Ain't Shady Baby, I'm Hot

59

"So. Shower then bed?" I blinked, wiping the soap off my cheek as I stared down at my soaked attire. Rafe wasn't much better, his sweats were somewhat wet and his grey hoodie was now several shades darker. His hair had gone from dirty blond to nearly brown with the water.

"Yeah, but now we've got a mess to take care of." I groaned looking around the kitchen that had been in the middle of the crossfire.

"Mhhhm. Sounds like the clean up person's job." I gapped at him like a fish as Rafe slowly walked backwards leaving the kitchen. A cheeky grin on his lips as he pulled his hoodie off. "Can't really take the sweats off here, but I'll leave the hoodie downstairs since it's dripping."

My brain short circuited. I blinked several times over as Rafe smirked. He had stopped walking backwards and stood proudly in the middle of the hallway. Bare chested and slightly wet. I gulped, My mind finally rewired itself and I could make sentences.

"Dude!" I hissed moving around the island to reach him, "you can't just strip in my kitchen. My parents are right in there." I grumbled pointing at the closed master bedroom door as I kept my voice down.

"Hmm. I wouldn't technically call this stripping, though, it would make sense to keep from tracking water upstairs." He held a devilish grin as he set his hands on his waistband.

"No!" I slapped my hands over my mouth as he broke out in laughter.

"Alright," he rose his hands innocently, "I'll save the stripping for another time." I popped him with my hand slapping his chest. A bold move considering that I was just short circuiting over it.

"No. No stripping. Just, go upstairs and shower." I dismissed, unknowingly falling right into his plan.

"Thanks, Darling. I knew you'd come around." My mouth dropped open as he sent me a wink before hightailing it upstairs.

"Jerk." I grumbled grabbing the hoodie from the ground before taking it into the laundry room 'my' hoodie joining as I stood in my sports bra and sweats. I grabbed four large towels before wrapping a smaller beach towel around my body and trying to somewhat dry off as I planned my attack.

After dinner, I'd told Gray and my mom to take off for bed and that I'd clean the dishes. Rafe had offered a hand and one thing led to another, and we were fighting at the sink.

I threw the sponge at him first but he was the one to take the extra step and introduce water into the frenzy.

"So, that was a nice little move. The under the table knee grab." I groaned as I scrubbed a dish clean handing it to Rafe to rinse. His smug smirk plastered on his face.

"You were shaking the entire table. I was trying to keep the food on the dishes." He hummed, bumping me with his elbow.

"Right. Definitely." I didn't like his tone, my eyes narrowing as I launched the sponge sideways. The soapy material smacking into his face as his smirk dropped.

His eyes wide as I pulled a shocked expression. Fire lighting up in his gaze as I feigned innocence.

"I don't know how that happened. It slipped." He scoffed, nodding while pursing his lips.

"Just like with the glass. Right. Definitely." He repeated his earlier sentiment but this time flinging the sponge back at me. A small patch of dish soap collected on my cheek as my jaw dropped.

"Oh, you've done it now."

"What? It slipped."

I had lunged with the intent of squeezing the soap on his head only to get a blast of water to the chest.

Then it was a dogfight.

That we both ended up losing. Though, me having to clean up might make me the bigger loser.

"Hmmm. Nothing going on between us, huh?" I jumped, yelping as my Ma and Gray stood on the other side of the counter. I had been preoccupied with trying to dry between the drawers that I hadn't heard them come out.

"There isn't." I confirmed my heart settling as I went back to drying the water and soap.

"Right. Look, no need to lie to us. Especially not your mom. We both saw that." Gray motioned behind him to the hallway, "and your little water fight." I groaned face planting into the wood.

"There really isn't anything going on. We're just being civil. Otherwise this house might have burned down yesterday." I moved to the floor area thankfully it was the last thing which needed to be dried. The counters were cleaned up and so were the drawers below.

"Yeah. I'm not buying it. Are you buying it, Gray?"

"Nope. Not at all." I sighed standing up and using my foot to drag the towel around the tile.

"With all the peace and love in my heart, you both should let this rest. I'm not sure how much longer this grace period between the two of us will last." I admitted as I dropped down to grab the towels. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got laundry to prep that I will be starting once I'm done with my shower."

"Grace period?" My mom whispered as I stood back up and walked into the laundry room.

"Like in video games?" I poked my head back out looking Gray in the eye.

"Exactly like video games."

It was silent as I ducked back into the laundry room and put all the towels in the washer on top of Rafe's two hoodies.

"I still don't buy it."

"I don't know, Xena looked like she was going to throw down."

"Exactly. Gray, hun, you've got a lot to learn."

"Oh yeah, you willing to teach me, Ms. Bayford." I gagged as I heard Gray's voice drop. My mom giving a soft laugh.

"PLEASE LEAVE THE KITCHEN!" I shouted keeping my face against the wall. My face flushed in embarrassment and panic as I refused to move.

I heard the two cackle as they finally walked away. Not without making over dramatic kissing noises as they went. At the soft click of the master bedroom door shutting, I hightailed it up the stairs. My ass not on fire but my face was.

"Whoa." I groaned as I ran into a solid living wall. My hands covering my forehead as I started to stagger backwards.

"Motherfucker." I grimaced as hands wrapped around my waist keeping me from falling to the floor. I looked up to see Rafe with a raised eyebrow.

"This feels familiar." I scoffed, my eyes taking the scene in, only to freeze up when I caught our predicament. He seems to freeze as well. The both of us staring at the other.

My heart fluttered as my breath became ragged. I heard his sharp intake of breath as his own eye burned holes into my eyes, he was being respectful and not staring at my chest that only had a sports bra covering it. I on the other hand was a total mess as I took in the bulking biceps, the chiseled chest, the multiple lined stomach, and the towel that was holding on for dear life.

"You're in a towel." I squeaked my hands now on his bicep as I jerked my head back to look him in the eyes.

"I just came from a shower." I gulped. My chest rising as I breathed in. The scent of mahogany and sandalwood was strong.

"Uh- I- I guess I'm next." I stuttered. He must have felt triumph over the fact I was babbling. "The uh, the kitchen is all cleaned up by the way. Nothing too crazy. And uh- you can just leave your wet clothes by the bathroom and I'll take them to the laundry room. And then I'll make sure you're clothes get washed and dried obviously because that's what a laundry room-"

"Oh my God."