The Reluctant Vampire (27 page)

Drina handed him back the instructions after a quick glance at the first one. She then moved to the tub to put in the stopper.

“Take off the clothes you’re wearing,” Harper read out as she straightened. He then caught the back of her sheet and whipped it away.

Drina gasped, and then turned to prop her fists on her naked hips and give him a feigned scowl. “I read the first instructions. It said take off the clothes you were wearing
when sprayed
.”

“True, but you can’t bathe in the sheet anyway, so I thought I’d be helpful,” he said, his eyes appreciating her pose and nakedness.

Drina snorted at the claim, and then grinned with amusement when he glanced around, closed the toilet seat, and sat on it, then attached the clothespin to his nose, pinching it closed, as he considered the instructions again.

“Fill a tub with water and get in,” he read, his voice now nasal.

Chuckling, she turned back to the tub and turned the taps on full. Drina then glanced over her shoulder to catch him eyeing her derriere in a manner that probably wouldn’t go under the listing of “helpful.” Shaking her head, she asked, “What do I put in first? The tomato juice or—?”

“Neither,” he interrupted, managing to tear his gaze from her derriere and back to the sheet. “It says to wash first with just soap and water, that sometimes if you only got a light spray, it’s enough.”

“My spraying wasn’t light,” she said dryly. It had been a nice hard steady stream. The little beast had probably been saving up all winter to douse someone. Lucky her for being the recipient. “And Teddy said a bath wouldn’t help by itself, or I would have done it last night.”

“I’m just reading the instructions,” he said with an apologetic shrug.

“Right,” Drina muttered. The tub was only half-full, but she stepped into it and sat down anyway. While the water continued to run, she picked up the bar of soap on the side of the tub, dunked it in the water, and began to lather it up and apply it to herself.

Harper said something she couldn’t hear over the sound of the rushing water. Busy lathering her chest and neck, Drina simply lifted one foot out of the water and used her toes to turn off the tap before turning to him to ask, “What was that?”

He was staring rather blankly at the taps.

“Harper?” she asked with a frown.

“You turned it off with your toes,” he muttered.

“Yes,” Drina said, and tilted her head uncertainly. She’d done it automatically and hadn’t realized it was odd, but his expression was . . . well, she wasn’t sure what his expression was. His eyes were wide though, and he was now staring at her feet at the end of the tub with a sort of fascination.

“What talented little feet you have,” he murmured finally, his gaze shifting back to her face. “What else can you do with them?”

Drina opened her mouth, closed it, and then narrowed her eyes. “Are you having another one of your perverted little fantasies like the maid apron and boots?”

“Uh-huh.” Harper nodded, his eyes sliding over her naked breasts above the water.

Drina chuckled and turned to begin soaping herself again, saying nonchalantly, “I can do all sorts of things with my toes and feet.”

Harper released a little sigh and set the instruction sheet on the side of the sink, then slid to his knees beside the tub and reached for the soap. “Let me help soap you up.”

“No way.” She laughed, holding the soap out of his reach. “Back on the toilet, mister. You can help later, when I smell better.”

He sighed but did as instructed and simply watched silently as she soaped every inch of her skin, and then rinsed it away.

“I haven’t been able to smell for hours now,” Drina said on a sigh as she sniffed at her arm. “But I don’t think it worked.”

Harper caught her hand and pulled it to his nose for a sniff, then bit his lip and shook his head.

“Right,” she muttered, pulling the plug on the water and standing up as the tub began to drain. “So what’s the next step?”

“Wash with carbolic soap,” he read, and stood to search the bags on the counter for the item in question.

Drina glanced impatiently down at the half-drained water, and reached to turn on the shower. It didn’t make sense to wash the smell away and then sit in the smelly water full of stuff you just soaped off. She would shower this time.

“No fair,” Harper complained when she pulled the tub’s shower curtain closed after taking the soap he handed her.

Drina chuckled but simply continued with her plan, standing outside the spray of water to thoroughly soap herself up, and then moving under it to rinse herself.

“Now?” she asked a few moments later, jerking the curtain open enough to stick her hand out for inspection.

He sniffed and then shook his head apologetically. “Better, but . . .”

