The Billionaire’s Savior

Robyn shrugged off her clothes and left them in a trail as she stalked to the bathroom. She kicked on the shower, pushing the water to the highest heat. Cold water was one of the things that still took her back to coming to after, so she stuck to painfully hot showers or baths. She needed the kind where steam rose up and filled the room and closed around her like a security blanket.

She showered without washing. Instead she read the various things written in condensation on the shower walls. The glass was perfect for leaving messages in the steam heat. Robyn eyed one spot in particular—it was her handprint beside Chris’s. Their hands were close in size, though Chris’s fingers were thicker and Robyn’s hands more slender. A blush worked its way across Robyn’s body and she pretended it from the heat of the water.

She turned to another wall of the shower.

Good morning, how are you?

Robyn rolled her eyes. She wasn’t quite sure how Chris was able to do these cheesy things so easily. Robyn had never been wooed, never been taken care of before, really. She’d never been the one receiving flowers or being taken out. Not that she’d been looking for it; her life was too intransigent for that.

Romance was something else Robyn had always failed at. It never mattered before because no one she dated ever cared. The guys she dated didn’t care about romance, really. They knew Robyn wasn’t “the one” for them. Robyn knew it too. She knew these guys were just passing the time with her and that was okay because so was she.

Robyn reached out and wrote with her left index finger, I’m great. How are you? She smiled and turned away. Embarrassment burned inside her—again, with the whole not good at romance thing—but she refused to let herself erase it. Instead, Robyn turned her attention to actually showering.

*****

Chris emerged from his office to the smell of food. His stomach growled immediately, louder than it had been while he was working on his latest app. He was a few minutes later than anticipated but he had managed to take care of enough work to take tomorrow off. To get everything done, Chris had to skip lunch.

“Robyn, did you call in?” Chris asked as he hung his coat on the rack and loosened his tie. He breathed a sweet sigh of relief and walked towards the kitchen. Robyn didn’t answer, but as Chris got closer he could hear the sizzling of food cooking and a faint voice describing what to do next.

Chris popped his head around the corner and watched as Robyn carefully followed the instructions blaring from her smart phone. The food smelled delightful, and Chris grinned. He waited, but Robyn was so engrossed in the process she didn’t seem to even realize the inventor was there. Chris took his opportunity to creep up behind Robyn and wrap an arm around her waist.

Robyn didn’t startle at all which told Chris she knew all along. Robyn looked over and grinned. “Hey.”

Chris kissed Robyn briefly on the cheek before greeting her. “Well hello,” Chris gestured to the pans on the stovetop. “What’s all this?”

“I’m going to start a food blog.” Robyn declared her eyes more alive than Chris had ever seen them. He shot her a look of surprise. “I was thinking about it, I’m at home all day doing nothing and I figured, why not? I’ll start a blog. I’ll take pictures of foods and make recipes and post them online. Sure I probably won’t get famous but I’ll be doing something.”

Chris backed away at Robyn’s insistence. “That’s sudden.”

Robyn shrugged. “I need to do something or I’m going to lose my mind.”

Chris nodded his head, suitably serious. He didn’t know what was up with her with the lounging about and all; she had had a plan when they said their ‘I dos’…but Chris didn’t want to be the one to push her. He wasn’t sure their relationship warranted that kind of involvement. Getting her to engage with him on a mildly flirtatious basis was hard enough. Let alone… “Do I have time to clean up before dinner?”

Robyn nodded quickly and leaned back for a real kiss. “It should be done by the time you’re out.” Chris nodded in acknowledgment before moving to the bathroom.Dinner went smoothly, to both of their surprise. The food was good, perhaps not restaurant quality but it was certainly something Chris could eat most nights. They collapsed onto the couch together and turned on the TV for mindless entertainment. After dinner had settled and the TV grew boring, Robyn made a distressed noise.

“What is it?’ Chris asked, sleepy and slurred and still pleasantly full.

“I hate cooking.” Robyn admitted.

“That’s a bit of a problem if you plan to start a food blog.”

Robyn nodded. “I’m so stupid, I thought I could do it but cooking is too fu*king stressful and it takes too damn long.”

Chris laughed kindly. “Then don’t do it.”

Robyn turned where she sat so that she and Chris were facing each other on the couch. “I need to do something or I’m gonna lose my God damn mind.”

Chris was startled by the anger in Robyn’s tone. “Okay.”

“I’m seriously going to lose my fu*king mind if I don’t do something. I can’t sit at home anymore. I can’t. I can’t spend every fu*king day, all day long, doing jacksh*t.”

Chris was taken aback. “Robyn, I..” The inventor was at a loss for words.

Robyn groans. “It’s not your fault, it’s mine! I thought I could just stay home, keep the place kinda clean, not have a job for a while and get better. But I can’t, I really just fu*king can’t. I’m gonna go berserk if I keep doing this day in and day out.”

Chris nodded and wrapped his arms around Robyn, who relaxed into the touch. “What do you want to do?”

Robyn collapsed and buried her face into Chris’s chest. Her words were muffled. “I don’t know.”