Waking in the morning with Jordan wrapped in his arms left Woody feeling blessed. He never understood what people meant by that before. All his life he'd been sure he was cursed but since the night before he'd changed his mind.
Cursed men don't have habit of waking up beside angels.
He reached out with one shaky hand to tentatively touch her cheek with the back of his knuckles and she stirred and turned to her other side balling up under the covers. All Woody could do was smile and watch a chocolate curl slide forward over her eyes and lay on the pillow beneath her head.
Woody wanted nothing more to spend the rest of the day lounging in bed talking to Jordan, planning an official date and reminiscing of way back when and all the adventures they'd had together. He knew that wasn't possible..at least it wasn't if they wanted to get back to Boston by nightfall.
He kissed her temple softly once more and slipped out of bed quietly heading into the bathroom and turning on the shower.
As Woody was making his retreat into the shower Jordan rolled over quietly and watched him go. She was surprised to find herself not planning her OWN retreat. She's always been a gather-the-clothes-and-get-the-hell-out-of-there kind of girl and she found herself at a loss for words when she stayed in the bed a few moments longer, listening to the shower start and thinking she could get used to Woody's morning noises. Couldn't she? All of her adult life she'd run from intimacy. Sex was one thing but what she was beginning work on with Woody was true intimacy. She knew she had issues in that department, hell, half the people closest to her in life had told her as much in no uncertain terms.
She sat up and folded her legs under her and looked around the room. Her jeans were only a few feet away but she didn't have that voice in her head screaming at her to put them on. Her shoes were a few feet further but still the voice wasn't telling her to put them on and get her ass out the door ASAP. What did all this mean, she wondered. Where had the voice of reason that had always kept her heart safe gone? She looked at Woody's dirty socks laying on the floor and the jeans he had carefully folded over a chair and smiled.
The voice was still there. Just it was saying something different now.
Woody was still fighting that pending sense of doom that loomed wherever good things happened to him ready to strike him down with the inevitable disaster when he sensed a presence in the room from behind the shower curtain. He reached out a hand to gently part the curtain from where it stuck with humidity to the tiles of the shower and found himself looking at Jordan leaned up against the sink counter.
"Hey there." He finally whispered with raised eyebrows. "There's…uh..there's plenty of room…" he said nodding towards the shower.
Jordan smiled and nodded subtly. She was okay with this. It was just Woody, he was her best friend and if the stars aligned properly he'd soon be her lover. She raised her eyes to his and pulled her t-shirt over her head and tossed it on beside her on the sink. She tried not to feel intimidated by the attention of Woody's startling blue eyes by letting her own dark honey colored ones travel over what of his naked body she could see as she pushed her shorts off and looped her thumbs in the elastic of her underwear, hesitating a moment as she realized they were her last line of defense before complete vulnerability.
"It's okay…this is your show Jordan." Woody said softly letting her know that she was in complete control of whatever happened.
Jordan smiled. She wondered when it suddenly happened that she'd let Woody in enough that he knew what she was thinking a large percentage of the time.
Feeling like Jordan needed a little more encouragement Woody chuckled and shyly opened the curtain completely, watching Jordan's eyes unabashedly trail over his body. She let the underwear slide back to the floor and stepped out of it towards his one outstretched hand.
He couldn't help but feel a little nervous. This was the first time they'd seen each other completely naked.
"Good morning.Jordan said looking around the small space once the curtain was pulled back.
Woody finally felt comfortable enough to let his own eyes wander over Jordan's fit body with her that close. Her slender arms, her taunt belly, the length of the legs he'd always admired.
"Good morning." He said softly and stepped back so that she could be under the spray. "Sleep well?" he asked against her cheek as he pressed a soft kiss there.
Jordan smiled happily and closed her eyes as he kissed her cheek. "Mmmhmm.." she nodded. "I did…but then that might have had something to do with.." she raised up on her tip toes and kissed him lightly on the lips. "The company." She whispered and brought her hands up to run through his short hair.
"Wash your hair yet?" She asked picking up the bottle of shampoo.
Woody had never had a woman wash his hair in the shower before. In past relationships the tub was just another place they'd find to have sex. He'd never just showered with a woman before and certainly not one he wasn't in a sexual relationship with.
"No…I ah…ah…I didn't yet.." Woody replied after a long moment and shifted from one foot to the other as she went about the painstakingly slow process of pooling some shampoo in her palm, closing the bottle and lathering her hands up before she rested her hands on top of his head and began working the shampoo into his hair.
Woody sighed and let his head fall back and his eyes close as her short nails dragged over his scalp. He smiled shyly again when the pressure of her hands pushing his head back caused him to have to reach out and hold her hips to steady himself. Her soft wet skin almost made him stop her from washing his hair and take her right there in the tub but he just cleared his throat and smiled instead.
"Man, I must be good…I think you're purring detective…" Jordan chuckled and rinsed off her hands before guiding his head back under the flow of water to rinse it out.
"Ohhhhh…mannnnn…yeah, yeah you are that good.." Woody said lazily and lifted his head back up to look down at her. "Thanks…your turn?" he asked and picked up the bottle.
Jordan watched him a moment and nodded so subtly that he couldn't be sure she really did so he raised his eyebrows. "Go ahead." She said nodding again and Woody stepped behind her to fold her long hair on top of her head and began to work the shampoo in evenly.
"If I didn't know any better I'd say you've done this before." Jordan said after a long moment and Woody just smiled and shook his head. "Naaaah…though I am looking forward to doing it more often…" he said finally mentioning the talk they'd had the night before. The decisions they'd come to, the relationship they'd decided to pursue.
Jordan smiled and reached up to wipe a spot of soap she'd missed on his forehead gently. "Me too…" she said finally stepping closer to him and wrapping her arms around his waist. "Thank you Woody." She whispered.
"For what?" he asked stepping them closer to the shower and tilting her chin to look down into her eyes while at the same time rinsing out her hair.
Jordan waited until he had wrung out her hair before she answered with her cheek resting against his chest. "Giving me the time to admit how I was feeling….I know you must have wanted to wring my neck sometimes but it just…it takes me longer to pull myself together enough to admit things I feel deep down.."she said rubbing his back as they just held each other comfortably under the hot spray.
"You know I never thought I'd say it…but you're right. And whatever has happened in the past…"He held her gaze and pushed back his own matted hair and smiled. "I love you Jordan…and I can't wait to see where this new road takes us.." he whispered and hugged her close until the warm waterran out along with their time away from Boston.
