Page 43 of Play Maker

“What secret do you think you know?” she asked in an exasperated tone.

“When you put it that way, I’m forced to question my certainty. Did you clean my bathroom?”

She shot up off the couch and brushed past me. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Her reaction was extreme even for the teasing I’d been dishing out. I thought back to the last time I’d needed to clean anything, and it was a solid two weeks ago—before she’d moved in. RJ had made it sound like a one-time thing, but my Spidey sense went off.

“Have you been cleaning my bathroomthis whole time?”

Blue spun around, rainbow hair flying, and poked me in the chest. “What part of ‘I don’t want to talk about it’ did you misunderstand?”

Her finger drilled into my pec again, so I caught her hand as a safety measure. “Why are you cleaning my bathroom? You have your own bathroom.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “Are you installing cameras or something? Because trust me, people don’t like when you have secret camera access.”

She stopped trying to free her hand and tilted her head. “Why would you know that?”

“Personal experience involving a slight misunderstanding with Eva and some door cams.”

Her brows shot up. “No. I’m not installing cameras, you pervert. I wanted to thank you for giving me an alternative to Shad, so I’ve been doing some stuff around the apartment. It’s not a big deal, just a little cleaning and a few other chores.”

It felt like a little bit of a big deal. No one had ever cleaned for me before. “Did you do Shaw and RJ’s bathroom?”

She blushed a pretty pink, but her chin came up. “No. I offered, but RJ laughed at me.”

Out of nowhere, my protective instincts engaged. RJ had left that little tidbit out of our conversation. I loved her like a fourth sister—fifth sister? It was hard to keep track these days—but I wasn’t going to let her hurt Blue’s feelings. “Why the fuck would she laugh at you trying to do something nice?”

Blue patted my chest where she’d poked it a minute ago. “Not like that. She loved the thought of finally having a clean bathroom, but she claimed Shaw would hate the idea.”

My hackles settled, and I snaked an arm around her for a hug. Blue relaxed immediately. She circled my waist and let her head rest against my chest, a huge improvement from when we first talked and she threatened to Tase me.

“He would. Shaw doesn’t like to feel beholden to his friends. Thank you for doing it, but please stop with the ninja cleaning.”

She looked up at me, eyes pleading. “What if I only do it every other day?”

“Is this a compulsion or are you just incapable of accepting help without repaying?” Either way I was going to start cleaning my own shit before she could get to it.

Blue wiggled her head back and forth with a shrug. “Probably the second, but I’m not discounting the first.”

“Fine. You can clean the shared areas, but no hiding it. Own it. Be proud of your new compulsion.”

Her nose wrinkled, and she pulled back until I caught her hand, preventing her from going any farther. “If you want me to let you bathe in your own filth, so be it.”

“Nah, I take my baths at the facility. None of our bathrooms have a tub, and let’s be honest, me using a regular sized tub would be like trying to squeeze a watermelon through a cat door. Wait, that’s childbirth. And maybe it wasn’t a cat door.” My favorite part of the day was watching the humor bloom in her tropical eyes. Followed closely by any chance I got to touch her.

I stroked my thumb across her palm, and she let me get away with it once before gently breaking the connection. This was our dynamic now. Casual touching, snuggling during the reinstituted movie night, heated looks we both ignored. A little push here, a tug there, easing us closer to the edge of friendship.

She walked backward slowly toward her room. I hoped it was because she didn’t really want to leave. “I’ll make note of your bath fetish. Right next to the camera thing.”

“I like baths. They relax me.”

Her steps slowed. “I like showers, but especially when the showerhead is oversized. More hot water coverage.”

I followed her, keeping a safe distance between us. Just far enough I wouldn’t be tempted to give in to desperation and reach for her again. If she came back on her own, though, I wouldn’t look as desperate. There were other things I was supposed to be doing on my day off—it was my week to get groceries—but I’d much rather spend time discussing plumbing with her.

“I have a fancy rain showerhead. One of the best splurges I’ve ever made. It’s fantastic for making sure your front side and your back side are warm at the same time.” Not my best conversational gambit for convincing a girl to spend time with me.

“Noah’s shower is one of those handheld ones that connects to a holder.” She dashed my hopes by crossing the threshold.

“I can honestly say I’ve never thought about Noah’s showerhead, but that makes sense. These apartments aren’t equipped to handle tall, dark, and handsome football players. Noah’s a redhead, but it’s a dark red, so he counts. Don’t tell him I said that though.” I stopped at the line of Noah’s door, toe to toe with Blue as she stared up at me. “For the record, you’re welcome to join me any time. You’d fit perfectly.”

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