Shadow Breeds

Chapter 9

Her soft laugh made me melt, "I just wanted to see something." I felt the smile on my face before I realized what I was even saying, "you could've said so, I'll gladly pull it out since we're playing the bold cards."

Her eyes widened and she swatted my chest playfully while shaking her head. I could feel how red my face was, "I'm going to grab a shower now, um, there's breakfast and juice on the kitchen table." I started to walk towards the bathroom, but her hand on my shoulder stopped me. I turned slowly to face her again.

"One last thing before you get in there," she said, the anxiety in her voice was evident now and I started to worry. I stroked her damp hair behind her ear and left my hand resting on her cheek as she pulled me down with a hand on the back of my neck, into a gentle kiss. Her lips were soft on mine, I could feel her relax into it as she deepened it. This wasn't to distract me like the first one had been, this one was genuine and passionate. It was a message. The way she'd been acting was beginning to make sense and my heart fluttered in my chest again at the realization. I only hoped my kiss relayed the same message.

I pulled away softly, "let's not get too ahead of ourselves, whatever is going on here is something we should sit down and talk about when we have the time," I tried to keep my tone gentle, Ashe didn't communicate like others did and neither did I. So I understood that she wasn't actually being bold, she was being vulnerable and open with me which meant I needed to be soft and open for her.

I smiled, "I have got to get a shower before we start the day, enjoy your breakfast." I left a kiss on her forehead and went straight to the shower before she could stop me again, not that I would mind.

My thoughts were racing by the time I'd gotten under the water. What just happened replayed over and over again in my head. I'd daydreamed about all the ways I could tell her how I felt, none of them had ended up with her making the first move by getting naked and kissing me. I'd assumed she'd only ever seen me as a friend.

I couldn't focus on this right now though, I had to think of the plan we'd made, the reason we came back to Wolf Creek. Once we have a while to ourselves, we can sit down and clear our feelings up, then I'll know if we're really on the same page and we can go from there.

A knock at the bathroom door nearly made me slip and fall, my jumpy-ness was getting on my nerves, "just open the door" I called out. Ashe peaked in through the cracked opening with a small grin on her face, "sorry if I freaked you out, if it's alright with you I'm going to go ahead and call the girls up."

I smirked and pulled the shower curtain aside, "that's fine, since you're here, can you hand me a towel? You might not care to get things wet but I'm a little classier than that," I said with a wink and giggle. She huffed, her bright red face pouting at me, "yeah-yeah, here." She jerked the towel back to her as I reached for it, almost making me fall again. I met her eyes with mine and felt my blood flow change directions as her eyes slowly checked me out due to the fact that I wasn't holding the curtain anymore. She stopped for a moment, eyes wide as she settled her stare on my sudden arousal and whispered, "holy shit."
'She's going to be the death of me,' I thought to myself with a groan as I grabbed the curtain again.

Ashe finally gave the towel to me and left me to finish up. I heard giggling and hushed talking coming from the kitchen, causing me to smile. Ashe was a private person so I knew she wasn't gossiping about our little exposure competition or whatever that was, she wouldn't until we clarified what it meant to each other and discussed where we would want to go from there. I trust her.