Winter's Edge

Chapter 39 - Complication

Abby

A while after Ian's two weeks of laundry duty ended, I lured him into another laundry wager in training. He lost again, but only barely. He was getting very good, very quickly.

Late that evening, I made the trek back to my room from the showers wrapped in a white towel. My hair was still dry, thankfully. It rebelled if I washed it every day.

I went to my loft and dropped my towel, browsing through the armoire. My purple nightgown was nowhere to be found. Several other articles of clothing were missing, too. Ian was slacking on laundry duty. It was tempting to barge in on him and demand my laundry be finished, but I thought better of it. He must've fallen asleep already.

A chill brushed across my naked skin as I grabbed my dirty clothes and made my way downstairs to the laundry room to put them in the hamper and check for my pajamas. Maybe Ian had just forgotten to hang up my clothes. And besides, there was something liberating about walking naked through your home, not worried about anyone seeing you.

Then Ian slipped in the door and saw me.

I jumped and let out a small shriek. Blushing furiously, I pulled my hand full of wadded-up clothes in front of me to cover myself.

Ian gasped, wide eyed.

"Ian!" I shouted.

"Sorry!" He hesitated, staring for a quick second before he turned his back to me.

"I told you to knock." I was every bit as contemptuous as I could muster, but part of me wondered if he liked what he'd seen. Regardless, that wouldn't stop me from making this as uncomfortable as possible...just to see him squirm.

My laundry was in a basket in his hands, so I eased up behind him trying to figure out how I'd keep myself covered and reach around to the basket to get my nightgown.

There weren't many options at that point, so I dropped my clothes and pressed my naked body against his back, reaching around him to grab whatever was on top of the laundry basket.

"Um..." He went ridged for a second. Good.

I pulled the first article of clothing around, but it was a pair of shorts, so I put it back and sifted through the clothes, feeling for more silky material. His warm body against me was starting to mess with me. I almost didn't want to find what I was looking for, and just stay here for a while. But there was no way I was giving him that satisfaction right now. He was in trouble as far as I was concerned.

My hands brushed across something silky and I snatched it around him. I threw on my nightgown and brushed my hands through my hair to make myself a bit more presentable. My dirty clothes still lay on the ground. I grabbed them and stepped back.

"Okay, I'll knock from now on," he said. "Are you...decent?"

"Yes."

Ian turned around with a sad-puppy-dog look on his face.

"Oh, come on. Don't look at me that way." I cocked my head reluctantly. "You're forgiven."

My aspirations of giving him a hard time would go unfulfilled tonight. I threw my clothes in the hamper inside the laundry room, then headed up stairs. Ian put the laundry basket inside the laundry room door and followed me up the stairs.

"You just gonna leave my laundry down there wet?"

"Nah, I'll get to it in second." His more playful smile replaced his sad expression, relieving the tension in the room.

When we reached the loft, he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulled me close, and kissed me. I savored every second, feeling his hands on me, his body pressing into mine.