Page 16

OLIVIA

Snoring.

So much snoring.

And sadly, it’s not only the dogs.

Roxie is sound asleep with Mosy and Stella curled up on either side of her and I swear she’s the one snoring the loudest. And as if that’s not bad enough, Gunnar is in my bed.

I am practically hanging off the side of this tiny bed, and I’m ready to scream.

I’ve tried nudging him gently and telling him to go lay down, but he’s not budging.

I watch the clock for another five minutes and decide that I’m done. I grab my pillow, my robe, my laptop bag, and leave the room.

And I’m not quiet about it either.

Carefully, I pad down the stairs and it’s almost comical how light it is in the house just from the moonlight.

I’m about to go to the room that used to be a bedroom and set up camp, but I’m thirsty and figure it wouldn’t hurt to grab a bottle of water or maybe even make myself a cup of tea.

I step into the kitchen and see a shadow moving in the corner—the one spot that isn’t well lit—and I scream.

“It’s okay! It’s okay!” a voice hisses before the room lights up. “It’s me.”

My heart is racing, and I almost peed myself, but after I take a moment to catch my breath, I realize I’m looking at Sebastian. “Holy crap! You scared the hell out of me! What are you doing down here?”

“The same thing you are—getting something to drink,” he says logically.

I’m still trembling as I put my laptop and pillow down on the kitchen island.

“Wait, why do you have your laptop with you?”

After letting out a long breath, I look at him—his dark hair’s a little askew and he’s wearing a pair of athletic shorts and that’s it. My mind flashes back to when I first noticed him on the plane and he stretched to put his carry-on away and I saw a little bit of his abs.

This is way more impressive.

“Liv? Are you okay?” He immediately moves in close and guides me over to the nearest chair before running and getting me a glass of water. He gently places it in my hands, his brow furrowed with concern.

And his glasses are on.

“I’m fine,” I finally say. “You just legit scared the hell out of me. I thought everyone was asleep.”

He takes the seat beside me, raking a hand through his already-messy hair. “Sorry about that. I couldn’t sleep—no idea why—and decided to come down and grab a drink.”

“Well, I can’t sleep, and I know exactly why,” I murmur before taking a sip of water.

“The dogs are that bad, huh?”

“The little ones definitely snore, but so does Roxie,” I say wearily.

“And Gunnar hopped onto my bed and wouldn’t move.

I swear I was getting ready to freak out when I decided to just leave the room.

I grabbed my laptop so I could maybe get some writing in until I’m so tired that I’ll fall asleep no matter what. ”

“You want me to take Gunnar up with me? I don’t know if he’ll actually come, but we can try.”

How is this man actually real? He has a solution for almost everything and he’s freaking nice about it too. I’m not used to this kind of person even existing and it’s unnerving. Which is probably why I can’t seem to stop myself from looking at him.

All of him.

But that’s also how I notice that he’s looking at me too.

All of me.

Which is when I realize I’m wearing a short nightie with skimpy straps.

It’s low cut and I’m flashing an awful lot of cleavage along with almost every inch of my legs because this tiny garment rode up as soon as I sat down.

I had planned on putting my robe on when I got down here, but then he scared me and…

I see it on the floor.

I shiver and Sebastian sees the direction of my stare and jumps up to grab my robe, draping it over my shoulders. When he sits back down, his entire focus is on drinking his bottle of water, and I take the opportunity to slip my robe on and cover myself.

“Thanks.”

“No problem. So, uh…you’re going to write?”

I shrug because honestly, my brain isn’t that engaged.

I was tired before my adrenaline spiked just now.

“I’ll probably just end up scrolling on social media or reading random celebrity news.

I haven’t hit the level of tiredness where I can tune out the snoring.

I may need to order earplugs and have them delivered. What about you?”

“I don’t think earplugs are the solution for me,” he says with a wink. “But…yeah, I’m just not tired yet.”

“Are you typically a night owl?”

He shakes his head. “Do you want to go and sit on one of the couches? These chairs are wildly uncomfortable.”

“Sure.”

He grabs our drinks and I grab my laptop and pillow and we head over to the den, which is off the living room. It’s really just a smaller version of the living room with a sectional, an electric fireplace, and a TV. We each get comfortable, and he hands me my drink.

“To answer your question, no. I’m not typically a night owl.

I don’t mind staying up late occasionally, but I’m normally asleep by one.

