Page 7 of The Plan
As I wait for the bath to fill, I head back to my scrapbook and continue flicking. Once I think it’ll be ready, I shut myself in the bathroom and strip down.
“Ah, fuck!” I squeal when I dip my toe into what I was expecting to be nice warm water. “What the fuck?” The temperature was perfect when I started running it, what the fuck happened? In a huff, I shove my arm into the freezing water to pull the plug before watching all my soothing bubbles disappear down the drain. Once it’s all but empty, I lean in and turn the shower on instead, as that now seems to be the only choice.
Once it’s hot, I jump under and let the spray hit the back of my neck and shoulders. It’s not exactly the power shower I’m used to but it does the job. I’m just about to rinse the bubbles out of my hair when the water suddenly cuts off and the lights go out. “Well, this is fucking great,” I mutter to myself as I flick the switch back and forth on the shower, praying it’ll come back on but knowing it won’t.
Reluctantly, I step out of the bath and pull the towel around me. It’s small and rough to the touch. I think I’ve discovered what herthank you for allowing me to staypresent is going to be: giant, thick, fluffy towels.
I do the best I can at wrapping it around myself. It just about covers all my essentials and I head out in search of the problem—not that I’ll have any clue how to fix it. Remembering that when I was younger and our power used to go out, Mum used to go to the garage and do something with the fuse board, I decide to head in that direction. Thankfully, there’s a door leading to the garage from the kitchen so it means I don’t have to venture outside still wet, with bubbles starting to slide down my neck and my arse barely covered.
I pull the door open and step inside. It’s dark, apart from a glow coming from my left. When I look up, I lock eyes with a man on a ladder. Wait…no…not just a man on a ladder. A sexy as fuck man on a ladder.
“What the fuck?” I ask, like the total lady I am.
“Mornin’,” he purrs. Seriously, his voice is so fucking deep and smooth it’s unreal. There’s a hit of an Irish accent but also something else that I can’t make out with just that one word.
His eyes break from mine and slowly travel down my almost naked body. I swear flames lick my skin as his gaze moves. It burns, sending tingles to every corner of my body. Well fuck me, this is new.
When his head comes back up, he’s got the smuggest smirk on his face and it ignites my anger.
“Have you just about finished?” I snap. “What the fuck’s going on with the electric? I was in the middle of a shower.”
“I can see that. I promised Addy I’d change her fuse board,” he says, like it should be something I know all about.
“So you thought you’d just turn up unannounced and let yourself in?” I huff.
“Pretty much. She didn’t tell me she had company, which I’m glad of, because this little meeting has really improved my morning.”
“Stop that.”
“What?” he asks innocently, like he doesn’t know exactly what he’s doing.
“Stop with the smirk on your face, and stop looking at me like that,” I warn as I pull the towel tighter. I’m embarrassed by my body’s reaction to this cocky stranger. The longer he looks at me, the more my body sings. Those tingles I felt earlier have made a beeline for my clit and I can feel it pulsing so hard I swear he must be able to hear it somehow.
I watch as he slowly steps down from the ladder so he’s right in front of me. His hand comes up and as much as my brain is screaming at me to step away, I stay frozen to the spot as he gets closer. I instinctively close my eyes moments before he touches me. The second our skin connects, they spring back open in shock. When I find his eyes, I discover they’re wide, too.
He pulls his hand back and his thumb’s covered in bubbles. “It was about to go in your eye,” he says quietly as he wipes it on his worn, ripped jeans.
“Oh,” I say, because all words have escaped me. One touch is all it took to render me useless.
“You’ve got ten minutes,” he says as he climbs back up the ladder like he’s totally unaffected by what just happened between us. “Then I’ve really got to get this off the wall. Is that going to be enough, princess?”
“Princess?” I ask, totally affronted by his nickname for me.
His eyes run the length of me again and I fight the feelings that try to reappear. “Yeah,princess.”
We stand locked in our stare.
“Ten minutes. Clock’s ticking,princess.”
I rip my eyes from him and turn to leave. I’m just about to step up into the kitchen when my body takes on a mind of its own and I turn back at the last second. His gaze is locked on my legs, which causes my throb to pick up pace. I take one last look before stepping through the door and letting it slam behind me.
I don’t waste any time in being stood back under the shower. I have no doubt that he was serious about his ten-minute warning. I quickly rinse the shampoo out of my hair and replace it with conditioner before running the razor over as much as I dare in this short amount of time, and lather myself up with shower gel. All the while, the image of him stood on the ladder plays on repeat in my mind. His almost to his shoulders dark blonde hair, his deep blue eyes, the stretched cotton of his white t-shirt straining to cover his wide shoulders and chest, and his light blue, old, ripped jeans hugging his thighs.Fuck Jamie Dornan and Colin Farrell; I’ll have myself a piece of that,I think to myself as I once again attempt to wrap myself up in the small towel. I’m not out of the shower ten seconds when the lights go out.
I finish up with moisturising my face before running to the living room, grabbing some clothes and locking myself back in dark bathroom. The light coming from the small window does nothing to help me apply my makeup but I refuse to do it out there where he could walk in. I’ve no idea who he is but he’s dangerous, I know that much.
I pull a jumper dress over a pair of leggings and zip up my favourite tan mid heel boots before taking a breath and leaving the safety of the bathroom. I’ve decided it was all in my head. I was practically naked after all, and I haven’t had attention like that in forever. Anyway, he’s probably happily married with three kids or something. Any male that good-looking will have been snapped up years ago.
I deposit my toiletries back in my suitcase and turn the bed back into a sofa before hiding my luggage behind it so Aunt Addy’s living room doesn’t look like a dumping ground. I put the kettle on, do the washing up, clean all the surfaces…anything that will put off having to go in the garage, really.
