Smiling crookedly, he lowered the knocking hand and raised the other, revealing the instructions.
“Thank you,” Drina breathed, taking the sheet of paper with a relief that was not proportional to the moment. She knew then that her exhaustion was definitely making her overemotional. She’d sat on that stool all night, nodding off a time or two from sheer exhaustion, but only for a second each time before her swaying body had brought her abruptly back awake.
“Do you want some help?” Harper asked quickly when she started to close the door.
Drina paused in surprise, and then smiled wryly at his pained expression and shook her head. “Thank you for offering. It’s very sweet, but I know I smell like the worst backed-up drainage system ever and wouldn’t even inflict this on Anders.”
“I came prepared,” he said quickly, bringing her to a halt again. This time the door was almost closed, and she had to pull it back open. When she peered at him quizzically, Harper opened the hand he’d had fisted to knock, revealing a clothespin resting in his palm.
Drina released a startled laugh and shook her head. “You—”
Her words caught in her throat when he suddenly covered her mouth with his. Lifting it a moment later, Harper said gently, “I believe the expression is for better or worse. Besides, in a few minutes, it will be all better and no worse.”
She chuckled at the way he wiggled one eyebrow lasciviously and backed into the bathroom to let him in. “All right. You can read the instructions to me.”
Drina handed him back the instructions after a quick glance at the first one. She then moved to the tub to put in the stopper.
“Take off the clothes you’re wearing,” Harper read out as she straightened. He then caught the back of her sheet and whipped it away.
Drina gasped, and then turned to prop her fists on her naked hips and give him a feigned scowl. “I read the first instructions. It said take off the clothes you were wearing when sprayed.”
“True, but you can’t bathe in the sheet anyway, so I thought I’d be helpful,” he said, his eyes appreciating her pose and nakedness.
Drina snorted at the claim, and then grinned with amusement when he glanced around, closed the toilet seat, and sat on it, then attached the clothespin to his nose, pinching it closed, as he considered the instructions again.
“Fill a tub with water and get in,” he read, his voice now nasal.
Chuckling, she turned back to the tub and turned the taps on full. Drina then glanced over her shoulder to catch him eyeing her derriere in a manner that probably wouldn’t go under the listing of “helpful.” Shaking her head, she asked, “What do I put in first? The tomato juice or—?”
“Neither,” he interrupted, managing to tear his gaze from her derriere and back to the sheet. “It says to wash first with just soap and water, that sometimes if you only got a light spray, it’s enough.”
“My spraying wasn’t light,” she said dryly. It had been a nice hard steady stream. The little beast had probably been saving up all winter to douse someone. Lucky her for being the recipient. “And Teddy said a bath wouldn’t help by itself, or I would have done it last night.”
“I’m just reading the instructions,” he said with an apologetic shrug.
“Right,” Drina muttered. The tub was only half-full, but she stepped into it and sat down anyway. While the water continued to run, she picked up the bar of soap on the side of the tub, dunked it in the water, and began to lather it up and apply it to herself.
Harper said something she couldn’t hear over the sound of the rushing water. Busy lathering her chest and neck, Drina simply lifted one foot out of the water and used her toes to turn off the tap before turning to him to ask, “What was that?”
He was staring rather blankly at the taps.
“Harper?” she asked with a frown.
“You turned it off with your toes,” he muttered.
“Yes,” Drina said, and tilted her head uncertainly. She’d done it automatically and hadn’t realized it was odd, but his expression was . . . well, she wasn’t sure what his expression was. His eyes were wide though, and he was now staring at her feet at the end of the tub with a sort of fascination.
“What talented little feet you have,” he murmured finally, his gaze shifting back to her face. “What else can you do with them?”
Drina opened her mouth, closed it, and then narrowed her eyes. “Are you having another one of your perverted little fantasies like the maid apron and boots?”
“Uh-huh.” Harper nodded, his eyes sliding over her naked breasts above the water.