This is from Book 5 of the A.T.X.D. series - A.T.X.D. Rising Darkness. In this scene, we have a secret romantic interaction between two of the secondary characters - William Roberts from Bravo Team and Sophia Danes from the Stealth Angels. It is happening parallel to the romance between the main characters - Richard Johnson and Ashley Miller - but that scene is longer. This scene is also supposed to be a little more anxiety driving b/c while Richard and Ashley have been "given the blessing" of their superior officer to date so long as it doesn't interfere with their duties, William and Sophia haven't gotten the same blessing....yet. So I want to see what your reactions are to this scene.
CONTENT ADVISORY: This is a romantic scene that takes place in a shower with mild references to the characters being nude, but the descriptions to that effect are brief and vague. If this makes you uncomfortable, please advise me and I will skip those sentences.
With the towel tied around his waist, William carefully set aside his gym clothes and dusted up Adidas Falcon running trainers on the bench below the rack before striding into the stall to clean off. A brief monsoon of cold water was always what did the trick for him: blasting all the dirt and grime off his body and extracting the heat sizzling from his skin after the workout. As soon as he’d cooled himself off, William would usually adjust the temperature just a notch so that a gentle warm feeling would soften up the skin, calm his nerves, and loosen up his long red hair as he began the more rigorous wash down process.
He was just running the peppermint-scented shampoo through his long hair when William heard a gentle double tap against the stall door. His first instinct was to politely inform, “Occupied,” but then after hearing a quiet little giggle, William turned to see a pair of bare feet standing right outside the stall door.
Yanking his towel down and shielding himself but not yet turning off the water, William very cautiously pulled the door open ajar before Sophia’s cute little face greeted him with a sudden and up-close, pow-like gesture of her hand and a quiet, “Boo.” Not even a hardcore SEAL like William could shield himself from a friendly little scare like that, and he briefly let out a surprised yelp but followed up with a relieved laugh at his girlfriend’s flirtatious prank.
“That’s thrice already, Will,” Sophia mocked affectionately, sweeping a few bangs of her currently untied yellowish-blonde hair out of her eyes while her other hand kept a towel held against her upper body. “I’d have thought your fierce SEAL reflexes would have adapted to the threat of a jumpscare.”
“Normally, I would be resistant to such a stunt,” William returned, “but as you can see, my guard is down. And of course the threat just happens to be my….secret someone. So how do you expect me to resist your little pranks without shoving you away like an actual threat?”
“Maybe I could give you a little added training.” Sophia tilted her head and winked with that flirtatious twinkle in the eye. “Room for two in there?”
Poking his head out just a little more to take a quick peak in both directions, William gently grabbed Sophia by her lifted hand and quickly pulled her inside. Tossing their towels one over the other on the barrier between stalls, Bravo Team’s Comms Officer and the Stealth Angels’ Lead Sniper and Chief Medic immersed themselves deep into the streaming warm water. Maybe it was just the pelting warmth, but William’s skin felt interestingly smooth and even soft in places as Sophia caressed her hands across his thick chest and arms. And with her head briefly butted up between his chin and collarbone, Sophia could feel and almost hear a gentle thrumming pulse equivalent to that of a hummingbird’s wings in William’s chest and throat everytime he took a slow and gentle breath.
Having just enough time to grab the soap before Sophia lightly forced him into a corner against the stall that threatened to put him out of reach of the showerhead, William made a gentle comeback and ran his now bubbly-white hands over his girlfriend’s already slippery smooth skin. Occasionally, Sophia would giggle with a playful hiss and a smile as William gently rubbed the soap over her shoulders, the ribs, then circled up the back and wove his fingers under her hair as he immersed that and her neck with whatever remained of the foamy solution on his hands. Sophia then slid forward a little more and, with a beaming white grin, touched her lips to William’s, which the Comms Officer managed to return while trying his best to keep the ex-Army girl’s now delicately slippery body from gliding through his hands.
“How’s the tendon?” William then took a moment to ask after he and Sophia had finished their quick exchange under the artificial downpour.
Taking a moment to hold herself against the former SEAL’s shoulders and look down at the leg in question, Sophia replied, “Dr. Parker went over it. Says I just strained it, but he suspects I probably stretched it too far in a workout prior to the game. But it feels much better now.”
William was about to comment when he heard footfalls coming into the shower room, and whoever it was was wearing their tactical boots, so clearly they were here for something official. Whatever the reason, William briefly swore and hurriedly ushered Sophia to the back corner of the stall, and was glad he did.
“William,” Dave’s voice requested, and the Comms Officer could see his TL’s Thinsulate boots just outside the stall door, “the interface panel for Comm Tower 1: did it have an ER-16 Code in it last time you checked?”
William tried to recall what he’d seen on the interface screen when he checked the communications and security hardware yesterday morning. But with Sophia there in the shower with him trying to keep quiet, it was hard for him to fully remember the details.
“Uh, yes sir, I think it did,” he replied after a couple seconds of internal deliberation.
“Great,” Dave drawled irritably. An ER-16 error code, to William’s knowledge, usually meant the transmission program for the tower’s firewall system had fluctuated and needed to be diagnosed for potential security holes.
Dave had just started walking away when Sophia hissed into William’s ear, “No, silly, it was an ER-15 code.” She had been talking with William after playing another one of her little flirting spook tricks on him while her lover was busy checking the servers down in the basement. Despite having no idea what either code meant, she seemed to have at least remembered what was actually on the interface panel. But then Dave returned and probed further.
“Cassy says that it was an ER-15 code. Are you sure you saw that correctly?”
“Oh wait, right, it was an ER-15 code, sir. I think it just needs a standard software update; the security settings should be fine.”
“Well, that’s the first bit of good news I’ve heard this morning,” Dave replied in a slightly more relaxed tone. “And roll call in five minutes, Will, so hurry up in there. The last thing I need is General Reach breathing down my neck because Utah’s state water authority is trying to track HQ down for excess usage.” Dave’s boots then twisted on their toes and walked back the way they’d come once again. But no sooner had William breathed a gentle sigh of relief and Sophia was starting to quietly slide herself out of the corner before the Sergeant Major’s voice came through the room again. “Oh by the way….Captain Miller is looking for Strike Specialist Danes. Have you seen her, Will?”
“No, sir,” William replied as confidently as possible, having previously taken a moment to grit his teeth irritably with his TL evidently trying to stall for time with conversation. “But she might be finishing up in the shooting range. Tomcat likes to get early morning practice in, I know. And if she’s not there, you might try looking in the Infirmary. She could be taking stock of medical supplies for T.R.S.”
“Okay, I’ll take a look. Or maybe….,” William held his breath, as did Sophia, “Maybe she’s still in the training center. Dammit, that’s right. I knew I saw her there earlier. Sorry to trouble you, William.”
“None at all, sir.”
As soon as they heard the door to the washroom shut, Sophia let out a quiet and relieved giggle.
“He’s gone,” William breathed hoarsely with relief. “Alright you, get out.”
Sophia yanked her towel down and shielded herself again, but added another quick kiss. William had no other civil choice but to accept the loving gesture, but shortly repeated his earlier request with a playfully forceful, “Go on, kitty cat. Get. Before somebody else sees you here.”
With a final gleeful giggle, the dripping wet Sophia pulled open the stall door and tip-toed out in a desperate prance to get changed while William quickly shut the door between them.