Chapter Fifteen
Torran
“Ugh,” he groaned as his phone started buzzing from the nightstand to his right.
Lilly sighed softly, curled up in his left arm, but she didn’t move. This was going to be tricky. He reached his arm out for the phone.
It fell a foot short.
“Who designed this fucking room?” he growled at the massive space between nightstand and bed. Stupid shifters that had been here before. He was going to reorganize. Meanwhile the phone continued to buzz.
Leaning gently to his right, he kept Lilly pinned to his side as it rose into the air, bringing her with it. He moved slowly, trying not to disturb her. She was sound asleep and his care in the end was unnecessary. He grabbed the phone and settled back into place. She simply readjusted and promptly was back asleep. Torran wished he could fall asleep that easily.
“Hello?” he spoke in soft tones, not a whisper. Whispering was harsh and more likely to carry.
“Everything okay?” Palin asked from the other end.
“Yeah, fine.” He didn’t feel like elaborating why he was speaking quietly. “What’s up?”
Palin’s nonverbal response made it clear he knew something was up, but he didn’t push it. “Dinner. My place.”
“Aww, a dinner party. How cute. Did Sandy put you up to it? Are you going to serve lots of vegetables?”
The growl that came through the phone threatened to wake Lilly with the bouncing of his chest as he tried not to laugh. He’d been waiting to use some sort of line like that. It had taken him much longer than he’d expected.
“Tonight. Six thirty. Don’t be late.”
Torran glanced at the clock. It was already five. “Okay. We can handle that.”
There was nothing but a click from the other side. He chuckled quietly to himself, knowing Palin would be irritated over the comment for the next little bit. Sucker.
“Hey sleepyhead.” He kissed Lilly on the head.
“No. I don’t wanna.”
“You don’t want to what?”
“Whatever it is that you’re waking me for. I’m tired. You have to wait until later for more. Maybe tomorrow even. You’re kind of big.”
He smiled at the backhanded compliment. “Not why I was disturbing you.”
“Why then? If it’s to sweet-talk me, you’ll find waking me from a nap is not the way to go about it.”
“What about if I woke you so you didn’t miss food?”
Lilly’s eyes blinked open and she shifted so she could look up at him. “Did you say food?”
“Yes. There’s a catch though, and not one of my doing.”
Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “I don’t like the sounds of this.”
“We’re going to Palin’s for dinner. So, on one hand we don’t have to make anything.”
“But on the other,” she groaned, coming awake. “We have to get ready. And shower. I need to get you off of me. It wouldn’t do to show up with dried you everywhere.”
He shrugged. “You asked for it.”
“Stop,” she laughed. “Okay, so what you’re saying is we need to shower?”
“What’s this ‘we’ business?”
“You smell like my…um…listen, you just need to shower, okay?”
It was Torran’s turn to laugh. “Okay fine, but I’m washing you.”
Lilly frowned. “You say that like you think I’m going to object to a spongebath. Yes, yes, you can wash me. Just no getting handsy, mister. I know your tricks.”
He smiled. “Lilly, you know none of my tricks.”
“Whatever. I’m excited to see Sandy. Let’s go. If we go in time I can have an extra sparkling water before dinner.” She made a face. “It’s not wine, but you know, pregnancy and all. I’ll have to make do.”
“So you can drive home then?”
“Are you already taking advantage of the fact that I can’t drink so that you can overdo it with your buddies? Really?”
He shrugged. “I didn’t see the harm in trying. Now come on, shower time.” He rose and pulled the covers off.
“Well you just earned yourself a night of sobriety,” she teased, following him to the oversized shower.
As the first occupants of the ranch they’d gotten to choose the rooms they wanted most. Lilly had chosen the master suite. Well, one of four master suites in the huge house, but the one most up to date. Much of the décor and furnishings were old, but the bathroom was something that had been important to the old owner it seemed. It was huge, and the word luxurious didn’t even begin to describe it.
The square shower could hold nine of him in three rows. Fully half the ceiling was dedicated to a rainfall showerhead. It was utterly insane and overkill, and Torran had been dying to try it out. Now he would finally get his chance, and he’d get to do it with his sexy mate as well.
“Is this warm enough?” he asked, stepping inside and preparing to turn the controls upward.
“No. Too warm.”
His jaw fell open. “Too warm?”
She nodded. “I don’t like the extreme heat. Warm is good. Not cold, just not scalding.”
“Marry me?” he gasped, stunned by this amazing revelation. “You are absolutely perfect.”
Lilly smiled sheepishly. “I like heat elsewhere. Lounging in the sun, the air when I go to sleep. Just not the water for whatever reason. Only in hot tubs can I stomach it.”
“Doesn’t matter. The ability to shower with you and not have my skin boiled off while doing so is just phenomenal.” He stepped aside and let her get fully into the shower and then under the rainfall.
While she soaked herself he grabbed the bodywash and proceeded to start lathering it up in his hands, before draping it across her shoulders. Then he dug his fingers in and slowly began to massage the suds into her skin with smooth circles of his hands. Lilly groaned and put her arms up on the wall as he worked, luxuriating in it all.
He finished her back and moved to the front, caressing her breasts and cleaning all the remains of their activities from her skin. Then he moved to her stomach, feeling the soft skin as he worked, paying extra care to it. While she wasn’t showing with pregnancy yet, he wanted the child growing within to know it was well cared for, and would continue to be as long as he was able.
The child was half Lilly. Half her blood. That, he’d decided, was enough for him, and he wanted the developing person to know that. To understand that he no longer cared, and would raise it as his own. Protect it. Teach it.
While he worked she watched him, her eyes intent on his every motion. She didn’t say anything as he touched her stomach, but she didn’t need to. They both knew what he was doing. What his actions were saying.
Finally he moved on. They didn’t have all day. So he worked her legs and even massaged the soles of her feet for a few minutes. Then he backed off and let her wash between her legs. He was comfortable with it, but something told him Lilly would have felt uncomfortable with him washing her feminine bits, as she sometimes referred to them.
“Have you met Sandy yet?” she asked, rinsing off.
“Not really, no.” He’d used the time to wash himself off, including his face, to satisfy Lilly that he longer smelled of her.
“Well you’d better put your game face on, mister.”
“Why is that? Is she a handful?”
Lilly laughed. “You have no idea, but that’s not why.”
“I don’t get it.”
“To have me, you need the best friend approval, Torran. Come on now. If she doesn’t like you? Well. That’s not good.”
He knew she was teasing him, that if for some reason Sandy didn’t actually like him that wouldn’t be the end of things. It was a joke. Right?
Right?