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I felt my stomach drop out, and I sat up in a rush. “Oh, god. What time is it?”
“Easy, Pais—”
I checked my phone by the bed. Seven twelve. I was going to have a heart attack. “Oh my god. The bakery—”
“Paisley.” Harper caught me by the arm as I moved to stand up, and I got a fluttery feeling as she pulled me back into bed. “Relax,” she laughed, eyes sparkling. “I swear, you as a workaholic who doesn’t eat enough and wakes up before sunrise… it’s hard to get my head around.”
I tugged against her hold, even though letting her pull me into bed and just spending all day here next to her sounded like paradise. “Harper. I’ve got to… the bakery…”
“I took care of it,” she said. “Kay helped out, too. She’s running the floor right now.”
I blinked fast. “The… the pull…”
“It wasn’t too bad, actually.”
“The croissants—”
“They’ll be fine. Spaced out the batches in the fridge. Stock might just be a bit slim for the next couple days, but they’ll be there.”
She was an angel. An actual angel descended from the heavens to save me from myself. Or maybe I’d died in the hospital and this was heaven.
No, I was definitely going to hell, so that ruled that one out. Which meant this wasreal.
I settled back into the bed next to her, the temptation winning out—all soft and warm and close to her, her warmth permeating through the sheets. “I never thought of just doing that…”
She laughed lightly. “Not my first bakery mishap. Had to do the same thing after I’d sprained my ankle and couldn’t work the next morning…”
“I’d forgotten about that.” I shifted. “The bookstore? Did they do the closing routine okay last night? Everything set for opening today?”
“Mm-hm. It’s all going okay, Pais.” She squeezed my arm. “You can rest.”
Maybe I could rest… that sounded nice. Here next to Harper? I didn’t want to work another minute of my life. I just wanted to cuddle her. Wanted to kiss her again…
I was probably supposed to still be mad at her, right? But she’d just come in here guns blazing the second she’d heard I was hurt, and she whisked me away to safety, fixed everything for me… it was awfully romantic of her, for someone who wasn’t going to be with me.
“Rest,” I said, lying down, nestling closer to her side. “Yeah… I’m exhausted. I wasn’t built for hard work. And by hard work I mean literally any. Can you imagine? Me, doing work? Ugh, no.”
She laughed, brushing my hair back with one thumb. I loved it… felt like my heart would burst when she touched me like that. “Really, really can’t. And you apparently did it almost to the point of taking yourself out. Want to get some more sleep?”
“Neh. I already slept in for ages. I think I’m good.”
“If you say so. So… no pressure to eat if you don’t have the appetite for it, but, breakfast?”
I’d almost forgotten I hadn’t had any appetite. That was a different lifetime. Yesterday? I didn’t know her. “I could murder a bowl of oatmeal. The instant kind. Cinnamon raisin.”
She smiled softly, and she moved to stand up. “You got it,” she said, and I reached out and caught her hand.
“Wait—I can make my own—”
“I know. But I want to do this for you.”
Dammit, she was going to make me cry. Just a little. I was a grownup. But still. “Thanks, Harps,” I said, squeezing her hand. She ruffled my hair again as she stood up, and I sank back into the sheets, pulling the blanket up higher as she got up.
“I’ll be back in a flash. If you feel like you’re going to fall back to sleep, let it happen.”
“You’re the best ever,” I murmured, nestling into the pillows. “Love you.”
She looked away, heading for the bedroom door. “Mm. Heard last night that I was the worst ever.”