I just felt restless tonight and couldn’t relax.

It’s kind of wild how loud the ocean is.

I think that was messing with me. I was going to watch some TV after I grabbed a drink. ”

“Normally I’d read or watch TV until I can’t keep my eyes open, but that’s not going to happen up there.

I know Roxie’s going to be devastated if I fall asleep down here because she’s going to know why.

” I fall back against the cushions with a dramatic sigh.

“Maybe when I order the earplugs, I should order some sort of sleep aid. If I drug myself enough and plug my ears, I should be able to sleep, right?”

He doesn’t say anything right away, but I can tell he’s already trying to come up with a solution.

Bless his heart.

“You might be able to block out the snoring, but there’s still Gunnar. I’m still more than willing to try to lure him up to my room, but I know Roxie’s really attached to having the three of them with her all the time.”

He’s got a point.

“Why don’t you take my room, and I’ll take the couch?” he suggests. “And before you say you can’t or you feel bad, let me assure you that I am fine with it. I’m an early riser and…” Pausing, he glances around the room. “I think this space can work for me.”

“Absolutely not. No way. Nuh-uh. Not gonna happen,” I say emphatically. “You have a room with all your stuff in it, and you should sleep in it. Why should you have to suffer because of my problems?”

“I wouldn’t call it suffering and I could say the same for you—you know, about the room and all your stuff,” he fires back lightly, looking even more attractive than he did minutes ago. “And you don’t strike me as the sleeping-on-the-couch type.”

“You don’t know that.”

The look he gives me says otherwise. “You mentioned how much you enjoy your sleep. That means in a comfy bed, where all the variables are exactly as you like them.”

Dammit. He’s right.

Again.

“This is all a moot point because the sleep I love so much isn’t going to happen.

For a month. Or…two weeks. That’s how long you guys are staying, right?

” I sigh again, knowing I’m on the verge of whining, and I promised myself to stop doing that.

“It’s going to be fine. I’ll talk to Roxie in the morning, and we’ll figure something out. ”

“Or…”

I perk up. “Or…?”

Sebastian sits up straighter. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“I think we’re getting to know each other, and we have mutual friends who can vouch for us, right?”

“Um…sure.”

“And we can agree that if we’re both being honest, neither of us wants to sleep on the couch. Any couch. Right?”

“Right.” I must be more exhausted than I thought because I’m completely lost right now and have no idea where he’s going with this.

“Okay, don’t take this the wrong way, but…you can come up and sleep in my room. With me,” he says slowly, like he’s trying to spell it out because he knows I’m confused. “And I have never been told that I snore, so I can promise you that much.”

I stare at him, and I swear all I’m hearing are garbled words—or at least I think they’re garbled because otherwise he’s suggesting I share his bed.

“You want me to sleep with you?” I ask, sounding a bit like an outraged virgin.

Which is borderline ridiculous.

“ Sleep being the operative word, Liv, I swear. It’s late, we’re both tired, and this situation totally sucks.”

“For me,” I remind him. “Not you. I appreciate you wanting to be like…gallant and shit, but…” Words escape me because I honestly can’t think of a single reason not to do this.

I’m tired and I want to sleep. I don’t want to have angry feelings toward Roxie. But sleeping with Sebastian would be…

“No one has to know,” he says. “We’ll set the alarm, and you’ll go back to your room. As it is, you’re only going to get maybe four hours of sleep, but it’s more than you’re going to get at this rate.”

“You don’t know that. I have no idea what time Roxie gets up. I’m sure the dogs get her up pretty early too.”

That little frown of his is back and, for some reason, I’m finding it very sexy.

I’m getting in over my head and I have a feeling sleeping with Sebastian—and just sleeping—is only going to add fuel to this rapidly growing attraction.

But then…my author brain engages and it’s a beautiful thing.

I scoot a little closer to him. “I have a proposal for you,” I say carefully. “And just…promise that you’ll hear me out.”

“O-kay…”

“We don’t set an alarm. We sleep for however long we want.

If you want to get up early, that’s fine.

But if anyone finds out that I slept in your room, we say that slept together.

Like…for sexy reasons. I don’t think anyone’s going to get offended because…

I mean…look at Vanessa and Zayne! They’re sleeping together after sneaking around for the last few months.

We’ll just say that we stayed up late talking and kissed and… bam!”

“Bam?” he repeats with a small laugh.