Forgotten (27 page)

“
I’m sorry.” She held up a
hand to stop him. “I know you probably want to discuss our, uh,
past relationship more but can we please get cleaned up first?
Being coated in this gook is just
killing
me.”

“
Of course.” He smiled.
“You always were what you call a ‘neat-freak.’ I know how much you
hate being dirty.”

Which is the only reason
I’m willing to let a guy who still feels like a casual acquaintance
run his hands all over my naked body in the shower,
Kate thought. But she didn’t want to hurt Rone’s
feelings so aloud she said, “I do hate it. So how are we going to
fix this?”

He spread his hands. “How
do you
want
to
fix it? I think a shower would be the easiest way. I’ve seen the
fresher and the shower stall is big enough for two.”

“
Even if one of them is as
big as you?” Kate asked before she could stop herself.

Rone smiled, clearly not offended. “As long
as the other is as little as you, sure.”

“
Well then…” Kate took a
deep breath. “Let’s do it. We’re not getting any younger and this
slime isn’t going to wash itself off.”

“
True.” He nodded. “All
right—come on.”

Kate followed him into the fresher, still
clutching her discarded clothes to her chest. She doubted if they
would be wearable after she got out of the shower. For one thing
they were spotted with the black slime which seemed to spread all
over the place, even if it never actually came off her skin. And
for another, they were soaking wet from her “drinking problem”
earlier. Still, it made her feel more comfortable to be at least
marginally covered around the big Kindred.

Well you’d going to have
to get comfortable with the idea of being
uncovered
in a minute,
whispered a snarky little voice in her
brain.
Not to mention comfortable with the
idea of letting Rone run those big hands of his all over your naked
body.

Stop it!
Kate tried to push the voice out of her head but
it was true and she knew it. By the time Rone had gotten the shower
spray nice and hot she was feeling almost panicky again at the
thought of him seeing her and touching her everywhere.
Not to mention the fact that you have to see and
touch him too,
whispered the little voice
which she seemed unable to banish.

“
All right—the water’s
ready. If you want to—”

Rone turned to face her as he spoke. Some of
the trepidation she was feeling must have shown on her face because
he stopped talking and frowned.

“
Hey, you don’t really
want to do this, do you?”

“
Of…of course I do,” Kate
lied bravely. “I’m fine. I just—”

“
You’re just really damn
uncomfortable and you’re trying not to show it. Don’t lie to me
Kate—I know you.”

“
Well I
don’t
know
you,”
Kate burst out
before she could stop herself. “And I can’t help it—I’m
shy.
I mean, you’re
going to be…be looking at me and touching me…and…and…” She trailed
off, feeling miserable.

“
Well, I can’t do anything
about the touching part,” Rone said thoughtfully. “We already found
out the hard way that’s the only way to get the slime off. But
I
can
keep from
looking.”

“
You’re going to keep your
eyes closed the entire time we’re in the shower?” Kate asked
skeptically. “Don’t you think that’s going to be a little hard to
manage? Especially in a strange place where you don’t know where
anything is? I mean, you’ll bump into something and open your eyes
on reflex—you won’t be able to help it.”

“
You have a point,” he
acknowledged. “Let me see…” He left the fresher for a moment and
then came back with a long black strip of cloth.

Kate frowned. “What’s that and where did you
get it?”

“
The belt to a robe. It
was hanging in a closet by the sleeping platform along with several
other pieces of clothing. It looks like they intend for us to stay
for a while. Anyway, I thought it would make a good blindfold.” He
held it up to his eyes to show her.

“
Um…really?” Kate was
still surprised he would do this for her.

“
Sure.” He nodded gravely.
“Whatever makes you more comfortable, Kate. Do you think this will
help?”

“
I
do
actually.” She still wasn’t
looking forward to letting him touch her all over—it made her feel
strange and scared and uncomfortable. But a big part of her
insecurity about herself had always been how her body
looked—especially the ugly scars on her back. Knowing that the big
Kindred couldn’t see her would go a long way towards making her
feel more comfortable.

“
Good.” He held it out to
her. “Do you want to put it on me so you can be certain it’s tight
enough?”

“
No. No—I trust you.” Kate
gave him a small smile. “Um, thank you for doing this for me. I
know it must seem silly to you since we’ve been together already
for three years.”

“
Three years you don’t
remember,” he said gravely, wrapping the black belt around his eyes
and tying it firmly in the back of his head. “I
do
remember, though, how long it
took you to feel comfortable with letting me see you and touch
you.”

“
And now you’re back to
square one.” She shook her head even though she knew he couldn’t
see her. “I’m sorry—that must be so frustrating for
you.”

It’s okay, baby,” he said softly. “I can be
patient—you’re worth waiting for.”

Kate felt a flutter in her
stomach at his deep, quiet words. For the first time since she’d
met the big Kindred, she felt a strange certainty about him.
This man loves me.
How
or why he had come to feel so much for her, she didn’t know but she
was certain of it and for a moment her heart ached because she
couldn’t return the emotion.

Can’t or won’t?
whispered that voice in her head.
Why are you so afraid, Kate? Why can’t you
trust?

It was a question she’d been asking herself
all her life. Had she somehow answered it and overcome her issues
in the three years she and Rone had been together? Kate wished she
could remember but her past was still shrouded—maybe never to be
revealed.

What needs to be revealed
is your skin—you need to let go of that bundle of clothes, get
naked and get in the shower,
she told
herself practically. And now that she knew the big Kindred couldn’t
see her, she found it much easier to do that.

