The Dream Charmer

Chapter Sixteen--All wet

Even after arguing with Kellan for several minutes, he still hadn't budged a foot past the bathroom door. He was like catnip standing there brooding with his arms crossed. Everything about the room screamed royalty. The walk-in shower was bigger than my entire bathroom back at Gran's house.

"You're sure?" My word echoed off the marble walls. I pouted, hoping he'd change his mind. "You don't want to join me?" Our bond hummed, demanding satisfaction.

"Wren..." His voice cracked. "Believe me, I want to. I'm just not going to." He leaned against the doorframe. "Now, stop torturing me, because I'm not changing my mind."

"Fine, stay there." Innerly, I stomped my foot and wanted to scream at him. I peeled off a sock and chucked it on the white tile floor. "If you can."

I unbuttoned my pants and slid them past my hips, letting them drop to the white tile floor. I kicked them to the slide, and I caught a glimpse of myself in the gilded mirror across from me. I smoothed out my hair, and the bottom of my t-shirt tickled the tops of my thighs with my movement.

He pursed his lips, and the tap turned on full blast, spraying water over the countertop and mirror. The sunlight filtering in through the window above the soaker tub dwindled, and the sky faded into a storm-cloud grey.

"What, am I getting to you?" I giggled, dragging my hand along my side and over my hip, showing off my curves. When I turned around, I pulled my shirt over my head and tossed it backward, hoping it would land at his feet. I stepped into the shower and closed the opaque glass door behind me with my foot. After tossing my bra and panties over the shower door, I realized there weren't any knobs to turn the damn thing on. "Of course, there aren't any water controls."

Let me help you with that, he said in my head with an air of sweetness that made me picture him with a big fat smirk plastered on his face.

"Kellan, don't..." I held my hands up in front of my face. "No, no, no. Don't you dare!

A blast of cold water shot from the shower-head. Screaming, I tried to get out of the spray, but the water just redirected toward me. A moment later, the water warmed to just above body temperature. "Kellan! You know I'm getting you back for that."

"It's taking everything in me not to come in there and join you." Kellan's voice echoed off the walls, and a loud crack of thunder punctuated his words. "You need to cool off. I don't want you regretting you picked me."

Our bond pulled taut, strumming a melody so sweet I could smell his sea breeze scent calling me to him like a flower in full bloom called to a honeybee. I gasped and placed my hand against the glass to steady myself. After that cold shower, I'd like to say I already regretted it, but even I knew that was a lie.

He groaned and thumped the wall outside of the shower with his fist. "And to think, each minute closer it gets to your birthday the bond's influence over us only increases." He leaned into the wall with his back and slid down it until his butt landed onto the floor. Through the obscured glass, I could see him drape his arms over his bent knees.

That was hard to believe. The ripples of our bond tugged at every muscle within me and clouded my thoughts. I lathered a handful of shampoo through my hair and over my body, then let the water rinse the tiny bubbles over my skin into the drain. "Okay, I'm clean." I stuck my hand outside of the shower. "Can you pass me a towel?"

"A towel?" He laughed and got to his feet.

The warm water overhead slowed and drizzled to a drip.

"Yeah, you know a rectangular, fuzzy cloth people use to dry themselves off?"

"Wren, this isn't Earth." He wrapped his fingers around mine. "This is the Water Circle, and as members of its people, every molecule of water is connected to us."