Page 68 of Dark Destiny: The Turning Of The Loom

The tightness around his mouth hinted that the question wasn't about whether she could stand in a shower. It was about him needing to be there for her.

"Yes," she said. "I want your help."

She was still hungry when she finished every last crumb on her plate. "How about those croissants?" she asked. "Any chance you'll get them for me?"

"After you shower and dress, and I know you're back in bed, I can go get you pastries and a cappuccino and sneak them past Gertrude."

He could actually do that with his mind-control tricks, which worked even on immortals.

"That's bribery."

He smiled. "Yes or no? The sooner you shower and change, the sooner you can get those croissants and cappuccino."

"Let's go."

She let him pick her up and lower her to the floor, but she refused to let him carry her to the bathroom.

"You can hold my hand."

"Stubborn woman," he murmured.

"Female," she corrected. "I'm an immortal now."

The clinic bathroom had a chair, rails, and a shower head on a long hose. She didn't need the chair or the hose, but when Yaaf stripped and got in the shower with her, she definitely saw the merit in that.

It wasn't the first time they'd showered together, but everything else was new.

The water was too loud. Each drop hit the tile with its own distinct musical note. The soap smelled both good and bad, because she could smell the chemicals beneath the florals.

The greatest surprise, though, was the transformation that shouldn't have been so obvious after such a short time. The stretch marks on her belly were definitely fading. They weren't gone yet, but they were softer, as if someone had smudged them with a thumb.

Tomek had been a big baby, and she had been only a girl, tiny at that. Her skin couldn't stretch to accommodate the size of her belly without coming apart at the seams.

She turned her leg and looked at the outside of her thigh, where a bowl of soup had landed when she was sixteen. The burn scar was half the size it had been.

"Yaaf. Look."

He looked and traced the edge with his thumb.

"It's fading," he said.

"Yeah." She covered his hand with hers. "I thought I would carry it forever."

"Nothing is forever now, except you and me."

She rested her forehead against his chest as the water pelted them both. His heartbeat was steady and slow, right under her ear. She could listen to it for a thousand years and never get tired of it.

"I wish you could just stay with me," she said into his chest. "I hate that you have to sneak out in the middle of the night to go back to your house. I want to wake up in the morning with you next to me."

His arms tightened around her. "So do I."

She sighed. "It's too much for Tomek right now." She lifted her head. "In a couple of weeks, when he's forgotten all about my transition and everything is back to normal, then I'll talk to him."

"I can wait a couple of weeks."

The shower took a little longer than it would have if she had been alone, but they had not done anything more than slow, gentle caresses and one kiss that could have led to more if they had let it.

Yaaf turned the water off, reached for a towel, wrapped it around her, then grabbed another to dry himself.