“I know, right?” Stone faltered. “I’m sure she wasn’t being mean. I know her well enough to believe she was talking about how light your hair and eyes are. And your bone structure. I think you just surprised her.”
I nodded. “You and Taggart are pretty handsome guys too.”
He bit his lip. “We might have taken advantage of that a time or two.”
“I saw her move your eye patch.”
“Sometimes Ari’s such a Mom,” he said irritably. “Now that she has Artemis, it’s only going to get worse.”
“How come you don’t wear a glass eye?”
Stone went still.
“I don’t mean you need one.” I backtracked carefully. “I just wondered why some people wear eye patches and some wear glass eyes.”
“I wear a prosthetic beneath the eye patch, but people flinch away when they look at it. The sight of my scarring with a glass eye in the middle seems to shock them.”
I didn’t comment. What could I say?
“Now you want to see, don’t you?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Didn’t you ask because you were curious about my scars? About what could be under the patch? I’ll give you a hint. It’s not a portal to a lost world.”
“Jesus. I was only curious whether you chose to wear a patch instead of a glass eye, and why that might be.”
“But you’re not at all curious to see it,” he said stiffly.
“Nope.”
“Not a bit?” he chided.
“Not even a little bit,” I said. “Show me if you want. If you don’t, I couldn’t care less.”
“I don’t,” he growled. “That’s why I wear the eye patch.”
“Fine,” I said. “But I think it’s because you know the eye patch makes you look super hot.”
With a laugh, he turned and picked up the empty tray.
“Hey, Stone?” I stopped him. “I have a request. You can say no.”
Probably expecting another ambush, he asked, “What is it?”
“Do you think you could help me take a shower?”
“Of course.” He seemed to hesitate. “Back in a minute. I have to put these in the kitchen.”
He hurried from the bedroom, his footsteps brisk as he went down the hall.
“What was that?” Molly stepped inside the room after he left. “What’d you do to him?”
“I asked if he’d help me shower.”
She coughed into her hand. “I can help you. I’ve seen you naked a hundred—”
“Shhh. He’ll hear you.”
“What? Why are we whispering?”
“Molly, the last thing I need is you bathing me.”
“How many times have I thrown your drunken ass into the shower?”
“Because I could wash myself. This isn’t the same.”
“Oh…” Her eyes widened. “You asked him to wash you?”
“Who else? I can’t get my bandages or cast wet, and I can’t go for months without washing my hair.”
She wagged a finger at me. “You are lying and you're going straight to hell, Sebastian Keye.”
“Get that smirk off your face.”
“I’m sure Ariel would bathe you. She’s a mom now, and—”
“No!” I shouted.
“No!” Stone said from the doorway, then flushed. “Er…if I was too precious to help you bathe, Ari and Tag would never let me live it down.”
“Oh, that’s good,” Molly judged. “It’s probably even true.”
Behind his back, she continued to smirk. I gave her the stinkeye and kicked her foot.
“Ow.” She put her weight on her other leg. “Okay. Go get clean or whatever. I made a salad if you’re still hungry later.”
“I’m good for now.” I’d eaten less since the accident. Judging from what I’d seen in the bathroom mirror earlier, it showed.
Stone said, “I’ll have a salad later. Maybe we can tempt Sebastian with some fruit before bedtime.”
“I’m beat,” Molly said. “Plus, I’m halfway through a good book. I’ll see you guys in the morning.”
She gave an operatic yawn and left us to it.
“Come to the bathroom,” Stone ordered. “I have plastic sleeves for your arms.”
“I could probably find a way—”
The look he gave me was, I don’t know…bilious.
“Do you really not want to do this?” I asked. “I could get Molly. She’s seen me at my worst. Giving me a sponge bath won’t kill her.”
“Sebastian,” Stone said patiently. “I’m honestly happy to help you in any way I can. I just feel a little awkward bathing a grown man.”
“I see. Think of me as one of the dogs, then.”
“It’s fine. It’ll be great. You’ll be glad when you’re clean again.” He pulled some fluffy gray towels out of the cupboard.
“But you can’t just leave it there.” I felt like prying. “Tell me why it’s awkward.”
He shifted so the unmarked side of his face was turned toward me.
“I now know your father, who, by the way, is only a little older than I am. And Jesus, God, I’m not going to perve or prey on you, but every day I become a little more aware of how truly pr—handsome you are. And sometimes it makes me feel awkward.”
“Why?”
“Maybe because I didn’t notice at first? Maybe because everyone and their little green dogs want to talk to me all about it.”
“Who did?”
“Ariel, I told you. And Tag, Molly, and some of the nurses. The pilot of our aircraft—”
“Okay, okay. I get it.” I made a funny face to break the awkward moment. “Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful.”
“I could never hate you.” Stone said fervently. “I just don’t know…”
“What? That leaves a plethora of other options.”
Poor man, I thought.
Stone was caught in a riptide on the ocean of charm that is le moi.
I snorted. “Well, I know what I’m feeling.”
“What?”
“Itchy as fuck. Stone? Papi chulo? I will buy you a private island if you help me wash my hair.”
“Which one?”
“Not Manhattan or Fiji.”
He frowned. “So not a good one.”
“Please, Stone.”
He gave me a look of utter disappointment and said, “Come on then.”
I'm not shy about my body. I would have shucked my clothes off as if I was behind the scenes at fashion week, but Stone had to help me painstakingly get out of my tank top. My sleep pants were easy. He taped plastic sleeves over my casts.
He used shampoo that smelled like almonds and took his time, gently scrubbing my hair and scalp clean and rinsing the soap out. Then he repeated, giving me a longer scalp massage. I groaned when his fingers smoothed over my neck and washed behind my ears.
With a washcloth and some neutral-smelling soapy gel, he started scrubbing my shoulders. My back. My chest, pits, and sides. He kept his eyes carefully on my face, his gaze locked with mine.