"I still don't have water. I think I'm starting to smell, like my actual body."

Cress had taken a couple of showers in the NYU pool locker room, and the water was scheduled to be turned back on the next day, but in the mean time, it was really a pain.

"Why don't you come uptown today? You don't have class, right? You could shower here?"

"Could you take a little time off this afternoon? Maybe we could go for a walk in the park or something."

Graham bit back his irritation at her words. In addition to the deClerq, Professor Thurman had asked him to participate in a charity concert with her daughter the following Saturday.

"You can play the Moonlight. They'll love it, and you already know it, so it shouldn't take too much time away from your real work, okay? It would add a lot to the concert to have a pianist of your caliber there."

So he'd agreed. How could he say no?

"Maybe. I'll have to see how the morning goes. Just come."

"Okay."

Graham hadn't seen Cress in nearly a week, and was looking forward to seeing her, maybe more than he should. It annoyed him that she had such power over him, that just the thought of seeing her, hearing her voice, could do this to him.

Focus on the music.

Cressida arrived around eleven, and Graham rose to envelop her in a hug that lifted her off her feet.

"Cress, I've missed you so much!" He buried his nose in her neck, just inhaling the fragrance of her.

"God, I've missed you too, Graham, but don't hug me too close yet, let me shower first!" Cressida said with a laugh, patting his chest and pushing him away.

"I don't care about that, just let me hug you some more—"

"Can't breathe, can't breathe," Cressida protested.

Graham finally released her and took her to his room to show her the shower, bath and all of the accoutrements that made it a superior experience to the showers in the NYU gym. With a flourish and a grin, he presented her with bubble bath and bath oil, all done up in a pink bow.

"Remember I said I'd get you something," he reminded her.

"Oh, Graham, you didn't have to!" Cressida was touched. "It must've been so expensive."

Graham shrugged. "I'm saving all kinds of money being here, and it's not just for you, you know. I get to enjoy you being all soft and smelling great, too."

"I'm going to take a bubble bath first, then shower after to wash my hair," Cressida said, smiling at her treasures. "I'll see you in about three days, okay?"

"Take as long as you like," Graham told her, kissing her on top of her head. "I'll be practicing."

He left Cressida in the bathroom happily unwrapping and smelling the bottles of stuff he'd gotten for her, and went back to the piano. He played through Beethoven's Sonata #19 in C sharp minor, otherwise known as the Moonlight Sonata, once with the music, once without, and was satisfied with how it sounded. It would be ready for the concert on Saturday.

He pulled out the Rachmaninov and tried to work on it, but he found himself unable to concentrate, thinking about Cressida in the tub. What did she look like, in the bubbles up to her shoulders, her lovely hair all around her? Was she maybe singing to herself, like she had last time, when she didn't realize he could hear her? He began to imagine her in the shower, her beautiful body all slippery from the bath oil, and he was done, slain.

Graham rose from the piano and was headed for the back hallway when Katherine opened the door and stood in the doorway. "I was wondering if you might want a cup of coffee?"

Graham stopped and turned. "No, not right now, maybe in a little bit. I have to, um, get something from my room," he explained.

Katherine watched him leave, powerful muscles moving under his shirt as his long legs carried him away.

Graham could hear the shower running when he entered his bedroom and went straight in without knocking, quickly stripping before opening the door to the shower.

Cress was lathering her hair, creating a sudsy hat on her head, her eyes closed. They flew open when she heard the door, and she jumped a little.

"Oh my god, you scared me," she said, smiling as she continued to scrub her head vigorously. "You need to wear a bell around your neck or something."

"Sounds kinky," he said, closing the door behind him. He plunged his hands into her soapy hair, gathering the tresses and moving his long fingers along her scalp.

"Mm, Graham, that feels great," Cressida moaned, leaning back against him.

