The bathroom mirror was already fogged when I shoved Daniel in, both of us laughing like idiots, still half-dizzy from what I'd just done to him. He turned on the shower and the spray hit hot instantly, bouncing off his chest as he pulled me under with him.
"Shit, Maya," he groaned, water dripping down his jaw. "You don't even give a guy a second to recover, huh?"I slid my hands over his wet skin, grinning up at him. "Recover? Babe, I just put you on your knees without you even standing up. You should be thanking me."He chuckled, low and wrecked, leaning into me so the water plastered my dress to my skin before he tugged the straps down. "You're unreal, you know that? Shameless as hell.""And you like it." I pushed his hair back, fingers combing through the wet strands, watching water drip from his lashes.
For a moment we just stood there under the spray, bodies pressed close, heat from the water and the buzz between us making it impossible to tell which burned hotter.
He kissed me, soft at first, then deeper, wetter, water running into our mouths as if the kiss itself couldn't stay contained.It wasn't sex. It wasn't desperate. It was… something else. Tender but still reckless, like we were both scared to stop.By the time we stumbled out of the shower, dripping and breathless, towels clinging to us, I was already edging toward the door."Alright," I said, wringing water from my hair. "I did my job. You're satisfied. We're even. I should head back before Lila wakes up and catches us looking like this."Daniel froze mid-rub of his towel over his hair. Then he lowered it, eyes narrowing like I'd just insulted him. "Even? Maya, are you serious right now?"I shrugged, smirking even though my chest was pounding. "Yeah. We're square. You were full, I helped you out. Case closed."He crossed the space in two strides, dripping towel and all, catching my wrist before I could touch the door. His voice dropped, serious in a way that made my stomach flip. "Stay."
"Daniel—"
"No." His grip tightened, not rough, but sure. "Stay. I don't just want… this," he gestured between us, "I want you. Tonight. Here. With me."That hit. I looked at him, really looked, and for once the shameless jokes died on my tongue.
"You're impossible," I whispered, trying to smirk but failing."And you're running scared." He tugged me back toward the bed, dropping both our towels without hesitation. "Lie down. Not for sex. Just… stay with me."
So I did.
And that's when the night flipped. We weren't clawing at each other anymore; we were tangled under his sheets, skin damp and warm, just… talking. Like the walls were finally down.
He told me about the mess he'd been through the ex who screwed him over, the pressure from his family, the stuff he never says out loud. I admitted things I hadn't told anyone , the secrets about my childhood, the loneliness, the ways I pretend I'm tougher than I am.And in between the heavy confessions, we were still us. Teasing. Naughty. His hand slipping over my thigh under the covers just to hear me gasp. My lips on his neck every time he got too serious, making him laugh in the dark.At one point he whispered, "You drive me crazy, you know that?"I grinned against his shoulder. "Good. Wouldn't want to be boring."And when we finally drifted off, pressed chest-to-back, his arm locked around my waist like he'd never let me go, it wasn't just lust anymore. It was ADDICTION
For a long time, we didn't speak. Just the heat of his chest pressed to my back, his fingertips tracing slow circles on my hip bone, casual, like it was second nature.Finally, I broke the silence. "You ever feel like… you're just surviving? Not living, just… getting through it?"
He didn't answer right away. His hand stilled. Then his voice, low and rough in my ear: "All the time."
That cracked something open.
He told me about the years he'd spent trying to be the perfect son, about how his ex left him feeling like a walking ATM, about the emptiness that even success didn't fill. His words weren't polished they were raw, jagged, !!!
And maybe it was the dim light, maybe it was the fact that I'd literally just had his release all over me, but I couldn't hold back either. I told him about the loneliness of being the black sheep, about the way people only ever saw my sharp edges, never the mess underneath. How I taught myself to act shameless so nobody could see how scared I really was.Somewhere in the middle of it, his hand drifted lower. Not urgent. Not demanding. Just lazy strokes over my thigh, over the curve of my ass, like he couldn't stop himself from touching me even when we were spilling the darkest parts of our lives.
I laughed softly, pushing his hand away. "Seriously? We're trauma dumping and you're still horny?"
He smirked, leaning in to kiss the back of my shoulder. "Who says I can't multitask?"
I rolled over to face him, dripping wet hair fanning across his chest, and asked it , the question that had been sitting heavy in my chest all night. "What are we, Daniel?"His eyes softened, but his mouth curved into that cocky, devastating grin. "We're trouble. The kind you don't walk away from."
I scoffed, but he slid his hand between my thighs under the sheet, brushing me just enough to make my breath hitch. "We're not just trouble," I whispered, gripping his wrist.
"Fine," he murmured, eyes burning into mine, fingers teasing slow and deliberate. "We're the thing that makes all the other noise stop. We're the fire and the water, babe. And if you're asking me if this is real? Yeah. It's real as f*ck."
My lips parted, my heart punching against my ribs. And of course, he used that moment to slip his fingers deeper, grinning when I gasped.
"See?" he teased, voice husky. "Real. Right here. Can't fake that."I swatted his chest, half laughing, half trembling. "You're mad.""And you're mine," he shot back, pressing his forehead to mine, still teasing me under the sheets, making me shiver even as tears stung my eyes from how raw and safe it felt.
We lay tangled like that, between confessions and kisses, between secrets and shameless touches wet, messy, unguarded. The kind of night that didn't heal everything, but made surviving feel worth it.