The Coast is Clear (Breakaway Shores #1)

Zander

Come Clean

Showering seemed like a good idea, like a sexy idea, but now, I wondered if it was too soon. We hadn’t done anything super intimate yet, and I’d asked her to shower with me. Smooth move, . Smooth.

The water was scalding against my skin, just the way I liked it, and Izzy stood somewhere on the other side of the curtain. She’d told me to go in first and that she’d join me. I wondered if she was as nervous outside as I was inside the shower. “You still there?” I asked softly.

“Yeah,” her answer gave away how she was feeling. The word was slow and quiet. “I’m nervous.”

“Do you want me to close my eyes?” I asked her, trying to put myself in her shoes. I hadn’t been with anyone since Natalie, but she hadn’t been with anyone since Jack. Who had died. It was a whole ball game that I didn’t understand, and I didn’t want to push her.

“Yeah, maybe do that,” Izzy told me from outside the shower, so I took a step forward, letting my head hang down, and the water hit my scalp.

“Eyes are closed.” The shower curtain clinked against the rod, and the fabric swished. I felt her step in behind me, and part of me tensed, only because I didn’t want to do anything wrong. But I also knew, maybe hoped, that she was eyeing the back of me. I cupped myself with both hands. “Do I have to keep my eyes closed the whole time?”

Izzy laughed behind me, and I felt her hands on my back. I jolted for a moment, and she said, “Sorry, I scared you.” She put her hands on me again, running her fingers down my back. I loved the way she almost tickled my skin.

“You’ve got a great behind, even better without clothes on.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked her and reveled in the feeling of her touching me.

She didn’t say anything else for a few breaths, and then she put her hands on my waist, twisting me. “You can turn around.” I let her lead me, but I kept my eyes closed and my manhood covered. “You can open your eyes.”

I opened them slowly and let my eyes rake over her naked body .

I took a step toward her, and Izzy put her hand on top of the two of mine. My eyes met hers, and she smirked at me. “You’re all covered up.”

“All covered up?” I threw back, and she giggled before peeling my hands away.

“It’s just not fair,” she mumbled.

“What?” I forced out, her finger still caressing me.

“You, looking like this, and me, looking the way I do. All soft and flabby.”

I took another step toward her and put a hand under her chin. “You are beautiful. Way more than I could have imagined. Sexy.”

“But I’m just—”

“No,” I cut her off. “You’re not just anything. You’re everything. Amazing. Incredible at being a mother, at being an author, at being a sister, and a girlfriend. I don’t want to hear that again. You’re more than I ever thought I’d have.” Izzy’s eyes glossed over, and she pressed up on her toes to kiss me. I held her close, running my hands over her back, and then I grabbed the soap from behind her. “Let me get the airplane off you.”

And washing her was even worse, even more tempting, than just looking at her. Her skin glistened underneath the bubbles. It felt like the most intimate thing to do as my fingers slipped around her skin. Izzy took the loofah from me and lathered up my body.

We kept touching each other and exploring each other, but we didn’t cross the line. I held back because I didn’t want the first time we had sex to be in the shower. I wanted to do it right. To give her what she needed and deserved.

We eventually turned off the water and wrapped ourselves in towels. Izzy brushed her hair and said, “Do you want to watch a cooking show? I’ve got a TV in the bedroom. Or do you have to go?”

I didn’t have to be anywhere, and I didn’t want to go anywhere. “Let’s watch,” I said, grabbing my briefs out of my pants and slipping them on. I followed her out of the ensuite bathroom and straight into her room. Tonight was the first time I had been in her little section of the house. I’d been in the boys’ room but not here.

She grabbed the remote off the dresser across from the bed and underneath the wall-mounted TV. Izzy sat on the left side of the bed and patted the spot on the right. “This is all you.”

I moved slowly and noticed her watching me as I sat. I wanted to lie down and get under the covers, but I felt like something needed to be said. “Is this weird?”

She shook her head. “It’s not weird. Weird isn’t the right word. It just sort of feels big, like something new.”

“I get that,” and I did.

Izzy stood, still only wearing a towel, and went to the dresser again. She grabbed two items from the top drawer and pressed play on her favorite grocery store cooking show. I tried not to watch her as the towel fell to the ground, and everything that I’d been able to see in the shower was right there. I wanted to touch her again. She slipped on a pair of tan boy shorts and a white tank top. Izzy eyed me before getting into the bed. “What?”

“Is that really what you wear to bed?” It seemed like the outfit was only for my benefit.

She settled back into her pillows. “Yes, this is what I normally wear to bed.”

“Just underwear? How lucky for me.” I turned my attention back to the TV, still only halfway sitting on the bed.

“You can lay down, Zand. It’s okay.”

I did. I lay down, slipping my body under the covers and relishing in the coolness of the sheets. Izzy scooted closer to me, resting her head on my shoulder. The man with the bright blonde hair on the TV was giving these poor chefs incredibly disgusting ingredients to cook with, but all I could think about was Izzy. Her body pressed into mine, and how I never wanted to leave this spot.