Page 37

I woke up a little disoriented and it took a few seconds for me to remember where I was and what had happened the night before. By the time I was fully awake, I realized that Nathan was asleep.

Part of that was due to his soft breathing but the other part was due to the fact that I knew that there was no way Nathan would have been holding me the way he was except he was asleep.

When we fell asleep we were on opposite sides of the beds with our backs facing each other and now I was half lying on him and our legs were tangled together.

My face was pressed against his neck and one of my hands was on his shoulder while the other was tucked between us.

One of his hands had found its way under my tank was spread flat on my lower back while the other was settled at the spot between the back of my neck and my shoulders .

I could feel every breath he took and every rise and fall of his chest and I was very much aware that I was breathing on him.

I tried to focus on anything except the way we were pressed together but it proved impossible.

Every single part of him was pressed up against me and my body was reacting to that.

I wonder who had breached the other person’s space first but that was impossible to note considering that we were sprawled in the middle of the bed.

I tried to ignore the feel of his body against mine and remind myself that I hated him and he was a conceited asshole but the more I chanted it in my head, the less I believed it.

I tried to slowly disentangle myself from him but as I moved, my upper thigh brushed against a certain part of him and his eyes flew open with a soft groan. I quickly pulled away from him and was out of bed quicker than you could say my name.

“Good morning,” his voice was gruff and laced with sleep and I felt my lower belly clench as his words registered through my brain.

I cleared my throat and muttered a quick good morning as I took refuge in the bathroom. I heard him mutter a disgruntled response but I didn’t stay to respond. My mind was swirling with thoughts I shouldn’t be having so I tried my best not to focus on them.

I tried not to focus on how deep and husky his morning voice was.

I tried not to focus on how my body reacted when I brushed up against him but one look at my pebbled nipples or soaked underwear was enough to remind me.

Most of all, I tried not to focus on how he reacted when I brushed up against him or when I felt him grow against my thigh-

“Stop it,” I muttered to my reflection, “It was morning wood and nothing more. And I was cold, that explains the reaction.”

It didn’t slip my notice that I probably looked like a crazy person.

In fact, my reflection seemed to mock me but I repeated the words until they sank in my brain like concrete.

Despite the warm air coming through the windows and the light sheen of sweat coating my skin, I reminded myself that it was just the cold.

I took a well needed bath and tried to ignore the little scurrying sounds I heard. What I do not know cannot hurt me. When I got out, I blatantly ignored Nathan and grabbed my clothes then retreated back into the bathroom to get dressed.

In a little over an hour, we were both dressed and ready to get the hell out of the motel.

I was in a matching pair of black and white leggings and a crop top while Nathan was wearing a pair of black sweats and a white shirt.

I noticed that we were matching and I reminded myself that it was no big deal.

I wanted to keep busy so I made the bed while Nathan went down to speak with the lady at the counter.

He returned a few minutes later to tell me that Darius was waiting for us downstairs.

I moved towards my box but before I could get to it, Nathan had picked it up and was out of the room.

All I could do was follow behind him and try to ignore the awkward tension that was brewing between us.

Darius looked just as I remembered him and he broke into a smile when he saw us. “I hope you both had a restful night.”

“We did, thank you,” I decided there was no harm in being nice considering that he helped us last night.

“Have you eaten breakfast?”

“Not yet, but we can get something on the drive back to the city. ”

He chuckled awkwardly, “About that,”

No one ever starts a good sentence with ‘about that’ and I knew that he was going to say something that will probably ruin my mood for the rest of the day but that didn’t stop me from silently praying that I was wrong.

“The mechanic went out of town on an emergency yesterday, his daughter was sick,” he explained, “He may not be back for at least a week and his assistant got injured a month back and he still isn’t steady on his feet.”

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” I muttered.

“You could stay here or I could take you to our town. There’s an inn that’s a lot better suited for you there, it also has less rats.” He added the last part in a whisper. “There are also stores around so you can get whatever you need to make your week easier.”

