Erin (book 1 of Erin Series)

twenty-one

The water is so warm as it courses over my body. I keep my arms over my chest, to try and cover at least something. The woman grabs the arm that was shot with an arrow, to examine the bandages.
"I can take a look at it." Rune speaks to her. She looks at him and nods her head, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"Well, you relax for a little bit, get warm. There is soap on the little stand over there with the wash rags and towels. If you need anything, I'll be right in the kitchen. I'll leave you two with some privacy." She winks at Rune and I watch his cheeks turn pink again. He is about to speak but she leaves the room too soon.
I hear him sigh and I look at him. He is looking down but then looks at me. I quickly look away.
"Well I know for sure you are a girl now." He teases me.
I look back at him confused.
"When I first met you, I almost didn't think you really were a woman, and you said you'd prove it to me." He smirks. "I didn't want the temptation though."
I remember the night. So long ago. "Well, now you know."
He chuckles at my awkwardness. "It's ok, I've seen a woman before. I can look at the body of one and not be aroused. Their body is just part of nature."
I don't know how to respond.
"Though, I must say, it will be difficult to wash you, and not want to have a bit of fun with it." He smirks again with a bit of a chuckle.
My face turns red, I know it. I look away. "Then I don't want you touching me."
He laughs.
"What is so funny?" I turn back to him.
"You."
I scowl at him, which only causes him to laugh more.
"You are so unlike any woman, and yet the same as them. So modest, and yet so wild." I just look at him.
"You don't even have to be around women to act like one sometimes. And when you do, it does surprise me. But I admire it greatly."
I don't say anything.
"Here we go again with the silence." He teases me. I roll my eyes. He chuckles and stands up walking away. I lift my knees up so to try and cover myself more. My body starts shivering again, though I don't know why, for I am not that cold anymore. In fact I am getting quite hot, and it's causing my to sweat more. Rune comes back with the wash rag and soap in his hand.
"Here, you can wash what you can. I can get the rest." He hands it to me. I look at him and he is looking at me for a long moment then blushes and looks away. I can't help but smile as I take the soap and rag. He sits down leaning against the tub, so his back is turned toward me. I start to wash my arms, making sure not to get the bandage wet. I then wash my chest and my legs. I have to stand to get my torso, I grab the edges of the tub and start to lift myself up. Rune hears me and stands up himself, I panic not wanting him to see me, and one of my hands slip. He grabs me, the weight of his body pushing me down, and we both end up falling in the tub. There is a big splash, and I am pinned down by Runes weight. He lifts himself up, water dripping off him onto me. "Are you ok?" He asks me.
I nod my head. He begins to laugh and then we hear foot steps enter the room.
"Oh!" The woman says. "My apologies!" And she leaves the room.
Rune and I start to giggle. Runes giggles turn into laughs. I cover his mouth, "shh!" I put a finger to my mouth not wanting her to hear us laughing.
That only causes us to laugh more. Rune sits back and I sit up, but keep my breast under the water. I look at the bandage on my arm, it's soaking wet, so I start to unwrap it and take it off. The wound is healing nice.
I turn to look at Rune about to ask him why he was still in the tub, but he had just taken his shirt off and tosses it to the side. My eyes widen.
"What are you doing?!" I almost shout. He places a finger on my mouth to hush me.
"Well I'm in here now, might as well bath too." He smirks.
I am almost too shocked to speak. "What? No! Get out!" I place my hands on his chest to push him back, but feeling his skin on my hands stops my muscles from pushing him.
I feel his eyes on me, and I lift mine from his chest to his eyes. My breathing speeds up, especially when he lifts his hand to my face, moving a wet strand of hair out of my face. I glance at his lips and imagine him bringing my body to his kissing me intensely. My heart jumps at the thought and I look back at him. I realize my lips have parted, I don't know when. He puts a hand on my cheek, then leans his body toward me. My heart beats faster, and I start to close my eyes but he shifts his body to the side and slides behind me, bringing me into his lap.
I keep my eyes open and blink a few times, confused.
"Let me get your back." He whispers into my ear. I feel chills on my body. He must have felt it too for he rubs my arms with his hands. I close my eyes, enjoying the feeling but open them when he pulls away. I feel the wet wash cloth on my back as he rubs my back with it gently. Once my back has been washed, he pulls my body up, so I am more on his lap, my back against his chest and he wraps his arms around me and starts to wash my stomach, careful not to go too low. He stays under my breast, making sure he doesn't touch them either. He lowers the wash cloth on my stomach and when it starts to go low, I slightly gasp, my heart racing.
He immediately lifts his hand up. "Sorry." He whispers into my ear. He then lifts my hair up, pushing me back down so I sit in between his legs once more, and washes the back of my neck. He lays the wash cloth in the water and starts to rinse my back and neck. I close my eyes, taking in all of these great feelings. It's nice to be taken care of. Rune takes the soap and starts to wash my hair massaging his fingers on my head. After a moment he rinses my hair, brushing his fingers through it to smooth it out once more. I lean back onto his chest, my head resting slightly on his shoulder. His body feels so nice against mine. He wraps his arms around me, and grabs my hands, putting his fingers in between mine. I look down at them. They line up so perfectly, and they feel so nice. I feel Rune slightly shift and I turn to look at him, almost bumping my face into his, not realizing how close we really were. He looks at me with his dark green eyes, and I feel as though I'm going to melt into the water. I blink a few times, realizing what I was thinking and feeling. I go to speak to Rune, but he lifts his finger to my parted lips.
"It's normal to feel this way. Especially when one is attracted to another." He speaks softly, his voice giving me chills. I haven't heard him speak like this before. I nod my head ever so slightly, and he cups my cheek, his pinky under my jaw and his thumb on my bottom lip. His chest starts rising and falling faster, and so does mine. His face leans into mine, and I start to lean mine into his.
"Are you two done yet? I see you decided to take a bath as well?" We hear the woman speak and both pull away from each other.
My face heats up.
"Yes. We are done. I will get her dried off and back into bed." Rune answers her. I turn to see her. She looks at me and gives me a faint smile, a bit of a sparkle in her eye. She nods to Rune and sets down clothes she had in her hands. "I brought these for the two of you. Since you got all your clothes wet." She chuckles and walks out.
The splash we caused ended up getting my clothes we as well. Rune starts to stand up, water pouring off him from his pants. He looks at me and blushes. "I'm going to need to take these off before I get out."
I blush and turn away letting him take them off.
I hear him get out of the tub leaving the pants inside and once he's dried off and has a towel wrapped around his waist he rings the pants out and grabs another towel, and comes back to me, to help me out of the tub. Once I'm out I dry off, still feeling light headed but better. I wrap the towel around me, and Rune grabs the clothes, helping me walk back to the bedroom. When we get in the bed room, Rune tosses the clothes on the bed.
"You should get dressed and rest some more. You're still warm from the fever." He says.
I nod, he turns around and I sit on the bed and grab the clothes. The woman only had a night gown for me. It was small enough to fit me, so it must have been her daughters. I slip it on, and crawl into the bed. Rune turns around and grabs his clothes, black trousers and a loose white shirt. He turns around from me again and walks to the other side of the room, dropping the towel. I can't help but stare at his masculine body. The curves I'm his back from the muscles, his butt.
I catch myself staring at his butt and blush hard looking away from him. He turns around once he's dressed and walks over to the bed to see me blushing and smirks, but doesn't say anything about it.
"Are you warm?" He asks.
I nod, though it would feel better with him next to my side. Why do I keep thinking these things? I wonder to myself.
"Good. Get some rest." He walks toward the door and leaves with out glancing back.