27 - Peeping Tom

Federico's POV.

I watched as my mother and sister fawned over Mia now that she was finally awake, thanking her profusely for saving my life.

Luca and Enzo had popped in for a while, too, checking up on Mia before my mother and sister had descended on her and they had left.

Emilia was here, too, seemingly worried about Mia, but Mia had assured her she would be all good again in no time which seemed to have cheered the kid up a little.

Dr Giordiani, our family doctor, had been in, too, telling us that everything looked good. But Mia needed a lot of rest to recover and regular dressing of her wound to keep infections at bay.

"If you're done coddling her, you may leave. She needs to rest, now," I said to my mother and sister when Mia yawned for the third time in the last two minutes.

My sister frowned, getting up from where she was perched on one side of the bed. "You're right, for once. She needs to rest."

Mia shot me a grateful smile as my mother got up, too, Emilia holding onto her grandma's finger as she stood up as well.

"Get well soon, Mia," Emilia said to her, giving her a small smile.

"I will, thank you, baby," Mia said to the kid, returning the smile with a tired one of her own.

"I'll send my special soup up for you in a while, sí?" my mother said to her before turning to me. "Make sure she eats in all, Rico."

I nodded. "I will, mama."

Then, the three of them finally left the room, threatening to club me over the head if I didn't take good care of my girlfriend.

Mia chuckled at their words as they left. "They are so in love with you. My mother wouldn't make her special soup just for anyone," I told her, sitting down on the bed next to her.

"Not my fault I'm so adorable," Mia replied, letting out another yawn.

"You should sleep," I muttered, pushing away some of the hair that was sticking to her forehead and tucking it behind her ears.

"I'd love to but I'm feeling sticky and dirty all over. I need a bath before I go to sleep," she explained, looking down at herself in the hospital gown the doctor had put her into.

I nodded in understanding. "Okay, but you shouldn't be wetting your wound just yet. Do you want me to call the nurse to help you?" I asked her, already getting up to do the same.

She shook her head. "Can you help me? I just need help getting to the bathroom and back. I can manage the rest on my own," she explained.

"Are you sure? You're still quite weak. The last thing I want is you slipping in there and splitting your head open or something," I said, worried she wasn't strong enough to manage to bathe on her own just yet.

She smirked at me. "Is that your way of asking me to let you stay in the bathroom with me while I soak in the tub? Didn't know you were such a peeping Tom, Rico."

I rolled my eyes at her words. If she could joke like that already, she could definitely take a bath on her own alright. "If I wanted to see you naked, I would, Mia. And it wouldn't be like this."

Heat flared up in her eyes at my words, as she looked at me from underneath her lashes. I had to resist the urge and bend down to take her lips in a searing hot kiss, telling myself time and again that she wasn't physically well enough for anything remotely sexual. Besides, I didn't want our first kiss to be like this, when she was injured like that. That too because of me.

When she didn't say anything else, I got up from the bed and ran a relaxing bath for her, adding in a few scented bath bombs for good measure.

Once the tub had filled up halfway, I made my way back to the room and helped Mia into a sitting position before helping her stand.

She took a few tentative steps forward, using my hands as support before I carefully picked her up princess style, making sure her injured arm was on the outside and not squished against my chest as I carried her to the bathroom despite her half-hearted protests that she could walk just fine.

I placed her inside the bathtub, making sure she wouldn't fall once I pulled away from her.

She turned around. "Please untie the back."

I gulped, looking at the knots placed at equal intervals at the back of the powder blue gown which were holding the entire thing together. Slowly, I reached forward and methodically untied each knot, my fingers grazing the soft skin of her back.

She shivered once I was done and the back of the gown gaped open, exposing her entire back to me. I stubbornly kept my gaze fixed on the back of her neck, partly because I didn't want to invade her privacy when she was so vulnerable like this and partly because I wasn't sure if I'd be able to keep myself from touching her if I saw her like that.

"You can...you can leave now. I'll take it from here," she said to me, her voice a little breathless.

"Are you sure?"

"Mhmm," she mumbled, slowly beginning to pull the gown off of her body, making me turn around at once.

"I'll, uh, get you a towel and something to change back into," I said, leaving the room before she could respond.

I went straight to the closet where I knew she had hung up some of her clothes. Finding a loose cotton night shirt with buttons at the front and a matching pair of shorts along with her towel, I took a deep breath and made my way back to the bathroom.

She had settled into the bathtub by now, keeping her injured arm on the edge of the tub so as to not wet it while the rest of her body was submerged inside, only the top of her breasts visible to me.

"Call me when you're ready to get out," I told her, placing her clothes and towel at the edge of the tub where she could easily reach them if she wanted to.

"Rico?" She called out my name just as I was about to leave.

"Yes?"

"Can you please wash my hair for me?"

I gulped, looking at the bottle of citrus shampoo she used and nodded.

Taking the showerhead, I wet her hair thoroughly, combing my fingers through it gently to take as much of the knots out of it as I could.

Then, I grabbed some shampoo and lathered her hair with it, making sure to massage her scalp with both my hands as I did so, a citrusy scent filling the space around me. The two of us said nothing as I continued to massage her scalp, my fingers moving to her neck and working out the tension there as well.

She let out a sigh of satisfaction, leaning her head back, her eyes closed in peaceful bliss. I smiled to myself, a sense of calmness washing over me as well as I continued to run my fingers through her hair.

Then, I washed the foamy suds away with the shower head, making sure none of the soapy water got into her eyes as I did so.

"There, all done," I whispered once all the soap was out of her hair.

She blinked her eyes open, craning her neck to look at me. "Thanks," she muttered. "That was extremely relaxing."

I smiled, one of the rare genuine ones. "It was for me, as well," I replied, leaning down to kiss her forehead before getting up.

"Call me when you want to get out," I said to her as I stood up.

She nodded at me with a serene, relaxed smile, one I was sure was covering my face as well as I made my way out of the bathroom, still high on the beautiful experience I'd just shared with the woman I had come to care so, so much about.