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My wife scoffs at the same time she whirls around on her heels. With narrowed eyes, she looks me up and down before saying, “You’re sleeping on the couch or the floor.”
“What?”
“You’ve got two options. Eve’s room is obviously taken. And you arenotsleeping in my bed. So, you can take either the couch or the floor. Or,” she pauses, “you can take your ass back to your home and sleep as comfortably as you want. I would prefer you take that option.”
With that, she storms out of the room. I go to follow her, but she moves so quickly, she’s halfway back down the hall with the blanket and pillows that she’d thrown on the couch.
She ignores me as she brushes past and remakes her bed.
“I’m not sleeping on the fucking floor,” I gripe as I move to the other side of the bed.
“The couch is that way.” She points over her shoulder.
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“If I was a violent person, I would punch you right now. Just like a man to call a woman ridiculous when she’s setting a boundary,” she murmurs to herself.
When I attempt to get into the bed, she pushes me out.
“No.” Before I know it, she’s spread herself over the entire mattress.
“This is childish.”
“So is blackmailing someone into marriage. Yet here we are.” She reaches over to the nightstand and turns off the light, leaving me standing by the bed like a fool.
She’s not sleeping. Riley’s trying to make a point, to push me out of the door and out of her life. She won’t get off that fucking easily.
That’s how I end up sleeping on the floor in my wife’s bedroom.
CHAPTER25
Riley
I wake up early the morning after Eve’s arrival. Although it’s a Wednesday morning and I have meetings I need to prepare for at the office, finding out what’s going on with my niece is my first concern.
Eve’s always been a sensitive child, and when the subject of her attending Bowen Academy first came up, I was against it. She begged me for weeks to let her try it out. I rub a fist against my chest, massaging the spot over my heart when the thought that I made a mistake in letting her go reverberates through my mind.
I peek over at the floor on the side of my bed to find the pallet of pillows and the blanket gone. Kyle slept on the floor the entire night. Well, maybe only half of the night. The fact that everything’s gone and he’s nowhere in the room, tells me he likely got a clue and took his ass to his real home.
Selfish bastard, I think as I climb out of bed and hurry to brush my teeth, wash my face and then head to the kitchen to make some coffee. The moment I step into the hallway, sounds from up the kitchen greet me.
It’s the sound of Eve’s voice. It’s barely seven in the morning and she’s up.
I come to the open living room to find Eve and Kyle side by side on my kitchen stools at the island. They're both staring at his laptop.
“See, this is why the numbers weren’t coming out correctly. It’s a simple fix.”
It takes a few beats for my brain to register that Eve’s explaining to Kyle some sort of mathematical equation.
“I can’t believe you were able to catch that from a cursory look,” he tells her, grinning down at her.
I give him a once over. He looks perfectly rested, like he had a great night sleep in a nice, warm, comfortable bed.
There isn’t one of his short curls that’s out of place. The morning sun coming through the kitchen window highlights the various shades in his hair.
The crisp, white button down he’s wearing is rolled up to the elbows on both of his arms. I can’t help but stare at the veins that run up and down his forearms. No one is supposed to be that tempting after a night of sleeping on the floor.
He probably did go back and sleep in his own bed.