Drina sighed and turned off the shower. “Next?”

“Fill a bucket with equal parts water and vinegar and use a rag to wash yourself with the mixture. Scrub hard, but not to the point of pain,” Harper read, and then glanced around with a frown. “We don’t have a bucket.”

“Look under the sink,” she suggested.

He opened one of the cupboard doors and made a sound of triumph. “A cleaning bucket.”

“Good enough,” Drina decided, stepping out of the tub and using the ruined sheet to dry herself while Harper quickly rinsed the bucket, dumped a large bottle of vinegar in, then refilled the vinegar bottle with warm water and added that as well.

He reached under the sink again then, and sorted through a stack of washcloths before settling on the rattiest of the bunch, which wasn’t truly very ratty. He dropped it in the water and glanced to her. “Shall I—?”

“Sit,” she said firmly, urging him aside. Drina then began to clean herself with the pungent solution, first dunking her hair in the pail, wringing it out as thoroughly as she could, and then scrubbing at her face and working her way down. She was aware of Harper’s fascinated eyes watching every move and just couldn’t resist playing it up a bit, moving the cloth over her breasts more lovingly, and then setting her foot on the toilet seat between his thighs to wash one leg, leaving herself open to his view as she did.

Really, she hadn’t got sprayed on the legs and this wasn’t necessary at all, but Drina thought the smell was finally beginning to recede, she was feeling better, and really it was fun, she acknowledged to herself as she switched feet on the toilet seat, giving him the same open view from a different angle. This time she washed
everything.

“I think it’s starting to work,” Harper growled, his hands reaching for her, and Drina immediately jumped back.

“Starting is good, but I want it gone,” she said firmly. “What’s next?”

Harper stared mournfully at the crux of her thighs for a moment, and then turned back to the sheet of instructions. “Pour the tomato juice all over your body and wash yourself with it as well, scrubbing again.” He glanced up. “It’s the last step. After that it’s wash with soap and water again, probably to remove the tomato juice.”

He set the sheet down and stood to move past her to the bags on the counter. “Get in the tub, and I’ll pour the juice over you.”

Drina stepped into the tub. She then bent to put the stopper back in to keep the fluid in the tub in case he missed a spot pouring it on her, like under her chin, or her ears or—good Lord—just anywhere the spray may have gotten.

“Head up, eyes closed,” Harper ordered, when she straightened and turned back.

Drina did as instructed and gasped as cool liquid poured over her head and face and splashed down over her, then blinked her eyes open in surprise when his hands were suddenly moving over her breasts.

“It missed a couple spots as it poured over you,” he explained huskily, moving the cool red liquid around and over her breasts . . . repeatedly, first with his hands, and then with the cloth.

Drina bit her lip and clenched her fists to keep from reaching for him as Harper spent what seemed an endless amount of time, and half the jugs of tomato juice Anders had purchased, ensuring her breasts were spray free.

Her toes were curling in the red liquid now pooling in the tub, when he finally said, “Turn.”

Drina turned her back to him, and sucked in a breath as the cool liquid poured over her head and back. He again used his hands to direct the tomato juice around, this time paying special attention to her behind. His fingers sliding over the curves, under the curves, and then dipping briefly between her legs, making her brace her hands on the cold tiles to keep her balance as she gasped, “I’m pretty sure I didn’t get sprayed there.”

“Yes, but you were sitting in the first batch of tub water when you cleaned the surface stuff away, and it may have gotten everywhere. Best to do a thorough job,” he said, sounding cheerful and a bit breathless himself. His fingers slipped away as he turned to switch the empty jug for a fresh one, and then he repeated the process, once again ending between her legs.

Drina bit her lip as his fingers ran over her, sure Harper was punishing her for her earlier teasing when she’d been using the water-and-vinegar solution. On a bright note, though, as her life mate, she knew he was punishing himself as well since he too was experiencing the excitement he was stirring in her.

“Last bottle.” Harper’s voice was gravelly now, but she was amazed he could speak at all. She didn’t think she could, and then the cool liquid was pouring over her for the last time, little red rivulets running over her shoulders and down her arms.