The only thing I need to make my week easier is to be back in my house or in my office surrounded by my own shit where I don’t have to worry about rats or stores because I know where everything is.

I ran my hands over my face in frustration as I struggled to take deep breaths to calm myself, “Are you telling me that there is only one mechanic in the entire town?”

“Unfortunately, yes. We aren’t a big town and we don’t need much.” He gave me a soft smile, “Look, I know it is a huge change from whatever you had planned but that’s the best I’ve got. I’ll give you a moment to think about it.”

I watched him exit the motel and I mentally cursed every force in the universe and karma for doing this to me. I know I can be a bitch but I also know that I do not deserve this. I searched through my pocket for my phone and started scrolling through my contacts .

“What are you doing?” Nathan asked reminding me that he had been standing there the whole time.

“What does it look like I’m doing? I am going to call Marissa to send someone to pick me up. You can stay here for all I care but the last thing I am going to do is go to a godforsaken town that has probably never seen a hairdryer or a Starbucks.”

“Somehow, it seems like this is about a lot more than staying in a town.”

“I am not doing this with you,” I muttered.

I shot him a death glare as I pulled up her contact. I was about to hit dial when he pulled the phone right out of my hand. I took a deep breath to calm my homicidal thoughts before I spoke.

“I am two seconds away from losing my shit,” I warned, “Give me back my phone.”

“No.”

“I’m not joking Nathan. Give me my phone.”

“Didn’t you give Marissa time off?” he asked and I froze as yesterday’s events came back to me, “She would come get you if you asked but doesn’t that take away from her time off?”

I hated that he was right and the last thing I was going to do was admit it to him so I settled for huffing and crossing my hands over my chest.

“Listen, I know this isn’t ideal and you would rather cut off your left arm than be here.”

I cut him off, “That is the understatement of the century.”

“But,” he ignored my obvious disdain, “All we can do is make the most of this. Besides, you had a massive event yesterday; it wouldn’t hurt anyone if you took a week off work. ”

“I have a show in less than a month. I do not have time to take a week off work. I need to make sure that everyone is doing what they need to do.”

“If your workers cannot function without you for a week then I’m sorry to say but you have failed as a boss.”

“They can survive without me.”

“Then take the week off,” he shrugged as if it was that simple, “Unless you don’t really believe that.”

In that moment I wanted nothing more than to claw that stupid smirk of his off his face because he had me in a tight spot. If I said no, I would be proving that my workers are incompetent and if I said yes, then I would be agreeing to stay in a rundown town.

“Fine,” I muttered, “Let’s do this before I change my mind.”

Nathan went to tell Darius that we would be staying and he was over the moon.

He droned on and on to Nathan about the best stops in town and the best places to shop.

He tried to include me in the conversation but after a while he seemed to pick up on the fact that I wasn’t as enthusiastic as him so he gave up and continued speaking to Nathan.

While they spoke, I sent an email to my parents, Marissa and Olivia informing them that I would be off the grid for a while. It took all my self control to resist the urge to look for an alternative solution but that would have meant admitting defeat to Nathan.

I could hear Darius talking but the last thing I wanted to do was hear about the wonders of his town so all I could do was stay silent and resist the urge to throw myself out of the moving vehicle.

I didn’t even realize I had my hand on the handle of the door until Nathan whispered to me. “If you’re thinking of throwing yourself out remember that the truck isn’t moving fast enough for you to die. You would probably just hurt yourself and end up having to stay longer.”

“Or I could throw you out and I’d only have to suffer the town and not your overbearing presence.”

“I’d love to see you try.”

A loud bark of laughter cut through our argument and I turned to see Darius glancing over at us with an amused look on his face.

“Please, don’t let me interrupt,” he chuckled, “I haven’t seen anything as funny as this since three months ago when we got another city visitor.”

“Do you get a lot of that around here?” I asked and he shook his head.

“Although, if y’all are going to keep coming with this level of entertainment, then we might just have to change that.”