His soulful brown eyes curiously watched me while I turned on the shower, adjusting the water temperature slightly warmer than I normally would. He led us underneath the stream and wrapped his arms around my body. I was embarrassed to tell him that I was cold, but I thought I could beat the rain and had stupidly let Courtney borrow my only umbrella.

“I’m not sure what we’re doing,” he honestly admitted what I had been thinking.

“Me either,” I confessed.

“One step at a time?” he asked, but I knew we weren’t just talking about whatever was going on between us at the moment. It was one of those heavy statements people used in the moment when there was nothing else to be said. As if giving the steps to fate somehow made being clueless easier. It didn’t.

I nodded my head before his mouth found the side of my neck, and a moan left my mouth. My fingertips inched up his tone body and wrapped around his back. He lifted my body upward and my head knocked the shower nozzle out of the holder, spraying him in the face and then snaking around the floor of the tub from the pressure of the water.

“Shit, are you okay?” he said in a concerned voice, reaching for the top of my head. I nodded and quickly turned the knob off in hopes of not flooding my entire bathroom.

“Fuck, I’m sorry.” He hung his head and leaned it against the shower wall. “I don’t do…people anymore. I try to keep to myself and my animals.” He closed his eyes and scrubbed his face with his hand.

“It’s fine. I don’t do people anymore either,” I repeated his statement, understanding exactly what he’d meant. We both had distanced ourselves from the world, but somehow found each other.

“Come on.” I stepped out of the shower and handed him a towel. “We have a bottle to drink.” I smiled, wrapping a towel around my body and then securing one on my hair, trying to salvage the night.

“That we do.” He grinned, drying the water from his beard and then drying the rest of his body. I wanted to give him some privacy, but he’d never been inside my home, and I knew he wouldn’t know where to go from here. I awkwardly turned my back to him and stared at the wall across the hall.

“I’ll be back. I’ll go find us some clothes.” I’d taken a step, and then his hand caught mine.

“Don’t bother,” he responded in a husky voice, clasping his hands around my waist, and I doubted we’d break the seal on the bottle for a while. Maybe we would. I never knew what to expect from one second to the next.

Hanging out with Courtney reminded me what it was to have a friend, and being with Drex made me feel needed. I held purpose, regardless how small it was, in people’s lives. Realizing that both terrified me and brought me joy.

Drex was never something I intended to pursue, yet here we were speaking in hushed tones, even though there wasn’t a chance anyone would hear us. His answers usually shocked me, and at times pissed me off, but I always wanted to hear them, regardless. Even if I didn’t admit that all the time.

His fingertips carefully found their way up my back and undid the towel containing my hair. His excitement pressed against the back of my leg and I ached between my thighs, knowing he wanted me as much as I did him. He kissed the skin where my shoulder met my neck, and his warm breath teased every inhibition I had. I’d always been modest, the kind of person who turned the lights off to have sex. Yet with Drex, it didn’t matter when we were by the lake, and it didn’t matter now.

I turned to face him, and I wasn’t sure whose mouth found the other’s. We were both too eager to close the little space left between us. His tongue slid between my lips and swirled the tip of my own. He lifted me up, and I wrapped my legs around him. Our towels got tangled in the mix.

He let out an annoyed sigh and smiled against my lips. He had a stunning smile, even though he didn’t let the world see it often. It was these tiny moments that made me feel special and helped me forget my sorrow. He chose to let only me see his beauty and hid it from the rest of the world.

It was a combined effort, removing the towels. One that would have been easier had he just put me down, even if it were only for a few seconds. He didn’t. I pulled at his while he tugged at mine and lost his balance. He leaned us against the wall, breathless, and we laughed together. Nothing was easy with us, but at this point, I wouldn’t expect it to be.

I gently untied his towel and held onto his neck as he released mine. He closed his eyes and eased into me until I was completely against him.

“I missed you,” he confessed with pleasure laced in each word.

There were moments that I wished to forget; in fact, I prayed to forget them. This wasn’t one of them. Drex admitting he missed me wasn’t a simple statement. I knew by his rough exterior he was like me. He pushed people away, afraid to get too close. To say he missed someone meant he felt it with every ounce of his being…and so did I.

“I missed you, too,” I whispered against his neck in between breaths.