wide bench, the mirror at her back. She looked exhausted. He didn’t know how she was still awake. “Can you do something for me?”
He stayed in the doorway. “Anything.” Everything, if it would make up for how he’d violated her trust.
“Help me undress.”
He nodded, stepped into the bathroom and went to his knees to start with her boots. Her hand played in his hair. Once the boots were on the floor with her socks, he stood, unsure what to do next.
“My shirt.”
He unbuttoned her shirt and peeled it back from her shoulders and down her arms, tossing it to the floor.
“My jeans.”
He unhooked her belt. She was watching him carefully, eerily calm. He undid her zipper and she shifted so he could pull the jeans over her hips and down her legs. He kept his movements efficient, clinical, avoided touching her unnecessarily. Now she sat in her underwear. He’d let her manage that. He turned away to start the rainwater shower.
She called him back. “We’re not finished.”
“Baby, you should take it from here. Let me get the shower ready.”
“We’re not finished.”
He went back to her and stroked his hands down her arms. He sighed. She didn’t know what was good for her. He wasn’t good for her right now, except to put her safely to bed, alone. He’d watch over her, but he needed to keep his distance. “What do you want me to do, Rie?”
“Undress all of me.” She pressed her forehead to his and whispered, “I want you to see all of me.”
Her underwear left little to the imagination. “I see you, Rie. But I did the wrong thing by you and I need to—”
She shushed him with a kiss. He let her touch his lips with hers, but didn’t respond.
“The real me, Jake.”
Her words made his body stiffen with incomprehension. His “How?” came out hushed, almost reverent.
“My jewellery.”
Okay, he could do this. He removed her rings, her wrist cuffs and earrings and eased the glittered stud from her nose.
She handed him a cotton ball. “My makeup.” She gestured to the bottles of lotion on the shelf and he frowned. Her makeup was industrial strength stuff; except for her lipstick it didn’t kiss off, sweat off, wash off or come off on the pillow.
She laughed softly. “It’s not that hard. Start with my eyelashes.”
He frowned. “How do I—?”
She closed her eyes. “You’ll work it out.”
He did, but she talked him through it too. He removed her fake lashes, peeling them away tenderly. He used the cotton ball and a handful of its jar mates with a special liquid to remove her airbrushed makeup. She angled her face so he could stroke slowly over her skin, each swipe revealing more of her translucent beauty and an insanely cute dusting of honey gold freckles. He smoothed his thumb over them. They were so unexpected. This was what he’d glimpsed in Gym Girl’s averted face. But this was different.
This time she wanted him to see.
He had to fight to keep his hands steady because her bravery and this revelation, this gift of her real self, was breaking pieces of him off and turning them to mush.
“Now my hair.”
He’s seen her blonde hair before as well, in swirls with the black and red or green, and tied tight and sweat banded in the gym, but he’d never seen it loose. She had to talk him though how to unwind her custom hairpieces. He was thick fingered, unsure what he was feeling. Apart from the various colours, there was no difference in texture or obvious pins or clips. Eventually he managed to separate the strands, remove the silky pieces of colour and her golden blonde hair was in his hands.
He brushed it back and held it in his fist, studying her face. Her violet eyes were full of moisture. Would she let him see them turn green?
“Will you show me your eyes?”
He stood between her legs, his hands resting on her shoulders while she pinched her coloured contacts out. When she lifted her face to his, her gaze was so fresh, so stripped back, so honest, it was as though he could see her through all the ages of her life to date. From before the accident at fourteen, her bright, bright future ahead of her; to her sudden adulthood at sixteen, newly orphaned, alone in the world with Rand; and at every age that brought her now into his arms.
He was overwhelmed. “God.” He shook his head, closed his eyes, swaying slightly.