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Lily watched with a small smile as tendrils of steam rose from their new porcelain bathtub. Whilst the cast iron tub they had had previously had been fine, she had wanted to indulge just a little on what had fast become a luxury staple in their home.
Downstairs the kettle whistled from the stovetop and shutting the bathroom door behind her, Lily made her way to the kitchen. There was nothing quite like a cup of tea in the bath. All those days on the Amazon having to make do with a damp flannel and half a cup of repurposed tea had made her much more appreciative of the smaller things in her London life. Carefully Lily wrapped a tea towel around the handle of the copper kettle and poured the hot water into the two cups sitting side by side on the counter. She blew the stove out and replaced the kettle, stirring the pre-prepared (thanks to MacGregor) tea, eager to get back upstairs to her bath.
“Frank!” She called dumping the teaspoon in the sink and grabbing the nearest cup, “your tea is in the kitchen,”
Getting no response, Lily made her way back upstairs poking her head into every room on the way in search of her partner. She found Proxima relaxing in a sun spot in the drawing room and she knew MacGregor had popped to the butchers in search of a steak for his favourite murder cat but there was absolutely no sign of Frank. With only one room left in the whole house Lily braced herself against the door handle, her nose scrunching just slightly as she imagined what Frank might be up to on the other side. She knocked politely and called out.
“Frank? You better not be using the toilet whilst my bath is waiting for me,”
Lily pushed the door open carefully, afraid of what she might not be able to un-see but instead she felt her mouth open and a small splutter escaped her throat.
“Just what do you think you’re doing?” She asked incredulously, one hand coming up to her hip as the other held her tea carefully.
“Ah, Lily,”
“You’re in my bath!”
“This was your bath?” Frank asked, attempting nonchalance.
“Yes Frank, you know it is, well, was,”
“So I guess you could say I’m in a little… hot water?” Frank grinned.
“Really?” She asked, clearly unamused.
“Oh come on, that was quite good,”
Lily took a moment to absorb the picture before her. Frank was chest deep in her bath, his broad shoulders spanning the curve of one end as his muscular arms rested gently on the sides. He looked relaxed and whilst she was annoyed he had taken her spot she wasn’t about to begrudge him the relaxation the bathtub so clearly provided. The Amazon had been hard on his body for four hundred odd years, she could let him have the bath just this once. Although, she mused, the bath looked awfully tempting with the Skipper relaxing in it.
Lily sighed, resting her shoulder against the doorframe.
“I can’t believe you took my bath,” she mumbled.
“Come on Pants, I nearly made a,” he paused waiting for her to look him in the eye, “clean getaway,”
“Frank,” she replied, exasperated.
She was however, unable to stop the curve of her lip at his pun choice. The man grinned at her, the sparkle in his eyes only begging her to come closer. She took a step toward him bending down and placing her free hand on his cheek as she gazed at him, head tilted.
“What’re you thinking?” He asked, shifting forward slightly to tuck a strand of long blonde hair behind her ear and causing the water in the tub to stir.
“How your puns are growing on me,”
“Oh yeah?” His excitement was infectious and she smiled back at him, placing her tea on the floor as she crouched beside the bath, her fingertips gently scratching at his stubble.
“Yeah,”
“Good because I have a million more,” he leaned forward further, gently pressing his lips to hers as his fingers cupped the back of her neck. She pulled back before the temptation to join him in the tub grew too strong.
“I don’t like them that much,” she laughed standing up and beginning to walk away.
“The kisses or the puns?”
“You can keep the bath and my tea,” she replied, content to let him squirm with curiosity.
“Lily wait,”
She paused just short of the door frame and turned back to see Frank fighting a smile. She knew that face all too well and she braced herself for another pun.
“I’m sorry I stole your bath, it was for my dolphin,” he waited for a second, “but it’s not fit for porpoise,”
“Oh for goodness sake,” Lily admonished but she was smiling too and as Frank reached for her laughing, his fingers wrapping around her wrist and pulling her closer she realised there were much worse things in life than Frank’s puns.
“Why don’t you join me,” he said quietly, placing a soft kiss on the back of her hand.
“Join you?” Lily asked coolly as she fought a violent blush.
