Luke drew a bath for Lorelai afterwards and while she soaked, he bundled the sheets and carried them downstairs to the washer. He was loading the machine when he heard a key turn in the lock and he looked up with surprise when Rory entered the house.
"Luke!" She smiled brightly at him.
"Rory!" He dropped the lid on the machine with a bang and stared at her. "I didn't know that you were coming home. I mean, here. I mean…"
Rory laughed. "It's home, Luke. Actually, Mom didn't know that I was coming home this weekend; I wasn't sure myself. I needed to pick up some things, so I thought I'd just crash here tonight. It's late and I don't really feel like driving back to school."
Luke nodded.
"Where's Mom?" Rory asked. She looked around at the kitchen, and spotted the dishes still sitting on the table.
"Oh, uh, she's upstairs."
"Okay," Rory smiled and headed for the stairs. "I'm just going to go let her know I'm home."
Luke cleared his throat. "She's taking a bath."
Rory looked surprised.
"Oh, I thought you guys had just finished dinner…" She trailed off. "Oh! Oh, I'm sorry, Luke!" Rory blushed a deep crimson.
Luke felt his cheeks grow warm as well and he studied the floor tiles. "It's okay," he muttered. "Uh, I'm sure she'll be down in a few minutes. I'm just going to go and uh, find some sheets. I mean…"
"Sure, sure," Rory said quickly.
Luke cleared his throat again and quickly retreated from the room. When he was upstairs, he opened the door to the bathroom without knocking and Lorelai grinned at him.
"I knew you couldn't stay away," she winked at him. "Come on in."
"No," he shook his head adamantly.
"No?" Lorelai questioned him disbelievingly. "Really?"
"Rory," Luke muttered, shifting his gaze towards the door.
"What about Rory?" Lorelai asked, sitting up in the bathtub. Luke couldn't look at her. Droplets of water clung to her breasts and her skin glistened.
"Here," Luke said, looking up at the ceiling.
"Here?" Lorelai repeated.
"Here," he confirmed.
"Now?" she clarified.
"Yes!"
Lorelai shrugged. "Okay. Well, she'll just entertain herself until we're done here."
Luke shook his head. "She'll know."
"So what? She knows that we have sex, Luke. She's not a child."
"Yeah, but right this minute?"
Lorelai laughed and the sound echoed in the bathroom. Luke glowered at her.
"She's not sitting down there picturing us in bed, Luke."
"She's your daughter!"
"Yes, but I can guarantee that she'll keep herself occupied and she won't be weird about it when we do go downstairs. She's probably listening to music or watching a movie or talking to Lane. She's a pretty self-sufficient kid."
Luke narrowed his eyes at her. "Are you done?"
"No," she said coyly. "I just told you that."
"Lorelai…"
"You're going to have to get over this," she told him. "We're living together, Luke. It'll be okay, really. She'll be here sometimes when we make love. That's just how it is."
Luke shook his head and backed out of the bathroom while Lorelai got out of the bath and dried herself off. When she emerged from the bathroom, she was wearing a fluffy robe and found him sitting on the edge of the bed.
She grinned at him.
"What?" he asked sullenly.
"You have some chocolate…" She leaned over and licked it from his shoulder. Then she smiled brilliantly at him.
"I think you'd better take a shower," she whispered. Sighing, Luke stood and headed for the bathroom, but not before Lorelai reached out and grabbed his ass, giving it a tight squeeze.
"Or you could get me dirty again," she whispered.
Luke rolled his eyes and retreated into the bathroom.
Downstairs, Lorelai found Rory sitting on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and the remote control.
"Hey, babe," she smiled at her. "Whatcha watching?"
"CNN," Rory shrugged.
"Ugh," Lorelai moaned. "Is it Wolf, at least?"
"Larry King."
Lorelai made a face and fell onto the couch beside Rory, who looked over at her with a concerned look on her face.
"Should I have called?" she asked softly, looking towards the stairs.
Lorelai shook her head.
"He'll get over it."
"Funny," Rory remarked.
"What is?"
"I thought you'd be the one who was weirded out by it. You've never lived with a man before."
"I don't know," Lorelai shrugged. "It doesn't feel weird. It feels right, you know?"
"It's Luke," Rory smiled.
"Yeah," Lorelai agreed softly.
"He's always been around, hasn't he? It didn't even faze me to find him loading the washer when I came in."
Lorelai smiled.
"But please don't tell me why you had to change the sheets."
"Luke will kill me."
"What are you talking about down there?" His voice came down the stairs.
"Nothing!" Lorelai called up to him innocently. They heard his footsteps on the stairs and he appeared in the room.
Lorelai smirked at him as he took a seat opposite them in the armchair.
"You got dressed."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because."
"Rory's not company, you know."
"Yeah, you don't have to get all dressed up for me," Rory grinned.
"The two of you are impossible!" Luke complained.
"Okay, Larry's not doing it for me," Rory determined. "I'm going to go see what Lane is up to. As you were." She winked at the two of them and got up from the couch.
"Ah, jeez," Luke muttered. When Rory had gone, Lorelai patted the space beside her on the couch.
"What?" Luke asked.
"Come sit with me," Lorelai whined.
"Oh, no."
"Why not?"
"Because you'll just get me all worked up again, and Rory will come home."
"She'll be gone for hours," Lorelai told him. "I know you're good, but even you can't go for hours."
"Lorelai…"
"Fine, then let's go up to bed."
He shook his head.
"I just feel weird about it."
"Well, then maybe you just need some more practice," she winked. "Seriously, you'll get used to it. It's just new, that's all."
He looked at her doubtfully.
"Practice makes perfect."
"That isn't the problem here," he growled.
"The more you do it, the more you get used to it?" she quipped. "It's like riding a bicycle, Luke."
"Lorelai…" His voice was low and full of desire.
She stood and tugged on his hand.
"Come on, you can be as loud as you want."
