Stroke of Love

Chapter 13: Caught in the Closet

Karen froze momentarily.

She had not expected this to happen to her. Ever! Caught with her shirt over her face in the awkward position her cast put her in.

"It's ok, I suppose it's all been seen before. We all had to model for art class." Pause. "You might as well help tug the damn thing down."

In those few seconds without her eyesight, it seemed like all her other senses were sharpened.

 "My pleasure."

She heard the delightful timbre of his voice, the sound of him moving across the carpet. She felt the heat of his body as he stood behind her. She smelt his soap.

His swift intake of breath was clear when, she thought, he realised she wasn't wearing anything beneath the t-shirt.

He tugged on it one, two, three times and said, "There you go, Miss Fox."

She turned and smiled as he stepped back. "Thank you."

His wicked smile came out briefly. "Anytime." Pause. "Karen, there's something you may not be aware of-"

He was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Jay!" Sanders yelled.

"You might want to put shorts on today," Jay said heading out of the dressing room, still in a towel.

Mark, Sanders and Basil were at his bedroom door.

"Disgusting," Basil said, looking slightly less bleary-eyed since his shower. "What is keeping you from putting clothes on?"

"I need a t-shirt and socks," Sanders said, pushing past him.

"Just hang on a moment," Jay said in a tone that stopped him from charging into the dressing room.

Sanders turned and his jaw dropped momentarily as he suddenly remembered Karen had slept in the very room he was standing in.

"Is she-?"

Jay moved past him to knock on the door.

"I'm done!" she called out.

The door opened and she paused when she saw Sanders.

"Oh. Good morning, Sandy."

She glanced around the room, her eyes briefly resting on Jay before she left his bedroom and greeted Mark and Carter who were leaning against the banister across the hall. Then she went downstairs to sit with Mrs Brown.

Basil saw the perfume on the chest, Sandy accidentally found the lingerie and Mark pointed out that Jay was sitting on Karen's gown.

Jay didn't mind any of the fooling around in his walk in closet- he just hoped they wouldn't ask him to explain where he had actually slept last night. He knew they wouldn't believe that he had slept in Karen's room alone. Her perfume had driven him crazy for ages before he'd fallen into a fitful sleep.

For now, he sat and watched his friends grab clothing from his shelves.

Sandy had to be in the gym soon and the other two had a change of clothes at their offices, so they all donned casual sportswear.

Jay stood up abruptly and they all went quiet.

"What's wrong?" Sandy asked.

He laughed. "Nothing. I have to get dressed too."

"Oh. Right."

Jay laughed again and shook his head.