Chapter 24
NICK
I tell myself I always leave the bathroom door open when I take my morning shower, that’s one of the advantages of living alone. I tell myself I’ve always preferred the shower in the main bathroom – the one on the landing that opens directly across from Jane’s door. I tell myself that Laine is asleep, that she’s probably exhausted and I’ll be long finished and dressed by the time she surfaces.
I wish to God I hadn’t heard her last night. I wish I hadn’t lingered, hadn’t pressed my ear to her bedroom door to hear her exploring Jane’s toys with curious fingers. Only those toys aren’t Jane’s toys. I never got a chance to give most of those beautiful toys to my little girl.
I wanted to make sure Laine went to sleep ok, that’s what I tell myself. I wanted to be sure she wasn’t still scared, wouldn’t lie awake all night fretting over the piece of shit who tried to molest her in an alleyway.
My cock wasn’t hard. It didn’t take all of my restraint not to jack myself off like a cheap pervert outside her door.
I didn’t want to hear her touching herself.
My shoulders feel tight until the hot water works its magic. The girl shouldn’t even be here. This is reckless. Ridiculous.
I don’t make stupid rash errors of judgment. That’s something I learned from my father.
Every decision has consequences, he’d say. Make sure you’re well aware of what they are before you subject yourself to them.
He subjected me to enough consequences that I still bear the scars across my backside. Brutal, but fair, and he made me a better man for it. A smart man. A calculated man. A determined, responsible, powerful man.
Just like he was.
A man who doesn’t pick up vulnerable young women and put them to bed in his little girl’s room. If he wasn’t already long in his grave, my father would tan my backside afresh for my stupidity. I smile to myself at his memory and lather on some body wash. I scrub hard, working the suds into my skin as though they stand a chance of cleansing my impure urges.
I’ve worked hard to keep my impulses under control. Worked hard to express my desires acceptably. Now really isn’t the time to be thinking about them, not with temptation personified sleeping soundly across the landing. I shampoo my hair, working my fingers into my scalp, trying to get my head back in the game.
Breakfast. Laine will need breakfast. She’ll need her clothes. She’ll need to go back home, where she belongs.
Still, I can enjoy her just a little, just enough to get my blood pumping when I think back on her beautiful, innocent smile later this evening. A bit of harmless fun never hurt anyone.
LAINE
JANE’S BED is comfortable. Her room looks so warm and cozy as the light breaks through the gauzy curtains. I stretch out, kick back the sheets, relaxing quite happily until I remember with a thud that Nick heard me playing with myself last night.
Shit.
My heart races at the thought of facing him. How ungrateful can I possibly be? Taking advantage of his kind hospitality by playing with me in his daughter’s bedroom? In his daughter’s pink bedsheets? Cringe doesn’t even come close.
I bite my lip and think things through, and there’s nothing else for it. I just need to get it over with. Smile and face him and hope he isn’t too mad with me. I can’t bear the thought of a man like Nick being mad at me.
Disappointed in me.
I grab Jane’s robe from the back of the door and trace my finger over the DaDDy writing on her picture. She’s so lucky.
I make sure I’m wrapped up tight before I open the door, check myself in the dressing table mirror, and smooth my wispy hair into some kind of order. I look so young in the morning light, in this room, as though I’ve regressed to being a little girl again.
The thought feels like warm marshmallows in my brain.
I hold my breath as I press down the door handle. Here we go. Now or never.
Maybe he isn’t even up yet. Maybe he’s already up and gone, leaving my clothes in a pile with nothing but a get out of my house, you dirty little bitch message waiting for me.
I hope not.
I hear the water as soon as the door is ajar. The sound is much stronger than it is at my house, our shower is barely more than a trickle at best. I step out onto the landing and my tummy lurches as I see that the bathroom is opposite. The door is open, just a little bit. I can see a mirrored bathroom cabinet on the wall, all steamed up. A black toweling robe is in a heap on the floor. My breath hitches at the thought of him in there, the thought of him naked under the water.
For the first time in my life, I don’t want to be a virgin anymore. I want to be confident, like a sex vixen. One of those girls like Kelly Anne who can go after what she wants. If Kelly Anne were here she’d ditch the fluffy pink dressing gown and stalk in there naked. Flash him a smile and a hello there and climb straight in after him.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.
Hell, I’m nothing like Kelly Anne, and even if I were, a man like Nick isn’t going to want a silly little girl like me. I wouldn’t even know what I was doing.