“Okay, if you’re sure.”
“I’m sure.” She’s not looking at me. “We should probably talk about boundaries. For the room.”
“What sort of boundaries?”
“I don’t know. Like which side of the bed do you want? And we’re just sleeping. You know that right? Nothing weird.” She points her finger at me, as if she’s already determined I’m the type of guy who would do “weird things” in bed.
“JuJu, I’m not going to do anything weird.”
“I know. I just want to make sure we’re on the same page.”
She’s so nervous, her anxiety bleeding through her usually perfect exterior.
I cross the room and stop in front of her. “Hey, look at me.”
She does, but it’s reluctant.
“I am not going to do anything you’re not comfortable with. If you want me to sleep on the couch, I will. If you want to sleep on the couch, that works too. If you want to share the bed, that’s fine. But nothing happens that you don’t want to happen. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“And if at any point this week gets too weird or too much, we use the safe word and figure it out. Yeah?”
“Poodle.”
“Exactly. Poodle.” I squeeze her shoulder. “We could do a pillow barrier. In the middle. If that would make you feel better.”
Please say no. Please say no. Please say?—
“That’s so stupid,” she says. “We’re adults. We don’t need a pillow barrier.”
Thank god.
“Okay. Just offering.”
“I appreciate it. But we’ll be fine.” She’s trying to sound confident. “It’s just sleeping.”
“Right. Just sleeping.” I step back, giving her space. “We’re going to be fine. Your family already loves me. Your dad only half wants to murder me, which is pretty good for a first meeting. And tonight we just have to get through one dinner. That’s it.”
“One dinner where Garrett and his fiancée will be there.”
“One dinner where Garrett and his fiancée will have to watch us be adorable together. Big difference.”
That gets almost a smile. “You’re very confident about this adorable thing.”
“Have you met me? I’m extremely adorable.”
“You’re extremely something.”
“I’ll take it.” I check my phone. “We’ve got about three hours before dinner. You want to nap? Unpack? Go explore the city?”
“I should probably shower and start getting ready.”
“Three hours is a long time to get ready.”
“You don’t know my hair.”
“Okay. You do your thing. I’ll just be here. Not making it weird.”
