AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I shrug. “For James.”
I pull her into me using my hand to bring her head to my chest, and the other hand to bring her body flush with mine. Her body shivers under my touch. My heart beats erratically under her ear. I'm sure she hears it picking up its pace with each second that passes.
“Are you cold?”
“I am a little. I’m still so tired. I could sleep all day.”
“Why don’t you go back to bed? What are you even doing up already?”
“I heard you on the phone. I looked at the clock and saw it’s almost time to go to work.” She pulls herself out of my embrace just slightly. “I should probably head ho—”
“Don’t even think about it.”
“Marc.” Her hands ball into a fist and they land on her hips. “I have to get home. I need to shower and get this god awful smell of puke off me. I need my toothbrush. And most importantly, I need to get ready for work!”
“You’re cute when you’re flustered.” I shoot her a devilish smirk.” We’re not going in today.”
“We??”
“Yes…we,” I repeat. “We’re staying here. You’re resting. And I’m going to try and get some work done while you rest. When you start to feel hungry, I’m going to cook for you. When you’re ready, I’m going to draw you a bath. There’s an extra toothbrush already on the sink for you. Anything I’m forgetting?”
“You should call Emiline back and have your head checked, because I think you’re losing your mind.”
“There’s my little firecracker.” I pull her back into me for another hug. “I was starting to think you lost that smart mouth of yours in the toilet.”
“You think this is funny?”
I narrow my eyes at her. “When are you going to accept that I want to do this? I don’t mind taking care of you. In fact, I enjoy it. Iwantto be the one to take care of you.”
“That’s not what this is.”
I take a step away from her, smile on my face as I turn on my heels and walk into the kitchen. She’s trying like hell to deny any sort of feelings she has for me. But there’s no way the chemistry between us is one sided anymore.
“Do me a favor. Brush your teeth and take a long hot bath in that really fancy expensive tub I had installed with jet streams that come out of all angles. If you’re up for a light breakfast when you get out, I’ll make you something and then we can talk.”
“Fine,” she huffs out as she crosses her arms over her chest. “But we’re talking about this.” With her parting words, she storms off into the bedroom.
It’s becoming more and more clear that this attraction I have for Avery Woods isn’t just physical anymore.
Marc wasn’t wrong.
There was a toothbrush set out on the bathroom counter for me to use. It was quite honestly the best teeth brushing I’ve ever had after the night that I had.
I woke up stretched out in a giant king size bed wearing nothing but Marc’s t-shirt. I’m assuming Marc put this on me, because in my sick haze, I don’t remember doing it. Inhaling his scent that was soaked into every fabric of the comforter, I won’t lie and say I didn’t snuggle deeper when the rich sandalwood smell that intoxicated my senses. I didn’t want to move from the bed.
However, I knew I was ruining it with the overpowering smell of puke radiating off of me.
I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life with how sick I got last night in front of someone else. I’ve been hungover sick in front of Peyton and Kali plenty of times, but nothing compared to this. Fucking tacos from lunch yesterday. I'm scarred for life now.
He also wasn’t wrong about the insane bathtub he had built. How did I not notice that when I spent half the night in this bathroom? It was the greatest bath of my life. I even sat in there ten minutes longer than necessary just to relax and breathe in the steam.
When I got out, I pinned my hair up in a claw clip without even bothering to care how it looked. Marc had a pair of sweatpants and a fresh t-shirt laid out for me. I decide to forego the bra and panties, because let’s face it, he’s seen all he needs to see, so there’s nothing left for me to hide.
Making my way down the hall, I hear Marc on the phone. It’s distant so I assume he must be in a room or something. Is there a home office here I don’t know about? It’s close enough though, that I can hear it’s a work thing. They’re discussing a house on the lake on Long Island. This is new for him because he really only deals with big buildings and sticks to the city limits. This must be a special customer.
I plop myself down on the oversized couch smack dab in the middle of the living room. The blankets are no longer lining the back of it, and pillows are strewn everywhere. Guilt makes the nausea creep back up, because it’s obvious that this is where he slept last night.
That feeling is quickly replaced with hunger as my stomach makes the most awful growl.
