“Don’t apologize to us, babe,” Sasha said and wrapped her arms around me. “We’ll see you soon, okay. We love you.”
It was the first time she’d ever told me she loved me. I knew she did, but she’d never said it before.
"You're gonna be okay." Micaela squeezed my shoulder, and I knew that was the same as an I love you from her.
Cole guidedme into his hotel suite and sat me on the bed. He crouched down in front of me, so we were eye level.
“What’s going on, babe?”
"I don't know," I answered as honestly as I could. "I'm always tired. I'm not exercising as much because the show is so time-consuming. When I have time to go to the gym, all I want to do is sleep. I miss you. I miss you so much it hurts. I miss CJ. I'm worried about the adoption hearing, and you won't talk to me about it. You won't tell me what happened in Missouri. I haven't been sleeping. Did I say that already?" Hot tears rolled down my cheeks.
Cole looked at me, and his expression cut me to the core. His face was etched with worry and fear, and I immediately felt guilty for telling him all of these things when the hearing was less than forty-eight hours away, he hadn't seen me in weeks, and it was Christmas Day.
"I didn't know you were coming," I whispered. "I didn't get you a gift."
“You’re the gift.” He leaned forward and kissed me.
Cole scooped me into his arms and laid me on the bed. He removed my boots one at a time. After unbuttoning my jeans, he peeled them down my legs. He grabbed the hem of my sweater and pulled it over my head. When I was down to my bra, panties, and an undershirt, he undressed to his tank top and boxers before he crawled into bed behind me, pulling me into his chest.
“Cole,” I whispered.
“Yes, my love,” he said with his lips grazing the shell of my ear.
"You're on my hair." I giggled, and he joined me before he shimmied so I could pull my hair into a high bun.
“I missed you so much, neighbor.”
“I missed you too, abogado sexy.”
We laughed again, and Cole wrapped his arms tighter around my waist. I fell asleep that way.
When I woke up,three hours had passed, and I knew it was past CJ's bedtime, which made me sad. Cole was still awake, and I don't know how he managed to do it while I was sleeping, but the entire dining table in the suite was covered with food. There were waffles, fruit, yogurt, sandwiches, cereal, bacon, cheeses, bagels, cupcakes, and there were no signs of a salad.
“Hey, sleeping beauty,” he called from the table.
“What is this?” I gestured to the table.
“Food.” He smirked.
“Why?” I dropped myself into his lap and kissed him.
“You said you were tired of salads, so I got you food that you can eat that isn’t salads.”
I jumped up and examined the food on the table.
“There’s cheese.”
"It's dairy-free. It's made from cashews or something." He shrugged.
“These bagels?” I pointed excitedly.
"Gluten-free."
“This pie?”
"Gluten-free and sugar-free."
“The waffles?”