Graham's senses were reeling from the warm, soapy girl in the shower with him. She was attacking all of his senses at once, it seemed. He could smell the wonderful smell of the stuff he'd given her, he could feel her slippery body against him, he could hear her moaning with pleasure at the feel of his very dextrous hands in her hair, and just looking down at her was making him hard.

She stood under the warm water to rinse her head, and Graham just stared at her, watching the rivulets run down her body, the curve of her hip, the thatch of pubic hair that was a few shades darker than the hair on her head.

He leaned in to kiss her, and she kissed him back, moaning again. He slid his hands down her body, loving how it felt after all this time. He lifted her, pressing her against the wall and holding her there with his body; even wet, she weighed next to nothing and it was very easy for him to do.

She enfolded her legs around him, settling comfortably into his body. She could feel his erection against her belly and wanted him inside her immediately. Seeing his smooth chest in front of her, the look of stern concentration on his face, made her feel like she was losing her mind. After all their time apart, she was beyond thinking, beyond everything but being with him, coming together with him.

"God, Cress, feeling you against me like this, it's making me crazy," Graham groaned. He slid her down a little against the smooth tile and entered her, making her tilt her head back and hit it on the tiles.

"Graham, Graham," she called, digging her nails into his back as he thrust into her.

She came almost immediately, just from all the friction of their bodies rubbing together.

"You feel so good on me," he murmured into the top of her head. "Jesus. Gonna come soon, soon—"

"Not inside, we don't have anything—"

"I know, I know—"

He pulled out of her at the last second, lifting her off his body at the same time, and he erupted between them, warm ropes that just kept coming and coming, only to be washed away by the shower spray.

Cressida clung to him, her cheek resting on his shoulder until he was finished.

He slowly lowered her to the floor, smiling at her, and he looked so good with the water droplets in his eyelashes and bouncing off his shoulders.

"Well, that was lots of fun," he said softly, smoothing her soaking wet hair away from her face.

"I concur, sir," Cressida said, leaning forward to kiss his chest. "Now, let's get out of here before I turn into a prune."

"You'd be more like a raisin, I think, because of your size," he teased as he turned off the water.

She tossed a towel at his face in response. "Get dressed. You have more practicing to do, and I have a paper to write."

To Graham's sorrow, Cressida got dressed in jeans and a loose sweater that hid her figure from him. He brushed her hair for her, loving how it felt to perform this domestic chore, before brushing his own.

"Your hair's getting long," Cressida remarked, reaching up to touch it where it curled a little against his neck.

"Yeah, I'm going to have to get it cut soon," he responded. "It's better for performing, I look more professional."

"Oh, but you look so good like this," Cressida protested. "It's so so sexy when you play and this part right here curls over your collar a little bit."

"Really? Sexy?" Graham was tickled.

Cressida nodded vigorously. "Especially during the really thundery parts."

They went to the music room and he sat at the piano, while Cressida once again sat on the pouffy sofa with her laptop.

Graham was turning the pages of the concerto when the door opened and Katherine once again appeared in the doorway. "I hadn't heard any music in a while, and I was wondering if you wanted that coffee now—oh, Cressida, I didn't know you were here."

Cressida felt like a bug on a stick under Katherine's perusal.

"Yeah, the water's still off at her place, she came to shower and visit."

"I see."

Graham could feel her taking in the fact that his hair was wet, too, and he was wearing different clothes from before. He took a deep breath and returned her stare.

"Coffee would be great, right, Cress?"

Cressida nodded. "Yes, sounds lovely, thank you."

Katherine nodded. "Okay, just be a mo'." She looked between the two of them once more before departing.

Cressida's body was shaking with mirth.

Graham held up a finger to his mouth in a shushing gesture, looking at the door. He rose from the bench and went to Cressida, shaking his head. "Bad girl, no laughing," he said as he began to laugh himself. He picked Cressida up and spun her around the room.

"You make me so happy," he said.

"I love you."

"Yes. Thank you for that. Thank you for that."