I laughed out loud.
It was pleasant, standing there, naked, with Clint. It occurred to me to hide my body from him, to turn around and shield my flaws from his gaze, but before I moved, he took me in his arms and held me against his chest.
It was nice, even if we were both sticky from sweat.
His hands traced lazily up and down my body.
"You are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen," he said. "I'm the luckiest man in the world."
I blushed and shook my head against his chest.
"Nope," he said, "Don't go calling me a liar. I love every inch of this."
I was gratified, even if I couldn't see where he was getting the idea from.
"Shower?" I asked.
He nodded and gestured over at the large shower in the corner. It was a large tiled area with two showerheads and glass walls to protect the rest of the room.
"That's some shower," I said. "Did your mother choose it, too?"
Clint shook his head as he walked over to the glass door.
"No," he told me, "She never saw the room finished. My father never used the master
bedroom, I had it finished last year. Did a lot of it myself, and the boys helped me."
"It's beautiful," I murmured. The room was larger than my bedroom in my apartment, definitely a luxury.
He smiled at me.
"I spend so much time grinding dirt into my hide, I can't stand not being able to get clean," he said.
We smiled at each other for a moment, lost in each other's eyes, before stepping into the shower together and getting it adjusted.
He and I had so much to learn about each other. Water preferences were just the beginning, I knew, but it was a fun place to start.
I had never done this with a partner before, but Clint and I took the washclothes in the room and slowly bathed each other, washing each other's hair and gently rubbing soap into each other's backs.
The shower was warm and steamy, and I never wanted to get out of it.
I winced when I bent to pick up a different kind of shampoo, and Clint touched my shoulder.
"Did I hurt you?" he asked.
"No," I said, not meeting his eyes.
He frowned at me.
"I'll be sore for a day, but it was worth it. Definitely worth it," I said. My laugh echoed off the walls of the shower. "It had been a while."
He winced and nodded, looking uncomfortable.
"About that," he said. "I'm sorry, I know we were going to wait on sex."
"Are you kidding me?" I asked. "Since when should you apologize for doing what we both wanted?"
"Well, we made a plan," he said.