DEAD IN BED By Bailey Simms: The Complete Second Book

PART 14, AUTHOR'S NOTE - 3/28/15, 5:42pm

That morning, before I'd told Bailey about the gas leak, I'd stoked the fire, put on the coffee, and got ready to transcribe her novel while she was at her most energetic, just like always.

But now she pushed the notepad away and sat up in bed.

She hesitantly took my hand in hers. For a long time she didn't say anything at all. She stared at me and just toyed with my thumb as if she were about to tell me some secret she'd never told anyone else in her entire life and was trying to find the right words for it.

But she didn't say anything at all.

Instead, she let go of my hand.

Without a word, she set aside the bedcovers.

Shakily, she swung her legs out of the bed, leaned forward, and stood before me.

In one fluid motion, she took off her t-shirt.

The fire in the wood stove crackled softly. Outside, the tiniest of snowflakes fell from a gray sky. 

Then, without unlocking her eyes from mine, she took off the sweats she'd been sleeping in.

Balancing herself against the wall, she took off her underwear, inching them down over her thighs and knees and finally stepping out of them.

The gray morning light, though dim, brightened her naked skin. She stood near enough to the warm wood stove, but goose bumps stood out on her shoulders and small breasts. The triangle of her pubic hair, flattened by her underwear, rested shyly above the gap between her legs.

I'd never seen her fully naked before.

My hands knew every inch of her body, inside and out. But whenever we were together, until now, Bailey had always wanted to keep her clothes on, or the lights off. She'd always been so self-conscious about her body. Now that I knew about her Huntington's, I understood why she'd been self-conscious.But I'd also always known, long before that moment, that I would think she was beautiful, no matter what her body looked like.

And I was right.

As Bailey stood in front of me like that, her breathing coming quickly, her eyes attached to mine, even as she wavered slightly to keep her constantly-faltering balance, I'd never found anyone or anything so beautiful.

She stepped toward me. 

She put her arms around my shoulders. She kissed me very softly while her breath quickened.

With faltering fingertips, she raised my shirt. I lifted my arms to let her take it off.

Then Bailey pressed herself against me, very tightly, and rested her ear against my collar bone. I felt her breasts against my chest. The goose bumps at the small of her back softened when I pulled her toward me and held her close...