Practice Makes Perfect: A Novel

Istep out of the shower and look in the mirror. The swelling of my eye has gone way down, which is good, but my shoulder is still tender. I had to get five stitches—which in the grand scheme of things is nothing. The pain is manageable with Tylenol, and I’m just glad Amelia’s safe.

The guy was arrested and taken into custody. Beyond that, it’s out of my hands.

Suddenly I hear the sound of my door slamming, and I realize I forgot to lock it. Adrenaline kicks through my veins. I quickly throw a towel around my waist and fling open the bathroom door, ready to take an intruder by surprise rather than the opposite. And that’s when I see her, standing in the middle of my room.

“Annie?” My shoulders relax for only a second before I take in how she looks. “What’s wrong? Why the hell are you barefoot and wearing a penis necklace?”

She’s breathing heavily as her eyes scan my body. “How dare you!”

“Me?” I ask, feeling drunk with how disoriented I am.

“Yes, you! I’m so angry with you I could tear you apart limb by limb.”

She advances toward me and instinctively I take a step away. “What did I do?”

“Nothing, Will!” Annie’s blue eyes are blazing. “And that’s the problem. You were attacked and injured, and you didn’t tell me. Look at you! You have a black eye and a big bandage on your shoulder, and you didn’t immediately call me and let me come over and take care of you. You’re not just avoiding me, Will, you’re phasing me out.”

She wags her finger at me. “Don’t bother denying it because whether you like it or not, William Griffin, I know you.” She doesn’t even stop to breathe. The lung capacity on this woman is impressive. “But you can’t phase me out. I won’t let you! If you never want anything romantic, fine. But I can’t go through life without knowing you, and talking to you, and holding your hand when I go on an adventure because you promised. Because I’ve never felt with anyone what I feel with you.”

Her chest is heaving and her face is flushed and her eyes are teary.

“Say something…” she demands, some of her bluster failing now.

I laugh. “Oh, it’s my turn now?”

“Yes, obviously that was your cue,” she concedes, but then her eyes drop to my torso and the towel barely hanging on around my waist, and she frowns. “But you’re naked. And I think I’m going to have a very hard time paying attention to anything you say while you’re naked.”

“I’m not naked, I’m wearing a towel—”

At that exact moment, said towel drops from my waist, and I am now, in fact, very naked. Naked and wet from my shower and standing fully frontal to Annie. I immediately cup my hands in front of me as Annie’s jaw hits the floor. “Oh my gosh,” she says in a whisper that doesn’t sound like she hates what she sees. Which is not helping the hiding of my groin issue.

“Shit—Annie…would you mind?”

She sucks in a sharp breath and covers her eyes. “Why do you look like that, Will?”

“Like what?” I grab the towel and fasten it back in place. Tightly this time.

“Like…so good!” she says, making me smile. “Will…you look like an underwear model. But without the underwear. Good gravy, I just saw your naked body.”

“Could you maybe stop yelling that, though?”

“Sorry.” Her hand is still firmly clasped to her eyes. “And you have a thigh tattoo!”

“I do.”

“It’s a wolf. You really are Wolf Boy.”

“You had no idea how accurate you were all along. Okay, you can look again.”

She doesn’t move.

“Annie, you can uncover your eyes.”

She breathes in and holds it. “I’ve never been in a room with a naked man before, Will,” she says this quietly, like a confession.

I walk to Annie and slowly pull her hand down from her face. But her eyes are shut. I can’t help but laugh. “Open your eyes. It’s just me.”

“Just me, he says. Like he’s not the most gorgeous person my eyes have ever beheld.” She raises her lashes tentatively—a squint at first—and then fully open.

“Thank you,” I say softly. I’m not sure I’ve ever had anyone compliment me quite like that before. Or maybe it’s that I’ve never had someone like Annie compliment me before. It shakes my already shaken self. “You’re the most gorgeous person I’ve ever beheld too.”

“Thank you.” She smiles shyly.

“You were right, though.”

“About looking like an underwear model? I know, you have the V that—”

I cover her lips with my fingers. “About me phasing you out.”

“Oh,” she said from the other side of my hand. I lower it. “Because you don’t have feelings for me after all?”

I shake my head. “The complete opposite. My plan was to run as fast as I could away from you.” I smile. “Thanks for chasing after me.”

She blinks. “Always.”

The tension between us grows—crackling and steaming to life. And more than anything right now, I want Annie. All of Annie. All of us.

“You should probably go,” I tell her as my eyes drop to her mouth.

“Probably, yeah,” she says stepping even closer and settling her fingers gently to my bare stomach. My muscles clench and I grit my teeth as her fingers trail lower to the top of my towel. “But I don’t want to.”

“Annie…” My plea is ragged from having to hold back from my own desire. I’m trying so hard to be upstanding here, but she’s making it so damn difficult. “We haven’t figured anything out yet between us, and if you stay…”

“I’m staying,” she says firmly, leaving no room for argument. She knows who she is and what she wants and I sure as hell am not going to stand in the way of it.

I remove her fingers from the top of the towel, and a moment of hurt flashes through her eyes before I take those fingers and raise them to my lips to kiss each one instead.