Page 54 of Drawn Together
“All good now.”
“Great.”
I turn around and see he has folded the white shirt for me on a chair closest to me. I can only see some of him, the upper expanse of his chest leading to the round caps around his shoulders. There’s a divot between his pecs, a little inverted hump that I keep getting my eyes caught on.
“I guess, I’ll just…” I tug at my sweater, but hesitate to yank it off right in front of him.
“Ah, right.” He closes his eyes and turns so almost all of me is out of view.
“Close your eyes.”
“They are closed.”
“Are you sure?”
“Flora, should I bring up the windows again?”
“This is up close Fletcher. You can see…details.”
“I’m not looking.”
I work my jeans over my butt before lifting my sweater off my head and folding the two where I am certain they won’t get wet. The cold air is brisk, and my entire body erupts in goose bumps in the spare second it takes me to cover myself in Fletcher’s shirt. The soft cotton fabric glides over my body and settles mid-thigh, and though the coverage feels lacking, I am more than happy to wear something other than just a bra and underwear that don’t match in the slightest. Fletcher sucks in a deep breath as he leans into the jets and I am instantly jealous, so I hurry my butt along the way and call out “Done,” as I climb up the tiny stairs to get in.
Fletcher’s face is all red from the heat of the water, so I pause before my toe can even test the heat.
“Is it scalding?”
He clears his throat. “No, it’s uh, perfect.”
The blood rushing to his face says otherwise but okay.
Slipping into the hot water, every muscle in my body relaxes. Fletcher was right; he did know exactly what would help me out. I feel like someone's pressure washed the inside of my brain to rid it of embarrassing memories. A deep, traitorous moan slips from my lips into the chilly night air as I lean back against a jet that pushes delicious pressure against my upper back.
“I need to stay here for the rest of my life. I can Door Dash everything and have a little bell boy to fetch me my water.”
Fletcher smiles, the red in his face slowly fading as he gets used to the water. “I like it, too. It’s nice up here. No one really even knows about it, so usually it’s just us.”
“Us?”
Does Fletcher bring lady friends up here? Why does that feel so yucky?
“Steph, Lenny, and I. I usually have to leave before they start making out.”
I smile. “How long do they last?”
“Thirty minutes, max.”
“That’s sweet.”
“Call it what you want, Flora. I’m not sticking around for it.”
“Speaking of, how's the romance column going at work?” I trail my fingers on top of the water and dunk them in, over and over.
“Better, I think. He published my first yesterday and said it would ‘work for now,’ so I’m convinced he doesn’t hate me.”
“Good to hear the vampires worked on you.”
“Not the vampires.”