This time Harper didn’t waste time moving the liquid over her derriere but immediately slid his free hand between her legs as he poured. Drina curled her fingers against the tile surround of the tub and moaned. When the bottle was empty, and he retrieved his hand to turn and set the jug on the counter with the others, she turned and leaned weakly back against the cool tiles, glad to still be on her feet. She’d begun to worry her shaking legs would collapse under her by the end.

Harper turned back and eyed her, then stepped to the edge of the tub, caught her arm, and pulled her forward for a kiss that did little to settle her excitement. His hands moved over her briefly as he thrust his tongue into her mouth, and then he broke the kiss and stepped back to begin removing his T-shirt.

“Going to scrub my back?” she asked huskily, sinking back against the tile again as the T-shirt hit the floor.

“Your back, your front, your top, your bottom, and everything in between,” he assured her, and reached for the waist of his joggers, only to pause as a knock sounded at the door.

“Drina?” Stephanie’s voice called. “I’m sorry to bother you guys, but this is the only bathroom, and I really have to go.”

Drina bit her lip as Harper closed his eyes on a sigh.

“You don’t have to get out of the tub, Dree,” Stephanie added now. “Just pull the shower curtain closed if you want. I don’t mind. But I really, really have to go.”

“One second, Steffie,” Drina said finally when Harper bent to retrieve his T-shirt and quickly pulled it back on. He leaned forward then to kiss her again, a quick, hard one, and then tugged the shower curtain closed and turned to open the bathroom door.

“Sorry, Stephanie. Go right ahead,” Harper said as he slid from the room.

Drina sat down in the tub with a little thump, grateful to get off her shaking legs. She heard Stephanie enter and a rustle as the girl announced, “Teddy sent up some joggers and a T-shirt for you. I’m putting them on the counter.”

“Thank you,” Drina murmured, picking up the washcloth. She soaked it in the tomato juice in the tub and began to scrub herself as her nerve endings slowly began to calm.

“The tomato juice and stuff must have worked. It only smells a little in here now, and I think that’s from the sheet.” Stephanie’s words were accompanied by a rustling Drina supposed was the girl preparing to “go.”

“Yes, I think it worked. I can actually smell the tomato juice now, and I haven’t been able to smell anything for hours,” Drina said.

“Lucian still hasn’t called Anders back,” Stephanie announced, and Drina suspected the girl was just talking to try to hide the sounds as she relieved herself. “You don’t think Lucian will make us go back to Toronto now that Casey Cottage is temporarily uninhabitable, do you?”

Drina heard the worry in the girl’s voice and frowned, but the suggestion worried her as well. It would be harder to hide Stephanie’s abilities—and trouble handling them—from Lucian if they were in Toronto . . . and Drina was worried about what he would do. She wanted to help the girl learn to block the voices and perhaps deal with the electricity and energy she claimed to feel around life mates, and had spent a good portion of her night in the kitchen considering how to do that. The problem was that it was the complete opposite of what new turns usually needed to learn, and she had no idea how to go about it.

Realizing she shouldn’t be thinking about this with the girl so close, Drina pushed the thought from her head, and said, “I don’t know, sweetie. But if so, I’ll be with you. Don’t worry. And it would probably only be temporary until Casey Cottage was habitable again.”

“Right,” Stephanie murmured. She was silent for a minute, and then said, “Sorry to interrupt your bath.”

“You aren’t interrupting,” Drina said with amusement, scrubbing the tomato-soaked cloth over her leg.

“Yeah, but I mean, you probably want your privacy and stuff.”

Drina chuckled at the suggestion. “Steffie, when I was young in Egypt, servants would help me with my bath. They would pour water over me and so on. And in Spain, I always had a maid who helped me bathe. Well, until that went out of fashion. I am not bothered by your being here.”

“Really?” Stephanie asked curiously. “Did they have soap in Egypt?”

“Not the hard bars used today. Ours was a cream made up of lime, oil, and perfume.”

“That sounds nice.” Stephanie sighed. There was a rustle, and then the flushing of the toilet, followed by the squeak of the taps being turned.

Teddy needed some oil on that, Drina thought absently as she continued scrubbing.

“Well, I guess I’ll go back downstairs,” Stephanie announced, turning off the taps. “Do you want to play cards or something when you come down?”