Page 88 of Lumi

CHAPTER 17

Private Hygiene

Lumi

It turned out that the thought of being handcuffed while using the bathroom was worse than the act itself.

Damian turned on the ventilator in his bathroom and increased the volume of the music playing in the living room so I couldn’t hear anything as I stood outside his bathroom door with only my arm inside.

“This is the first time I felt grateful that my bathroom is small, and the toilet is right next to the door,” Damian said when he was done.

After making love three times that day, undressing for the shower didn’t bother us, except that we had to solve the challenge of how to get our t-shirts off. So far, they had been dangling from our wrists when we had sex. Damian suggested that his sleeve-less t-shirt might fit over my head and shoulders which would allow me to step out of it, but he was wrong, and the fabric ripped.

The opening in my t-shirt was smaller and would never fit him, which led to my rash decision of cutting it off with a scissor. Damian stopped me.

“I don’t know what Jolene and Atlas were thinkin’, but there’s no way we can go for several days without a key. We’ll use a small screwdriver.”

It took Damian a split second to open the handcuffs and we agreed that we’d document every time and make our changing clothes as fast as possible.

“I’m sure I can convince Atlas that we had no choice,” I said before we stepped into the shower with the handcuffs back on.

Damian helped me wash my hair, and after rinsing the shampoo out with great care, he kissed me until I was out of breath.

“Ye admitted that being the richest woman in the world isn’t yer biggest ambition in life. So what is?”

My head leaned back, and my hands were on his chest. “My dream is similar to yours. Last year, we had a family day at work. There were couples with children all around me, and that night I drank a whole bottle of wine feeling sorry for myself. I know that there are ways a woman can have children by herself, but if you ask me what my biggest ambition in life is, I’d have to say that it’s to give my children the kind of normal childhood that I never had — growing up with two parents who love them and each other. It might sound trivial to some, but I guess we always want what we can’t have. I hear my employees complain about messy teenagers' rooms and piles of laundry and I don’t get why they can’t see that they’re the luckiest people to have a family.”

Damian turned off the shower and reached for two towels, handing me one. “When ye say that we want what we can’t have, do ye mean because of yer job? Is that why ye can’t have a husband and children?”

“No. I’m talking about this.” I raised our linked hands. “The whole reason for this experiment was my issues with closeness. I haven’t had much luck with love.”

Damian smiled and pulled me against his chest. “What issue with closeness?”

I leaned my head against his chest. “It’s different with you.”

“Good. Because I don’t like competition.”

After kissing me on my hair, Damian stepped out of the shower. “I’m happy that we want the same thing, but are ye certain that yer job will leave ye time for children? It feels like ye’re always workin’.”

“I’ll make time and get better at delegating my work.”

“We might not be able to have children. Not everyone does.”

“That’s your fear talking. If it doesn’t happen naturally, we’ll get help.”

Damian kissed me again and helped me dry my hair with my towel.

“Do you know how to braid hair?” I asked him.

“I braided my mother’s hair when her shoulder broke, but I was a teenager then.”

“Would you give it a try?”

He nodded. Standing in front of his bathroom mirror, I watched Damian brush my hair and apply the leave-in conditioner that I’d brought.

“How do I start?” He fumbled a bit until he had the three strands going. Typically, I made a Dutch braid from the top of my hairline, but Damian began from my neck, and his tongue peeked out in concentration as he braided my long hair and tied the hairband at the end.

“Perfect,” I said and reached up on my toes to reward him with a kiss.