CHAPTER 14
Ash
I try desperately to ignore the sounds of the shower. Actually, I know I can’t hear anything at all because the house is literally built like a brick shithouse, and it’s well insulated and just about fully soundproof from one room to the next, and certainly from one floor to the next.
So, no, I most certainly cannot hear the shower. I cannot hear the water running, sluicing off Ellis’ delicious curves, hitting the drain, and disappearing. I cannot hear her fingers in her hair, massaging in the shampoo and washing it away before working in the conditioner. I cannot hear her using the body wash—my body wash. And I definitely cannot hear her hands sliding over her body, working magic—I mean working the soap over her tired muscles.
But I can imagine it.
I really shouldn’t blame the curse, but well, I think I’ll blame the curse. I also think that instead of standing around the kitchen and pacing the living room, I need to go upstairs, get changed into proper workout clothes, and banish myself to the basement for a good few hours before I hit a shower of my own. And uh, not work my magic. Just work in the soap. I’m pretty sure no amount of rubbing one out is going to help with the ache in my balls. Maybe I’ll also blame the curse for that. Damn, damn curse.
And damn my damnable granny for refusing to tell me a thing about it. Maybe she doesn’t know, and she’s just being her regular granny self. Or it could be that she wants this to work out. Perhaps she’s also tupping her driver. The grin on his face when I walked by earlier was totally unnatural. Christ, Granny. I love the woman to death, but she might seriously be the death of me and my cursed ass one day.
I head upstairs, taking them three at a time, already getting my workout in. They’re metal and quite narrow. I could probably try four at once. You know, if I want to land on my face, which might actually distract me from my abominably aching erection. The moment I get to the top of the stairs, I hear a door creak. I freeze like I’m wearing all black and have a crowbar in my hand, all set to break into my own house.
The curse might be one of those time-shifting bastards because everything seems to stop. I can hear the first muted footstep on the hardwood floor—Ellis’ footstep. I remain frozen, as frozen as I was when the ring box went bouncing down the stairs, straight to her, and when she slipped it onto her finger and started this whole thing.
She walks out, and I’m expecting to see her wearing pajamas of some sort, her hair sleek and dripping at the ends, but no because that would be too easy. Too easy on me, and too easy on the Abominable Dick in my pants. Instead, Ellis is wearing nothing but a fluffy black bath towel. My fluffy black bath towel. And she does indeed smell woodsy and spicy. Like my body wash. My shampoo is more floral, and yes, I’m manly enough to admit that I like the scent. My mom bought it for me once, and I liked it, so I kept buying it after.
The black towel is big enough to wrap around her body three times, which only makes me realize how small she is compared to me. It hides all her curves, thank goodness for small mercies, but she has it wrapped low on her chest. So low that if it slipped an inch, it might reveal the dark shade of her areolas.
Now my dick is more like the Abominable Raging Inferno.
“Garg!” Ellis yelps when she sees me. She doesn’t have the towel knotted, just tucked under her arms, and it slips about a fraction of an inch. I gasp. She gasps. And I remain frozen, in the just freshly caught are you going to call the police burglar pose. “Shit,” she says. “I left my clothes in the bedroom. I always do that. I was just walking there now. To, uh, change.”
“Right. Yes. I was just walking to my room to change as well. To go work out. In the basement.”
“I…right. I’ll just walk around you then.”
I step forward even though my dick is severely impeding my ability to walk. It’s a thing. Trust me. It’s a real thing. “Right. Me too.”
We each have to go the other way, past each other. The hall is wide. Like wide enough to fit a bus and then some. Okay, maybe not that wide, but it’s wide enough for us to stick to our own lanes and pass cleanly without a head-on collision.
Except that’s precisely what happens. We each start heading in the right direction, but then all of a sudden, things come to a head, and we’re facing each other. I go to dodge left, and she dodges right, which is my left and her right, and we nearly step right into each other. We both chuckle an embarrassed laugh and step in the opposite direction, right into each other’s path again.