“
Okay,” she told him,
putting her bundle of clothes on top of the counter by the sink.
“I’m ready.”

“
Well, I’m not.” He
shifted a little. “I mean, I need to get the rest of my clothes off
before I get in.”

“
Oh, you do? I mean…of
course you do.” Kate cleared her throat. “I was, uh, wondering
earlier if the pool goop got into your, uh, britches.”

“
So that’s why you were
looking at me earlier.” He laughed softly. “I wondered about that.
But yes, unfortunately, it did. So…do you mind?” He stood there
waiting and Kate realized he was asking her permission to
strip.

“
Oh. Of course, please—go
ahead,” she said, trying to be polite.

“
Thanks.” Without further
ceremony, Rone unfastened his black leather trousers and shucked
them down along with the black underbriefs he’d been
wearing.

Kate sucked in a breath at the sight of him
naked. He’d been right when he said the goop had gotten
everywhere—it didn’t coat the bottom half of him as thoroughly as
the top half but streaks of black still ran down the flat planes of
his belly and the long length of his muscular thighs. Some of it
had also gotten on his crotch, she couldn’t help noticing. Most
noticeably, there were streaks of black running down his very
impressive shaft.

At least he’s not
hard,
she thought, feeling uncomfortable
all over again.
But if he’s this big soft,
I’d hate to see what happens when he
does
get hard!

“
Kate?” he asked and she
realized he was just standing there, waiting.

“
Uh—yes?” Her voice came
out in a squeak and she had to try again. “Yes?” she
asked.

“
Could you lead me into
the shower?” he asked, holding out a hand. “I really can’t see a
damn thing.”

“
Oh—sure.” She took him by
the hand and led him into the shower stall, which was a large one,
enclosed with glass walls and a frosted glass door. As she closed
it behind her, Kate lifted her chin.

Well—here we go. No turning back now!

Chapter
Sixteen

It felt strange to be in the shower, naked
with the big Kindred but once the warm water hit her skin, Kate
found herself relaxing, at least a little. The heated spray against
her skin was soothing, even if it didn’t do anything to remove the
slime. She wondered if Rone was enjoying it too but when she looked
at him, he was just standing there, obviously waiting for her to
make the first move.

The first move—oh my God, I have to do
something. We can’t just stand here all night not getting anything
done and he’s clearly too much of a gentleman to start it
himself.

The thought made her feel nervous all over
again and she cleared her throat and shifted uncomfortably.

“
Kate?” Rone’s voice was
soft, as though he was trying not to frighten her. “How exactly do
you want to do this? Do you want to wash me first or let me wash
you?”

“
Um…” God, she really
couldn’t deal with this… Then her eye was caught by a bright blue
bath puff hanging from a hook on the shower’s tiled back wall. It
looked almost exactly like the one she had back home at Mimi’s
apartment.

Oh, thank goodness!
She felt a rush of relief. She could just use the
puff between her hand and his skin and have him do the same. That
should work, right? Because it was still going to be her hand doing
the scrubbing and the Madam of Shadows had said no hand but hers
would get him clean and vice versa.

“
Kate?” he asked again.
“You are still in here, right?”

“
Oh, right—sorry.” She
gave a nervous little laugh. “I was just…thinking. Anyway, I think
I’ll do you first, if you don’t mind.”

“
Not a bit, baby.” He
spread his arms as if presenting himself to her. “Do what you want,
however you want to do it.”

“
Okay, I will.”

Reaching up, Kate snagged the bright blue
bath puff from its hook. There was a bottle of body wash on a
little ledge beside it and she saw with surprise, it was the same
kind she used at home.

“
This is weird,” she said
as she squirted a generous dollop of the floral-smelling body wash
onto the puff.

“
Actually, we wash each
other in the bathing pool all the time—or we did, anyway.” Rone
sounded wistful.

“
No, I meant, this
bubble-apartment thing they’ve got us in.” Kate grabbed one of his
hands and began to scrub his long, muscular arm industriously with
the puff.

“
What about it?” Rone
asked. He stood perfectly still, submitting to her
scrubbing.

“
It’s set up a lot like
the apartment I had in college,” Kate said. “I mean, it looks
almost
exactly
like it except for this bathroom which is way nicer. But they
even have a bath puff just like the one I left back home.
And
my favorite brand of
body wash.” She shook her head. “That shouldn’t be possible. This
place is light years from Earth and I’d bet anything no one else
from Earth has been here. How did they know exactly how to set up a
place that would make someone from my planet feel at
home?”

“
I suppose Commander
Sylvan could have given them specifications.” Rone sounded
thoughtful. “After all, I know the Kindred Mother ship is set up to
make the Earth brides feel more comfortable so he would know
exactly what to tell them.”

“
I could see that with the
furniture and the bathing and cooking facilities.” Kate frowned as
she spoke, still scrubbing hard. Nothing was coming off so far but
she was sure it was just a matter of time. Rone was a big guy—it
was going to take some serious elbow grease to get him all clean.
“But right down to my favorite brand of body wash? It’s just
weird,”
she
said.

“
Maybe they pulled this
setup from your mind,” Rone suggested. “Maybe they scanned us in
some way.”

“
Then why not have some
things from your home world too?” Kate asked. “I mean, unless
there
is
something here like that? It all looks like Earth stuff to
me.”

“
It is.” Rone frowned.
“Maybe it has something to do with that damn pool. Maybe it read
you in some way while it was trying to drown you.”

“
Ugh!” Kate shivered.
“Now
there’s
a
pleasant idea.”