Free All That Remains (Metamorphosis Book 1) by Lauren Dane Page B

the way it smells in here. Is it perfume?"
    “I trade jams for scented soaps and lotions. Myra, she runs a stall with honey and sweet smelling things, she makes a special blend for me with wild rose and a hint of lavender."
    He breathed deep. "I like it."
    "The showers just around the bend here are bigger than mine. Hotter too and they're relatively empty. All the people returning from the orchards use the stalls near the temporary housing."
    "I need to run to our caravan to grab a change of clothes. Come with me?"
    She nodded and he took the bag she'd filled with her things.
    "You were raised well,” she said when he opened the door for her as well.
    "My mother taught me to always open a woman's door and share her burden if I could."
    They walked back toward their caravan and she followed him inside, not hiding her curiosity as she walked through.
    He grabbed clean clothes and his kit. He and Hatch hadn’t slept over at her place when they’d been with her before but he very much hoped they would that night. They had the following day off and he planned to see if she wanted to head out and maybe hike or see the outlying area with them. Maybe have a picnic. Whatever.
    “I’m just going to leave a note for Hatch.”
    After he’d jotted down that he was going to shower and be at Summer’s place, he left the note on Hatch’s pillow and joined her in their small living area.
    “This is beautiful.”
    She was looking at the photograph hanging there.
    “My mother is a photographer. She took that one and gave it to me a few years ago for my birthday.”
    “She’s got a great eye.”
    He moved behind her, sliding an arm around her waist, pulling her back against his body.
    “Thank you. You want to go?”
    She quirked a smile, turning her head to see him better and then he kissed her.
    His hands slid up to cup her breasts and she moaned softly.
    “Shower. And then you and I are going to finish this up at your caravan.”
    “Okay.”
    They walked, hand in hand, to the showers near her place. It was, as she’d indicated it might be, empty.
    “People will start showing up soon enough. But for now it’s just us.” She hung up her clean clothes and slung the towels over the side of the enclosure wall. Then she dropped the dress she had on, along with her underpants, bending to toss them into her bag.
    “Damn.” Charlie grinned, his gaze never leaving her as he stripped, moving to join her as he hung his toiletries bag.
    She hadn’t been alone with him this way. Yes with Hatch and the beginnings of this at the social. But naked and clearly on the verge of fucking, not yet.
    “I like to watch. But not so much being watched.” He licked up her neck. “This first time between you and me I want to be alone.”
    “I was just thinking that.”
    They washed off quickly. Not that there was really another way anymore. There were no long showers in caravan camps, even permanent ones like Paradise Village.
    “Wait. I didn’t…well we had other things to do the other night. I want to look at you.” Summer circled him.
    Colorful swirls of ink covered him from his knuckles up his arms. A lot of it was old school, pre-sickness designs. Face cards and roses. Across his back from shoulder to shoulder it read FRANCO, his last name in script. Wrapped around his name and below it were two incredibly detailed wings. One or two feathers had been inked below it, one on his ass, the other on his thigh, as if they’d fallen from the wings.
    One on thigh he had a skull and crossbones, on the other a mermaid, the type used on the bow of a sailing ship. Up his sides though, on the right, she ran fingertips over the raised edges of a date branded there.
    “Did this hurt?”
    He moved his arm, peeking at her as he did. “Yes. Part of the appeal at the time, I suppose.”
    “Meaningful day?”
    “The day I lost my dad.”
    She pressed a kiss there and he closed his eyes a moment. “It’s all beautiful.”
    He pulled her close, kissing