Music in the Key of Love

Chapter 16: A New Thought

They made love three more times that first night, to the point that Cress winced a little the last time.

Graham saw her expression and began to pull out immediately, but Cress pulled him back. "No, please," she whimpered. "I want to, I do."

"You must be so sore," he responded.

"Just a little," she insisted. "Please."

So they came together again, just as the birds began to sing, and finally dropped off into a blissful, deep sleep that lasted well into the morning.

Cressida woke up, her hair in a mess from having fallen out of the chignon during the night's activities. She sat up, holding the duvet to her front, to see Graham at the piano, freshly showered and dressed, looking distractingly handsome. Cressida poked at her hair, hoping it didn't look as bad as it felt.

He smiled at her. "Oh, that's so unfair," he said. "I have hours and hours to do, and you sit in my bed looking like that."

"I'm sure I look terrible," she responded. She knew her makeup had run, and her lips felt swollen and bruised from how hard Graham had kissed her, over and over. And she knew she had myriad bite and suck marks all over her front.

"You look beautiful," he contradicted gently. "I left a tea bag out for you, and there's a surprise in the bathroom when you're ready to clean up, behind the shower curtain."

Cressida found his dress shirt where it was tangled up in the duvet, and pulled it on before she got out of bed. Curiously, she wandered to the bathroom and pulled back the shower curtain.

"A bath tub!" she cried out. "You have a bathtub? You lucky duck. I can't even remember the last time I took a bath."

"I know, you told me the other day," he called back from the piano. "It's not very big, but I think it will do quite nicely for you, tiny Cressida."

Cressida closed the door and began running the water, wishing she had some bubble bath.

Still.

Sinking into the warm water was a little bit of heaven. She lay back, wetting her hair, just floating on top of the water.

Ah.

She could hear Graham at the piano through the door. He was doing his crazy warm ups.

She finally sat up and scrubbed off her make up before starting on her hair, which was quite long and required a lot of washing. Then she washed the rest of herself, taking special care with her tender nether regions.

She heard a knock on the door.

"Come in."

She drew her knees up, feeling unaccountably shy.

Graham saw this and thought it no end of cute. He sat on the edge of the tub. "You enjoying your bath?"

Cressida nodded, her chin dipping into the water. "It feels marvelous. I just wish I had some bath oils or a bath bomb or something."

He stirred the water a little, smiling at her. "I'll get you something for next time, okay?"

Cressida nodded again, filled with glory at his casual use of the words "next time."

"You about ready to get out?"

"Yes, but I'm all clean now, I don't want to put my dress back on."

"I can find you something."

He brought her a T-shirt with a drawing of Beethoven on it, passing it through the door without coming back in. She pulled it on. It came to her knees, making her laugh. She brushed her hair with his brush and exited the bathroom.