She went into the bathroom first to use the toilet, and I joined her once she’d finished up and opened the door again. She sat on the edge of the tub as I turned on the hot water in the sink. I took a washcloth from the cabinet and dampened it, before I sat beside her. “Relax, I’ve got you.”

She closed her eyes as I wiped her face, taking my time to clean her smudged makeup from her cheeks.

“How do you feel?” I wiped down her neck, taking care to be gentle. I cleaned around the collar, prolonging taking it off her for as long as I could.

She gave a heavy sigh, her mouth twitching slightly as she said, “I guess I have a kink for cat maids now. Thanks for that, Jason.”

“There’s more new kinks where that came from,” I said. “Just wait. They get weirder.”

“Oh, I know. Your list gave me a lot of new words to learn,” she said. When she spoke again, her teasing tone was gone. “I feel really good. Relaxed…tired.” She opened her eyes, those green irises searing into me. “I feel happy.”

My heart skipped a beat. Being here with us, taking part in this, made her happy? She took the washcloth from my hands, rising from the edge of the tub.

“Your turn,” she said, grabbing a clean cloth from the cabinet and leaving the used one beside the sink. She dampened it as I stared, admiring her naked body. When she returned and sat down again, she pushed my hair out of my face with one hand and used the other to wipe the cloth over my skin.

“And how do you feel?” she said. She was going to put me to sleep doing this. The soft touch of the cloth was so relaxing.

I closed my eyes, savoring the moment. “I feel like this is surreal. Like Vincent and I saw you at that car wash and fell into some kind of fever dream.”

“I know the feeling,” she said. “Almost like it’s not supposed to be happening. Like we broke the rules.”

I caught her wrist as she wiped the cloth along my throat, drawing her a little closer. “We always break the rules, Jess.”

Her lips were pliant as I kissed her. It felt too good to pull her close, to cup her face and stroke my thumb over her cheek. And when her breath hitched, shuddering slightly as she inhaled, that soft feeling in my chest got even fucking softer.

“Tell me the truth,” I said, barely parting from her to speak. “How long have you wanted this?”

When she lifted her eyes to mine, they looked uncertain, almost afraid, as if someone was pounding on the door that protected her most tightly kept secret.

She took a breath and then whispered, “Always.”