Page 3 of The I Do Over

“Baby, I'm your slave…”

Oh, good grief, she thought.

The closer she got, the more nervous she became. In the distance, she heard the water shut off and seriously hoped he wasn’t going to be standing there naked in the shower. How awkward would that be? Like she needed anything else to make this situation worse?

“And get your sexy on…”

This time she rolled her eyes as she stopped on the edge of the shower room. But then…she saw him. His back was to her so she couldn’t be one hundred percent certain it was Knox, but…she knew. The sandy brown hair was the same–well, it looked darker because it was wet, but she was confident the color was the same. He might be bigger and taller and more masculine, but…wearing nothing more than a towel, she swore she’d know him anywhere.

Or…her body would because all her girly parts were suddenly on high alert.

He was doing some little dance and Maddie wasn’t sure if she should laugh or clear her throat or do something to alert him to her presence, but all she could do was watch.

Every time she imagined seeing him, he was fully dressed and sitting behind a desk. How was she supposed to have a serious conversation with him when he was practically naked?

Focus on his eyes…just look him in the eyes…

It was good advice and something she was prepared to do. He was still dancing and his singing had turned to gibberish–like he didn’t really know the lyrics–and she couldn’t believe she was standing less than ten feet away from the boy she had vowed to love and cherish forever and he didn’t even know she was there.

Until he spun around a few times and finally noticed her for himself.

“What the…Holy shit!” he blurted out mid-spin.“Maddie?!”

Then several things happened at once.

His towel started to slip at the same time he tried to take a step toward her. The next thing she knew, he let out a startled sound as he slipped and fell on his ass.

“Oh my God!” she gasped, and wasn’t sure if she should turn away or help him up.

Good manners dictated that she turn away because…ahem…things were showing that she shouldnotbe seeing.

But that didn’t mean she couldn’t peek.

Knox wasn’t sure what to do first—fix the towel so everything he had wasn’t hanging out or reach out and see if the woman standing there was actually real.

He opted to fix the towel.

“Um…Maddie?” he croaked before clearing his throat. “What are you doing here?”

Her hands were over her eyes—barely—as she said, “I wanted to talk to you.”

For a moment, he was too stunned to respond.

Then he came to his wits. “You waited seventeen years and you couldn’t wait another ten minutes until I was out of the shower?”

She dropped her hands. “I didn’t know you were in the shower!”

“Still, it’s a men’s locker room!” He maneuvered to keep the towel from exposing any more of himself as he came to his feet.

And winced.

“Are you okay?”

Rubbing a hand on his butt, he groaned. “Yeah. Fine.” But when he went to take a step, he winced again.

“You probably just landed wrong,” she said. “It’s not uncommon to develop a bruise on your…um…gluteus maximus. Forceful impact on a muscle can cause damage to muscle fibers and underlying blood vessels, resulting in bleeding underneath the skin. Direct impact on the gluteal muscles can cause a…”

“I get it, Maddie,” he quickly interrupted. “I’ll have a bruise on my ass. Got it.”

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