“Let me help you,” I finally ask as she stands up, blowing a breath out through her mouth. I go over to where she is in front of the dresser and pull the bottom drawer out from the left side. “I can dry your hair for you.”
“I don’t want you touching me,” she snips as I slide the drawer into one of the empty slots on the other side.
I look over at her, and she’s clutching her towel to her body, her clothes clenched in her fist in her other hand.
“Quit being stubborn. Anything you put on is going to get wet, and the bed is going to get soaked from your hair. I’m offering to help you, so just accept it.”
She stares at me a moment, looking like she’s contemplating it, then she says, “fine.”
I repress a sigh before heading to the bathroom to grab a towel.
“The rest of them are dirty,” she says, pointing to the pile in the corner. “You’re going to have to use this one.”
Before I can even tell her that I’ll go check around the house for more towels, she rips the one wrapped around her off. I barely miss seeing her fully nude as she spins around, holding the towel out behind her.
For someone that didn’t want me to touch her a second ago, she got naked really quickly. I didn’t expect it to go from don’t touch me to staring at her nude backside. But since this is Alana, I should be ready for anything. I should know that by now. I want to look away from her, but I can’t. My eyes are glued to her perfect form, and I have to fight my urge to walk up behind her and kiss every inch of what I know is soft skin, reminding myself this isn’t Megan.
And since it’s not Megan, the sudden suspicion that this may be one of Alana’s games hits me. She probably thinks I’m going to run out of the room now and retract my offer to help. I almost do. I could barely handle seeing her in Megan’s lingerie. But I’m not a teenager. I can control my thoughts. I’m more prepared now than I was when I saw her in Megan’s lingerie.
If this is a way to push me out, I will not be the sucker this time.
I reach out and grab the towel from her, and she takes her arm back around to wrap around her chest. As I gather her long dark hair away from her shoulders, I immediately find this isn’t going to be as easy as I thought. The back of her long neck comes into view, and I can’t help but have memories flash through my mind of how it drove Megan crazy when I kissed her there. It’s harder than I’d like to admit to stop myself from kissing her there, and as much as I hate to admit it for a few seconds, I wonder where Alana likes to be kissed. If everything else is different about them, would their sensitive spots be too?
I shake the thought from my mind, getting myself back on track as I gently rub the towel over her head.
When I’m done, I don’t stop with her hair. When I take the towel down onto her shoulders, she tries to move away from me, but I hold her there.
“Hold still.” I have to keep the pleading tone from my voice, and I’m hoping my sternness makes her listen. “I said I’d help you, so let me.”
If she pulls away from me again, I’ll let her go, but she doesn’t. I keep going, running the towel down her back, feeling every dip and curve that makes up Megan’s body and Alana’s, unavoidably getting hard the further down I go. I remind myself that this is Megan’s body, but it’s not her.
When I get to her waist, I wrap the towel around her and tell her to hold it in the front so I can crouch down and get her legs. It’s long enough to where I can pat her dry, but I don’t go to the territory between her legs.
When I’m done, I spring up and take a few steps away from her.
“There,” I say. “All dry. Was that so bad?”
“Get out!” she demands, turning around and securing the towel, her eyes flaming. “Get the fuck out now!”
I stand here stunned for a moment before I do what she wants.
Out in the living room, I plop down on the couch. My shock wears off pretty quickly. Nothing about Alana should surprise me at this point. Though, I was too surprised by her reaction. I let my head fall back into the cushion behind me and let out a deep sigh through my lips. How am I supposed to interact with her if I can’t figure out what will set her off? Simple acts of kindness don’t even get through to her. What the hell will?