Even After All

Part Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

Dylan took several rapid steps backwards until he placed the voice and relaxed with a sigh, “Matilda? Is that you?”

He had the decency to look away, but not before noting every sweep and curve of the body in front of him, the misty glance only seeming to enhance the seductiveness of the vision. Groaning he reached for a towel as she answered angrily.

                “Who else were you expecting?”

He laughed, “I wasn’t expecting anyone! I didn’t...I can’t...”

                “GET ME A BLOODY TOWEL!” She screeched, “and be the decent man and look away!”

Huffing he turned away and grabbed for the towel she’d left on the radiator, “you’d think I was a Peeping Tom or something. It’s not as if I haven’t seen this all before!”

The shriek that accompanied the hand that darted out of the shower to snatch the towel caused him to shudder. Then he heard the shower door open, he kept his eyes averted until he heard a throat clearing cough. When he finally glanced up it was to see Matilda stood in front of him, the towel wrapped around her and tucked under her arms, arms that were clamped at her side in anger.

                “Can you at least let me get dressed? And put clothes on yourself!”

That made him laugh, “what can’t concentrate with this much skin around?”

He hated that he sounded cocky, but he couldn’t begin to deal with the reality of the moment. She opened her mouth to unleash what he was sure would be a flurry of abuse when he held up his hand to silence her, “Ok, ok. I shouldn’t have said that. But this is not my bad. Think of that before you unleash your wrath Matilda. I just want a shower.”

With that he backed out of the room rather rapidly.

Mattie slumped against the sink and dropped her head. SO many emotions were raged through her in aggressive pulses of tension that threatened to take her breath away. When she’d heard someone enter the room she’d panicked, felt fear swamp her, but once she realised it was Dylan she had become angry. But he was right it wasn’t his fault, it was hers. And she’d never felt so embarrassed or ashamed as she did now, thinking of how she’d pulled a towel around her body and confronted him angrily in his own bathroom.

She’d come out of the shower booth desperate to slap him, scream at him, but he’d diffused that in an instant by making her realise that SHE was the intruder. Now all she was left with was the memory of him stood in front of him, face flushed, eyes sparkling and a muscular bare chest that was nothing like the one she remembered from the years of her marriage.

She shuddered at that realisation, but then he was a man...she’d married a boy.

                “Wrong thoughts!” She chastised herself loudly, and instead pulled on her t-shirt and leggings. Gym wear was hardly battle attire, then she again gave herself a shake. She was defensive because she’d been caught unawares, and she didn’t need to take that out on Dylan.  A few deep breaths and she’d managed to control her racing heart and lurching nausea. She had nothing in the bathroom with her, her bag, her makeup, even her hairbrush were all on the bed in the second bedroom.  

Reaching for the steamed up mirror, she cleared enough of the reflective surface it with her fist to see her face and then groaned. Her hair was like scrawny rats tails hanging down her face and back, and she had no bra...her damp skin and the humidity of the room meant her t-shirt was sticking to her.