Book 1 - Page 58 (1/2)
The early morning sun filtered in and washed her pale skin a gray-blue light. She was curled on her side, facing me, her hair a dark tangle across the pillow behind her. Most of her face was now cuddled into my pillow.
I could understand her hesitance to decide how our relations.h.i.+p would work back in reality. The San Diego bubble had been amazing, in part because it lacked every aspect that made our relations.h.i.+p tricky to begin with: her job at Ryan Media, my role in the family business, her scholars.h.i.+p, our independently sharp att.i.tudes. Although I wanted to push to define this thing between us and set expectations so that I could dive in headfirst, her approach—far more tentative—was probably the right one.
We hadn’t bothered to pull the blankets back on the bed after we’d worked them to the floor last night, and I took the chance to stare at her nude body. I could definitely get used to waking up with this woman in my bed.
But unfortunately, we didn’t have a leisurely morning ahead of us. I tried to wake her with my hand on her shoulder, then a kiss on her neck, and finally a hard pinch on her a.s.s.
She reached out and smacked my arm hard before I’d even pulled it back. I wasn’t even sure she was awake. “a.s.shole.”
“We should get up and get going. We need to be at the airport in a little over an hour.”
Chloe rolled over and stared up at me, face lined with pillow creases and her eyes unfocused. She didn’t bother to cover her body like she had the first morning, but she wasn’t all smiles, either. “Okay,” she said. She sat up, drank some water, and kissed my shoulder before climbing out of bed.
I watched her naked body as she walked to the bathroom, but not once did she look back at me. I didn’t exactly need a morning quickie, but I wouldn’t have minded a little spooning, maybe some pillow talk.
Probably shouldn’t have pinched her a.s.s, then.
She didn’t emerge, and after collecting my things, I knocked on the bathroom door. “I’m heading next door to shower and pack.”
She was quiet for a few beats. “Okay.”
“Can I get something other than ‘okay’?”
Her laugh trailed from the other side of the door. “I believe I said ‘a.s.shole’ earlier.”
I grinned.
But when I reached for the door to leave, she opened the bathroom door and stepped directly into my arms, wrapping herself around me and pressing her face to my neck. She was still naked, and when she glanced up, her eyes seemed a little red.
“Sorry,” she said, kissing my jaw before pulling me down for a longer, deeper kiss. “I just get nervous before flying.”
She turned and walked back into the bathroom before I could meet her eyes and figure out if she was telling me the truth.
The room next door felt eerily spotless, even for a high-end hotel chain. It took no time to pack, no time to shower and dress. But something kept me from going back over to Chloe’s room so soon. It was as if she needed some time alone in there, to deal with whatever silent battle she was waging with herself. I could tell she was conflicted, but which way would she come down in the end? Would she decide she wanted to try? Or would she decide it wasn’t possible to balance work and us?