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I would miss Morgan and Juno and Chester. I’d miss late nights at Pour Decisions. So instead of forever, I’d settle for until Gabriel and I grew so frustrated with each other’s presences that I couldn’t help but beg to return to my stink sofa rather than spend another night trapped with him.
As we traveled into the picturesque snowscape of the Blue Ridge Mountains, I imagined the types of interactions that awaited me.
G: Snow is nature’s glitter. I hate glitter. Grr. Grr.
Me: You probably hate sprinkles, too.
G: Grr.
Except that wasn’t what happened. And when we were forced to share a bed, I imagined the things he’d say to me then—comments about my feet feeling like ice, that I took up too much space, that I snored. I imagined me falling out of bed to get away from a rogue hand, an unexpected, unintentional touch.
The brush of skin against skin, the way his growling reverberated through my chest, the way he set my nerves sparking like lightning. The way that touch would go from accidental to intentional, sliding over my bare arm, around to my stomach, soft fingertip brushing circles over bare skin.
And that was enoughof that. I snapped my laptop shut.
The words might not have had their fill of me, but I’d definitely had my fill of them. For now.
I rose to my feet and stretched, pretending I wasn’t even a little bit turned on by those ridiculous imaginings. There was nothing but hatred between us, and maybe a little bit of necessary camaraderie every now and then.
Maybe hate sex would be the best sex. Maybe it would be as rough and searing as the way he looked at me when I riled him up.
I coughed on some spit.
It was Sunday, which meant even if Gabriel was able to pull some kind of crazy feat of richness that cleared the roads in a single day, I still was unlikely to return home in time for my shift at Eterni-Tea. And even if I was home in time, I wouldn’t have gotten any real sleep.
It was time to call in.
“Thank you for calling Eterni-Tea, home to day 'n' night delights. This is Edwardo. How can I delight you?”
I shivered at the gross way the official phone greeting sounded coming from his lips. “Hey, Edwardo, it’s Layana.”
“You’re not calling out,” he said.
“Actually—”
“You can’t.”
“I have to.”
“You don’t sound sick.”
“I never said I was sick. I’m stuck in the mountains actually. There was an avalanche and?—”
“You expect me to believe you are stuck at that swanky ski resort in the mountains?”
So he’d heard about the problem, whichshouldhelp my case.
“I am,” I said.
“Yeah, right. And you also inherited a unicorn named Sparkles.”
“I would if unicorns existed.”
“And Sparkles has a hoof infection, so you have to take her to the vet.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not coming in tonight.”
He hissed like a frigging snake. “Layana, you can’t lie and expect special treatment because you feel like partying with your glam squad will be more?—”
