I stood up, then helped her to her feet as well, making sure that her leg could hold her. She winced, but she stood under her own power just fine.
“I don't feel that emptiness when I'm around you, Flora. I can finally see the truth. You're my only chance of being that man again.” Unable to hold back, I kissed her sweetly. It was brief, too brief. “Without you...” Words that, up until that moment I wasn't capable of saying, came to my mouth like the bursting of a dam.
Words that even death couldn't steal from me.
“I love you.”
Stunned, Flora just stared at me like she'd forgotten how to speak. For a moment, I was more terrified than I'd ever been in my entire life.
“I'm—You too.” She revealed the biggest, most innocent smile I'd seen on her yet. “I mean, I'm sorry. I'm a fucking mess right now!” She breathed in until her chest swelled, taking a moment to calm herself. Finally, she brushed her fingers into mine, her voice firm as steel. “I love you too, Connor.”
My name never sounded so good. It was the first time Flora had said my name without it slipping out accidentally, or being used as a warning. The name Ronin was given to me just after I'd been patched in and made a full member. I'd immediately asked to go Nomad. The name was synonyms for wanderer and loner. I was a warrior who'd lost his way.
Flora hugged me. I didn't feel so lost anymore.
Eventually, she peeled herself off me. “Ugh, I am so damn filthy!” She laughed. “I need to go take a shower. You better not leave. If I slip and crack my head open, that's on you.”
“Scouts' honor.” I put up the three-finger boy scout salute, then helped her to the bathroom. I kept the door open a crack so I could actually hear if she did fall over, not that I thought she would, but at this point I'd lost track of the karma I'd stored up. I didn't want to take any chances.
It was twelve agonizing minutes later that she called for me. It was difficult knowing she was wet and naked and so near. There wasn't any pain in her voice, so I knew it wasn't a call of distress. My concerns alleviated, I opened the door. Steam billowed out and obscured my vision. “You alright?” I asked carefully.
“Yes, I just...” Flora folded back the curtain enough to pop her head out. Once she cleaned the shampoo out of her eyes, she looked at me with eyebrows upturned. “I have to hold on to the wall because of my stupid leg. I was wondering, would you mind, well.” A slightly nervous smile parted her lips. “Washing my back?”
I didn't bother hiding the smirk that crawled across my face. I couldn't think of a better way to spend a morning. “It'd be my pleasure,” I replied, watching her head fade back beneath the steam and semi-opaque curtain.
I pulled the barrier to the side. Flora had her naked back to me. The harsh, bluish bathroom light couldn't rob the beauty of her every tight curve. Her slick body shimmered, daring me to touch her.
I resisted, at least long enough to grab the bar of soap and lather my hands. I started at her shoulders. They were supple, her skin yielding to my grip. I massaged the soap into her back. Slowly I moved downward, sliding my thumbs on either side of her spine and letting my fingers caress each rib.
I slipped a hand around to her stomach. “Just for support,” I cooed softly. We both accepted it for the lie that it was.
“Of course,” Flora agreed, breathing in deeply. Yearning radiated from her.
My other hand washed over each hip in turn, then lingered just above the swell of her ass. She arched forward, the water running down her back and collecting over my hand. My eyes traced their path over her thighs and between her legs.
And then my hand followed.
I stopped, inches away from her pussy. Flora mewled, wiggling against me. The emanating heat that bathed my fingers was maddening, but I wanted to hear her beg me for it.
“It's not nice to tease a wounded girl,” she said.
I let go of her thigh altogether. “Do I strike you as the nice type?” Flora groaned in disappointment. Her whole body tensed in fleeting protest.
I flexed my fingertips into deep lines across her stomach, pulling her against my chest. My cock dug into her flesh, both of us hissing.
I kissed and bit her; at the back of her neck, at her collar bone, at everything I could. I barely noticed that her water slicked skin had soaked through the front of my shirt and pants. I certainly didn't care.
“Connor.” Her voice was so lustfully liquid that I tried to drink it through the nape of her neck. Her fingers crept along the back of my head, intertwining with my hair, her nails dragging along my scalp. “I need to feel you.”
One of my hands drifted up past her belly button to graze gently between her breasts, while the other dragged down through the nook of her hips. Every touch and scrape doubled my desire for her, it became suffocating. “How badly?”