Carrying her straight to the bathroom, I lower her onto the bench next to the bath before crouching in front of her. When I reach for the blanket, she clutches it tighter to her chest.
“What are you doing?” she asks.
“You need a shower.” When the pleat on her brow doesn’t smooth out, I explain my intention. “I’m not going to hurt you. I need to take care of you.”
“Then get out.”
I stand. The rejection stings, but I welcome the hurt. Feeling something after nothing, after thinking I’d never feel again, is a miracle and joyful in itself.
She agreed. I want to remind her, but I have to be patient. In fact, it’s better I don’t see her naked before tonight. The drawn-out expectation will only heighten the pleasure.
Still, I’m not comfortable leaving her in this state. She’s tired and weak. She can slip in the shower and crack open her head.
“Please?” she says.
The word pulls at my heart, another foreign sensation, because I do want to please her.
“Call if you need me.” I turn and leave but stop in the door. “Maybe it’s better if you have a bath.”
“I’ll be fine,” she says, her eyes sparking with annoyance.
I smile in return. “I’m right outside.”
Her rosebud mouth turns down. “Isn’t that good to know?”
I let it slide. I’m so happy to have her consent.
Closing the door to give her privacy, I settle down at the bureau in the bedroom so I can hear her in case she changes her mind about needing my help. I summon Benoit and give him the letter to mail with an instruction to bring back a tetanus shot. We have contacts everywhere. I can get anything I want, no matter where I am.
The water in the shower comes on. By the time it turns off, I’ve ordered brunch and made arrangements for tonight. When Zoe steps out dressed in a bathrobe, I point at the loveseat.
She trots over, but falters before she reaches the seat. “Are you going to do it now?”
My grin is diabolic. I know what she means, but I want her to say it. “Do what?”
“You know.” She waves at the bed.
“You mean fuck you?”
Her cheeks turn a deep pink, pretty like a fuchsia rose.
I watch her with my hands folded behind my back, enjoying her shyness. “We don’t need a bed to fuck. We can do it on other furniture, in many different places, and in a variety of positions.” But for our first time, it will be in the bed.
She swallows. “I’m not ready.”
What does she need to be ready? Definitely not clothes. I enjoy playing this game of cat and mouse with her, but I want her relaxed, not stressed. I want her to enjoy it. It’s in both our interest that I put her mind at ease.
“Don’t worry.” I walk closer. “You have time.”
Her shoulders sag. Does she know how openly she shows her relief? “Until when?”
“Tonight.”
Nighttime is when lovers do it, at least the first time. Or so I presume. I’ve never been the romantic type. I’ve never been anyone’s lover. I’ve fucked enough times to have refined the technique of giving a woman pleasure to an art, but I’ve never been with the same woman more than a couple of times. I’m actually looking forward to exploring long-term sex with Zoe, which is why the first time is important. The first time of everything determines how the rest of it will go.
Taking her hand, I pull her down onto the seat. Then I crouch in front of her and brush the robe away to expose her legs. She sits quietly, albeit tensely, as I inspect the bite marks on her legs. I push back the sleeves and turn her wrists this way and that to do the same. Finally, I straighten to drag my fingers through her hair and over her scalp, feeling for bumps. There’s a small one at the back of her head.
“Do you have pain?” I ask.
She shakes her head.
“Are you hungry?”
“Thirsty,” she says.
“I’ll feed you soon.”
I leave her on the loveseat to take the medicine kit from my bag. I never travel without one. It’s a must in our business. Meticulously, I disinfect every mark and scratch on her skin, including the heels of her palms.
The brunch arrives just as I’ve finished. I don’t make her sit at the table but order her to bed and fluff out the pillows behind her back. I serve a savory muffin, bacon, and scrambled eggs onto a plate and let her eat in bed while I pour rose petal tea into a cup to cool.
Benoit returns with the tetanus vaccine as I carry her empty plate away. I first give her an anti-inflammatory pill to drink with her tea, and then I take a hypodermic syringe from the kit.