"Are you dried up yet?" Bryce asked from the living room in Hera's apartment where they had been seated ever since they alighted from his car. For some reason, he couldn't go back to his mansion and had decided to crash at her place for the night. Hera knew that it was a big step, letting a man into her apartment to spend the night, but she let him anyway. She couldn't send him away even if she wanted to, especially not after what they had just been through tonight.
"Almost," she answered from her bedroom. She had been trying to wipe her hair dry ever since she got out of the shower. Drying her hair had not always been the easiest chore, but it was either she tried to or got her bed wet tonight with dripping water.
She sat down at the edge of the bed and ran the towel through and through, in a bid to get all the water out.
"You're not going to get it out like that." She heard Bryce's voice from behind her. She turned around to see him leaning against the door of her bedroom. How long had he been standing there, watching her? She was tempted to ask but refrained from doing so.
He was clad in baggy pants that he had probably gotten from his house when she was in the bedroom. Now that she looked at him so closely, she couldn't unsee it anymore. He looked so adorable. Had he always looked like this or did she just not notice?
"Let me help you," he offered and stepped into her bedroom fully. She tried to protest, but she was too late. He was already standing in front of her. He took the towel from her hands and slowly began to work his way through her shrunken mass.
Hera relaxed and her tensed shoulders plopped down as he gently massaged her scalp with the towel. For some reason, it felt so good. No one had ever done something like this for her before. It was an entirely new feeling, and it sent tingling sensations throughout her entire body.
Bryce worked slowly, careful enough not to hurt the woman under his care. He had never had anything worth protecting in his entire life, but this woman, she was the only thing standing between his rules, laws, and ethics. He still couldn't understand what had changed. Why was she different? Why was there longing? Why was there an unstacked need? Why couldn't he bring himself to behave the way he normally does when he is in the arms of a different woman? Why was her mere presence changing everything?