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He'd walked in, threw his tie down on the table, and walked right by me, mumbling something about needing to take a shower. He didn’t even look my way; he just marched into the bathroom and shut the door behind him.
I rolled onto my back and stared up at the ceiling, my eyes burning. It had taken a lot for me to put myself out there like that, and he hadn’t even noticed. I got up, slipped out of the teddy, folding it up neatly, and placed it into a secret pocket in my suitcase. Then I slipped into my usual T-shirt and shorts and crawled under the covers.
His response, or lack of, had been bothering me all night. After his shower, he’d grabbed his laptop and climbed into bed and buried himself in work, checking over all the listings I'd done. It was almost eleven. I never expected he'd still be working on them this late.
"Spencer, it's almost eleven."
"Yep, almost finished. If the light is bothering, you I can move to the desk. That way you can turn the lights off," he mumbled.
I blew out a breath, not saying anything, and rolled onto my back. "Is something wrong, Spencer?"
"No, why do you ask?"
I swallowed back the tears that threatened to fall. "You've been very distant. All through dinner, the walk back, you barely said anything. Then when you came back here you didn’t even notice…." My throat burned, and I had to stop talking for fear I started crying.
“Didn’t notice what?” he questioned, tearing his eyes away from the laptop for the first time in hours and looked down at me.
“Nothing, it’s nothing,” I said, swallowing hard, turning away from him.
I listened as I fought back tears. I heard the lid of laptop shut, felt the bed move, then the light was turned off and we were bathed in the light from the TV. I felt him slide his arm around my waist, the other move under my pillow as he gathered me in his arms.
"What didn’t I notice?" he whispered.
When I didn't answer him right away, he placed a kiss on the side of my neck and pulled my body into his. I lay in his arms, trying to fight back tears as he tried to comfort me for an unknown reason.
We lay in silence for a few moments, then he cleared his throat. "I’m sorry I’ve been distant. Brittany called me before I arrived back here this afternoon. She wanted me to switch her weekends for Nikki. When I refused, she threatened me with a lawyer, like she always does. Then she started going on about you. Apparently, she must have a bit of a jealous streak in her. She doesn’t seem to like you very much, and I guess you could say it threw me a bit."
I knew exactly how she could be. When she'd called for Spencer at the office, she'd passed some remarks my way that I hadn't appreciated. I hadn't told Spencer because I knew it would make him angry. I'd just taken her messages and passed them on like a good assistant would. Besides, it wasn't my place to talk to him about his ex.
“I’m sorry, Spencer.”
"She said some things that rubbed me the wrong way. I guess you could say it took away all my focus."
"Were they things about me?" I questioned. I needed to know if she had bashed me to him.
"Why do you ask that?" Spencer frowned.
"No reason."
"Ainsley, has she said things to you?"
I swallowed hard, but the tears burned the corners of my eyes. I bit my bottom lip and nodded. "She's brutal,” I cried. “At first, I barely paid attention to the things she’d said, but after the fifth call the other day, I couldn’t anymore. Does she know about us?"
"No, Ainsley, she doesn't. She will try to convince you otherwise. She’s a manipulator, and she will work to find out the information she wants, especially when she suspects something, but I swear to you, I haven’t said a word."
I wiped at my eyes and nodded my head, then rolled onto my back to look up at Spencer. He studied me for a moment, then leaned down and took my mouth with his. I could already feel his growing arousal as he pulled me into him, allowing me to rest my head on his shoulder.
“I don’t want you to worry about it, okay? I also want you to tell me when she gets out of line next time so I can stop it.”
I looked at Spencer, not saying anything.
“Promise me, Ainsley.”
I nodded my head. “I promise.”
He shut the TV off and we lay in the dark in silence for a few moments. He cleared his throat. “So are you going to tell me what it was I missed?”
I bit my bottom lip, thankful he couldn’t see how red my face was. “Maybe another time,” I whispered.
