Research: Romance

one bed

Just then I could hear the shower curtain draw back. There's a crashing noise, making me shoot up off the bed. Robin cusses loudly and there's another clattering of what sounds like bottles hitting the floor.

Rushing to the bathroom I threw up my hand to knock, but the door was already flying open. Robin stood there in a towel, eyes shining wide and chest racking with laughter. On the ground behind him was a smattering of toiletries and several towels where the rack had fallen. His guffaws rang out against the sound of water spraying against the tub, head thrown back. I nearly fainted at the sight of him.

"Look at this! You have to look at this--" He took my arm and pulled me into the room.

Oh, I am. Believe me.

Damn if I didn't have enough material to write a romance novel now. Suddenly, I am quite motivated.

"--It scared the absolute shit out of me! I knocked off the towel rack." He continues to laugh aloud, pointing toward the running shower.

I dragged my eyes away from his naked chest and stomach to see where he was pointing. Inside the shower was a laminated picture of Janet Leigh screaming from that scene in Psycho taped on the shower wall. The motel was going with the Bates Motel theme a little too strongly. Every time you pulled back the curtain, she was the first thing you saw. I grinned, then started to laugh at the image of Robin jumping out of his skin. He joined in heartily, picking up the towels and bottles as he described what happened.

He had moved the curtain aside before going back to the counter for his stuff. When he caught her face in the mirror, it scared the hell out of him. All that time spent watching movies and acting on the sets of horror films hadn't prepared him in the least for Hitchcock's greatest cinematic jump scare.

I helped him set things aside, both of us chuckling at the irony. By the time we had settled down, the room had filled with steam from the running water. My hair was starting to stick to my temples, and my clothes felt slightly damp and uncomfortable against my skin. Robin was facing me, still shaking his head in amusement.

Given the opportunity, my eyes snagged on his torso again. He was far better looking than I imagined, and just a glimpse of Robin's bare skin was more than my brain had the capacity to process. I had always cringed when romance writers used descriptors like "smooth landscape" of skin or "rippling" muscles but now that he was standing in front of me... There didn't seem to be any other words to describe it.

Then Robin stepped closer, and there didn't seem to be enough words to describe it. "Leah, you're staring."

My fingers curled gently into my palms, as if my body made sure I resisted the urge to reach out and touch. Robin caught the movement and smiled upside-down.

I did my best to play it off as wiping my hands on my jeans and cleared my throat loudly. Careful not to look anywhere but his eyes this time, a chill raced down my spine as I started to back up toward the door, "Right, sorry. I'm sorry, that was creepy. I am being weird, and you want to shower so I'm going now, and you can shower. So... Yeah. Bye."

Robin was still smiling at me, but it wasn't his usual looking at Leah smile. This smile was.... flirtatious. Dangerous. His eyes were still gleaming with amusement, and his hair was damp. It was all very, dare I acknowledge it, sexy.

But I didn't go. I backed right into the half open door. It slammed shut behind me, closing me in the room. My hand fumbled for the doorknob as I covered my eyes, "That was an accident. But I'm not looking! Just go ahead and I'll be out of here in a second."

"'If you're curious," His voice feels too close to me, even though I know he's across the room. "We could share?"

I held my eyes closed and found the doorknob, "You know, I'm good! You have Janet and they say three is a crowd. So, I'm going to --Ow!"