine alone now. I would never look exactly like my sister again. Brandon had taken my twin from me forever.

With this sobering thought circling my brain, I stepped into the bathtub and lowered myself into the steaming water. I was right—the tub was almost big enough to swim in. Closing my eyes, I let my thoughts run over everything that had happened yesterday and today, but it was as though I were watching a movie about someone else’s life. Maybe in time I’d fully understand what had happened to me and what was left of me now that it was done, but tonight it seemed easier to let my mind go blank. Everything I had to worry about could wait until tomorrow. Tonight I just had to let it all go.

Just around the time the water was beginning to cool, Lucas knocked on the door. “I was thinking of taking a shower,” he said.

There was a stand-up shower in the bathroom next to the tub. I noticed with appreciation that its walls were made entirely of glass. When the door to the bathroom didn’t open, I realized he was waiting for me to say something.

“Go ahead,” I answered casually, biting at my bottom lip.

Lucas came into the room in his boxers looking mildly bashful, which was amusing since he’d been sleeping next to me in just his boxers all week. But there was a difference between seeing Lucas in his boxers in a dim bedroom and seeing Lucas in his boxers in a bright bathroom, knowing he was about to take those boxers off. I tried not to drool at the thought.

He looked over at me and I didn’t miss the way his eyes lingered on the water in the place where my breasts were submerged. The bubbles were mostly gone now, but the tub was so deep that I was still completely covered. I noticed him shake his head abruptly, as though trying to banish something from his thoughts. Then he grabbed a towel from the back of the door.

“All right, no peeking, Hero,” he said as he placed his thumb on the elastic waistband of his boxers, giving me an admonishing look.


“As you wish,” I said. With a smirk, I closed my eyes. It was only fair, since he’d let me get undressed in private. But it was also pretty ridiculous, given that the shower stall was transparent.

When I heard the shower turn on and the door click closed, I figured it was safe to risk a peek and tentatively opened one eye. Then I snapped both eyes wide open and stared, my body flushing so completely and so quickly I was surprised the water in the tub didn’t start to boil.

Lucas was standing in the stall with his back to me, letting the water pour over his body. And what a body it was. True, I’d seen him naked before, for about a split-second that day in my apartment. I’d never before had the chance to really look at his body and admire the tight muscles, the broad shoulders, the tight, sculpted ass. I kept blinking, sure what I was seeing couldn’t be real.

How does he do it? I wondered to myself. He doesn’t even go to the gym!

Then he took the soap in his hand and started rubbing it over his torso, and suddenly the bathwater was sloshing onto the floor as I got to my feet in a rush.

To hell with letting myself recover. Lucas couldn’t possibly be expected to wash that whole body all by himself, and the shower stall was more than big enough for two.

With a wicked grin I stepped out of the bathtub, nearly slipping on the waterlogged tiles, and pulled open the shower stall door.

Blinking in the spray, it took Lucas a second or two to take me in, standing utterly nude before him. Then I watched his eyes turn dark as they wandered down my body. I was surprised to find I didn’t feel afraid or even nervous. I knew what I wanted, and he was right in front of me. As I smiled and stepped into the shower, Lucas dropped the soap. It clattered around our feet as I closed the distance between us and pressed my skin against his.

“I bet you thought this was my plan all along,” he said as I ran my hands over his chest, and then farther down to that place I’d never touched.

“Nope,” I replied, my lips against his cheek, “I’m pretty sure this idea is all mine. But it’s a good one, don’t you think?” My fingers closed over him, making him gasp and grip me against him.

“Oh God, yes,” he said, and then his lips met mine.

His skin was gloriously slippery and after a few minutes under the spray mine was, too. I luxuriated in the feeling of my breasts slipping against his chest and his hands running through my hair and over my back, then dipping downward to cup my ass, pressing me into him in delightful ways. Snatching up the bar of soap, I started lathering his chest, but quickly lost the bar to Lucas.