Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 38048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 190(@200wpm)___ 152(@250wpm)___ 127(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 190(@200wpm)___ 152(@250wpm)___ 127(@300wpm)
“I…I don’t know.” Kelli looked around her uncertainly. The shower didn’t look any smaller but everything she tried to take a step back from her big Protector, she felt the freezing glass against her back again.
“The wall keeps rubbing against me and it’s fucking cold,” Klaus grumbled.
“Me too!” Kelli exclaimed. “It looks normal, but every time I step away from you, it comes up and gets me in the back.” She hesitated. “Do…do you think it’s trying to force us together?”
“Who the hell knows?” Klaus growled. “Look we’re pretty warm now—maybe we should just get out.”
“Okay.” Kelli turned to push the door open…and found that it wouldn’t budge. “Well, crap,” she muttered, trying again. But no matter what she did, the shower stall door remained stubbornly closed.
“What is it?” Klaus asked over his shoulder again.
“It’s stuck.” Kelli pushed harder—nothing. “Maybe you should try.”
“Okay, here—I’m coming around you.”
They did some maneuvering, trying not to touch or brush against each other as he took her place by the door and Kelli went closer to the tiled wall. But not touching proved to be impossible. Her nipples were tingling where they had rubbed against his side and chest when they finally got into their new positions.
At least the water kept running, even though neither of them was touching the control panel, Kelli thought. Maybe they just had to both be in the shower at the same time for it to work.
“Okay, let’s get the fuck out of here.” Klaus pushed on the glass door but it didn’t budge—not even a little. “Hey, what the fuck?” he muttered, trying again. “It’s stuck!”
“Maybe we should ask for help,” Kelli suggested. Raising her voice, she addressed the air. “Hey, cabin lady—we’re stuck in the shower here!”
For a moment, no one answered, but then the soft, feminine voice of the cabin spoke.
“Apologies, but you cannot exit my shower until you bathe each other.”
“What?” Kelli exclaimed. “What do you mean by that?”
“If you look to your right you’ll see a soap dispenser mounted on the shower wall,” the cabin’s voice told her. “Please wash each other thoroughly. When romance is detected and both of you are clean, my shower door will open and allow you to exit.”
“You’re saying we have to wash each other?” Klaus demanded, frowning. “But what if Kelli doesn’t want me putting my hands all over her?”
Actually, Kelli didn’t mind that idea a bit. But she was still a little nervous about where this might lead.
“The two of you entered the shower as a couple, it is understood that you do not mind intimacy with each other’s bodies,” the cabin’s voice said. “The ‘shower together’ protocol is part of the Maximum Romance setting which you chose at the beginning of your stay.”
“Can we cancel the Maximum Romance setting?” Kelli asked, raising her voice to be heard over the shower.
“Regrettably, once activated, all settings are locked in for the time period specified,” the cabin said.
“What time period? How long are we going to be in ‘Maximum Romance’ mode?” Klaus demanded.
“Your cozy night of Christmas romance will end at approximately 9 AM Earth Standard Time tomorrow morning,” the cabin told them. “Please enjoy the rest of your shower and be sure to get clean!”
“But you can’t just lock us in here! You can’t—” Klaus started to protest again but Kelli put a hand on his arm.
“I don’t think it’s going to do any good to argue,” she told him. “We’re fighting with a computer program that’s clearly not very flexible.”
He gave a frustrated sigh.
“Well what the fuck are we supposed to do, then?”
Kelli shrugged.
“I mean, I guess we have to wash each other. We don’t have to, er, touch intimate parts if we don’t want to. I mean, we can just scrub each other’s backs so—”
Before she could even finish, the cabin’s voice spoke again.
“The shower door will not open until intimate romantic encounters are detected. Please proceed to wash each other thoroughly.”
“What the ever-loving Fuck is going on around this place?” Klaus demanded.
“I wish I knew,” Kelli said. “It’s like the cabin is trying to force us to be intimate.”
“It’s not just trying—it’s fucking succeeding.” He blew out a breath. “Look, I can’t talk like this. I’m turning around. And I’m going to open my eyes, but I’ll try to just look at your face.”
“That’s fine.” Kelli shrugged. “It’s kind of late to be shy anyway.”
Klaus turned to face her and looked down at her, his eyes staying firmly on her face.
“Okay, that’s better. Now, how do you want to handle this?” he asked, pushing his hair back from his forehead and raising his eyebrows.
Kelli felt a thrill of something like excitement mixed with embarrassment go through her. “I, uh, guess we’d better just wash each other,” she said, looking up at him. “I mean, I know it’s awkward.”