Winter's Heat by Tami Vinson Page B

again reminded of the pressing need for a hot shower, plenty of soap and possibly some gasoline to burn the clothes she still wore. It had felt so good to get out of that apartment that she hadn’t thought to grab any extra clothes.
    “ Don’t worry sweetheart, I’ll take care of it. Go make yourself comfortable and I’ll see you in a little bit.” He said walking with her to the foot of the stairs.
    “ Thank you baby.” Placing a heartfelt kiss on his cheek, she turned and made her way up the stairs.
     
     
    A few minutes later upstairs in the bathroom, Winter finally leaned back against the warm tiles of the shower stall as hot water rained down all over her. She had never appreciated the soothing healing touch of water more than this moment. The last thirty minutes of standing under spray and washing every part of her body countless times had been a big help and went a long way in making her feel normal again.
    Knowing she couldn’t stay in there all night, she regretfully turned the still hot water off. Once that was done, she stepped out into the spacious shower and grabbed for a towel off the rack. Running the towel over her long mass of black corkscrew curls, she brushed her fingertips over the faint bruises she saw appearing on her upper arms. She shivered again with the realization of how close she had come to her life being changed as she knew it. She’d been so sure she could handle the situation with Randy because he hadn’t appeared to that strong or threatening.
    If Eric hadn’t …. Winter immediately shook off the thought.
    Moving to the sink, she noticed a black robe neatly folded on the cool surface of the counter. Picking it up she shook it out and held the soft lightweight material up against her bare skin. It was Eric’s. Glancing at the closed bathroom door, she wondered when Eric had come in to sit it there on the counter. Had he seen her through glass of the shower? The thought made her warm all over as she instantly remembered the first time they’d made love.
    Moving to slide the dark material over her naked curves, she wondered what she was going to do for clothes in the mean time. She couldn’t stay here without a stitch of clothes to her name and she immediately shot down the idea of going back to the apartment to get some.
    Maybe she could buy something at one of the local discount stores in the meantime. But that thought was shot down as a quick mental picture showed her purse where she’d left it…on her dresser also back at the apartment.
    It looked like she would have no other choice but to go back there sooner than she wanted to.
    On that note, she opened the bathroom door and walked out into the now darkened bedroom. Approaching the bed, she turned on the bedside lamp and was surprised to see her purse sitting on the neatly made bed as if waiting on her to come and claim it.
    She couldn’t help but smile at Eric’s thoughtfulness as she sat down to search her purse for her cell phone. Trust Eric to think ten steps ahead. It was one of the many things she admired about him.
    Hearing a knock on the bedroom door, she called out, “Come in.”
     
    Eric walked in to see Winter sitting in the middle of bed pulling items out of her purse. His eyes immediately ran over the damp curls framing her cleanly scrubbed face and tracked down to the over sized robe he’d brought in earlier as it fell off the smooth satiny brown skin of one of her shoulders. He remembered going into the bathroom earlier to lay the robe on the counter and had come face to face with a rerun of his fantasy come to life. It made him remember the first time they’d made love and he’d had to make himself turn and walk away from the temptation of her water slick curves.
    Things were so different between now and then.
    Tracking every moment of her elegant hands, he tried to keep his focus off of what he knew to be underneath the silky material molded to her lush body. Instead, he tried to focus on the