Splish-Splash
She sighed as she slipped into the hot water. Buying a full size, jetted tub big enough for two was one of the best decisions they had ever made, the expense be damned. A final, generous dollop of eucalyptus-scented bubble bath did the trick, and she turned the handle from "near boiling" to "off." She closed her eyes, letting the sudden, not quite total silence wash over her; an absence of sensation nearly as visceral as the reality around her.
She was sat there in that humid, most environment, naked as a child in the womb, when she felt the water level rise, covering her now to her knees. Capable hands pulled her gently backwards to rest against a warm, solid chest, while strong arms silently engulfed her. How many of the bleached, Botox-ed women had they seen in the alpine center today wished to be her right now? Wet, and naked, and surrounded by what basically amounted to a modern-day Viking.
It had been an invigorating day of snowshoeing through the Rocky Mountains. A five-kilometer run on flat tarmac wasn't much to brag about, but the same distance trekked through fresh powder at altitude was another beast entirely. The chosen route had been more strenuous than past excursions, and it had been a near constant game of thermal regulation; zipping and un-zipping coats, donning and doffing gloves, all in order to prevent that winter-time menace: perspiration. Few things chilled a body more effectively than damp, sweaty clothes held against the skin when a breeze kicked up.. Their clothing antics had mostly been successful, mostly.
The day had been beautiful and clear, almost warm at times. It hadn't been until their return loop had taken them along the northern, shadowed side of the ridge that the cold had crept in. Something else they had learned from their frozen excursions was that just as a cold sweat will efficiently chill a body, a hot bath is the best remedy for thawing frozen toes, inviting warmth to seep in from every side to fill suffuse every nook and cranny.
Another small, involuntary sigh made its way past her lips, a picture of utter contentment. With eyes closed, she was better able to appreciate the ambiance they had created together in their master bathroom. The incense burning in its holder, more effective at filling a room with scent than any potpourri or candle she had ever met, the soft lighting provided by a trio of candles, and gentle, new age music playing from a hidden speaker each added another layer, enfolding them ever more securely in its cocoon.
She was vaguely aware of her eyes drifting closed, seemingly of their own volition, as she relaxed further into his capable embrace, calloused fingertips ghosting gentle as a whisper over her soft curves. She floated there for an unknowable amount of time, observing her surroundings as one would during a guided meditation, observing and acknowledging each sensation in turn before releasing it from her attention. She was aware of their individual breaths as they slowed and deepened, gradually finding a matching rhythm, the sturdy legs wrapped around her own, nearly too long for the oversized basin, and the crisp, curly blonde hairs of his chest, where her check rested against it, not quite not quite an itch and not quite a tickle.
The water was still warm when her eyelids slitted open again; she hadn't been adrift for long. She shifted slightly, a row of goosebumps prompting her to move her dry arm resting on the basin's edge beneath the water's surface. The added warmth was lovely, but now where to rest this additional appendage? She shifted again, this time letting her arm drape across her belly, fingertips just brushing at the juncture of her thighs.