It seemed as though she and her partner shared one mind. It wasn’t as though they hadn’t seen each other naked before but taking a bath together in the middle of the day whilst her brother was just down the road and could return at any moment made her a little nervous. There was just no telling what she’d want to do once she was naked and in Frank’s space; just seeing his magnificent form taking up 70 percent of the bathtub sent a shiver down her spine. God she wanted that bath.
Misconstruing Lily’s reaction as reluctance, Frank squeezed her hand.
“Hey, you don’t have to if it makes you uncomfortable, Pants,”
“No, no,” she reassured him, “it’s not that it’s just,” Lily paused and glanced at the door before lowering her voice to a whisper, “MacGregor could be home any second,”
“The sooner we set him up with somebody the better,” Frank mumbled. Lily flicked at his shoulder with her free hand. “You know I don’t mean that,”
“Maybe we should get a lock for the bathroom,” she mused out loud.
Frank cast his gaze around the room, his eyes settling on a large Monstera Deliciosa plant Lily had rescued from her office in Cambridge that was getting too much light. She’d brought it home and set it up in front of the smaller bathroom window in the hopes that the steam from the hot water and light from the higher window would be enough to replicate its native southern Mexican living conditions.
“Put the plant in front of the door,” he said pressing kisses to each of her fingertips.
Lily looked over to the plant wondering just how she was supposed to move such a heavy pot by herself whilst her partner was lounging about in her bath and that was when she got an idea.
“Frank, that thing was heavy enough when it was a sapling, it’s huge now,”
“Are you saying you can’t lift it by yourself?” Frank replied, raising an eyebrow at her.
“What I’m saying,” she said patiently, “is that I have a big strong man in this room who is proving right now that chivalry is dead,”
“Little Miss ‘follow me, Frank!’ ‘Get off of me!’ ‘I can pick this lock just watch me’ Houghton wants my help this time?”
“Are you enjoying this?” She asked snatching her hand back and placing it on her hip as she feigned annoyance, “because the longer you spend whining about moving a plant the less time I’m spending in that bath,”
“Got it,”
Frank saluted, surging from the bathtub with all the enthusiasm of a golden retriever, water dripping down his body as he stepped onto the towel he’d remembered to place on the floor. He paused for a second letting Lily complete her full body scan before meeting her eyes, throwing her a quick wink and moving carefully toward the plant.
With his back turned and a flush on her cheeks, Lily stripped completely, throwing her clothes in a pile besides Frank’s and clambering ungracefully into the tub. She sighed as the warm water immediately relaxed her muscles and felt her eyes slip closed listening to Frank’s mutterings and he secured the plant pot in front of the door ensuring it couldn’t be pushed open from the outside.
“There!” He proclaimed, hands on his hips as he admired his handiwork.
Lily cracked one eye open and glanced over admiring the muscles in Frank’s shoulders and back. She followed the ridges of his spine downwards, water droplets reflecting the golden hour light and making her sigh in appreciation for his rather large physique. The same physique that she knew so well, the one that had held her tightly as they swung on a vine to disastrous results, the very same that pushed through the murky Amazon water with a practiced ease as they swam down, the body that spent night after night in her arms, his form taking up so much of her space that she had no clue where he ended and she began.
“Hey!”
“What’s the matter?” Lily asked casually, snapping out of her thoughts, her cheeks warm and rolling onto her stomach, peering over the edge of the bath.
“You’re not supposed to get in without me,” he began sauntering toward her, a smirk on his features as he unabashedly stared at her naked form.
“Oh no, Skippy, this was my bath first and I’m not willing to share,”
“What?” Frank asked stopping short.
“You heard me,” Lily grinned as she fought a smirk, “go take a bath elsewhere,”
“But Lily,” he whined.
“In fact, I can recommend a great place,”
“Unless it’s in there with you I don’t want to hear it,” Frank replied as they spoke over the top of one another.
“No, no, this place has the finest bath in all of England,” Frank narrowed his eyes at her recalling the time he’d suggested taking the finest bath in all of Brazil.
“You’re going to say the Thames aren’t you?”
Lily grinned wickedly in reply.
“If you’re lucky someone might have warmed it for you too,”