Page 27 of Owning Emma

Chapter 14

EMMA

I openedmy eyes at the sound of my alarm and blinked. Trying to figure out the surroundings through the dim light. I moved, reaching for my phone, but a solid band around my waist tightened. What the hell!

I rolled as much as the band would let me and sucked in a breath. Shaw’s arm was wrapped around me as his eyes fluttered, trying to fight their way awake. The rush of yesterday came back to me as I frantically searched for my phone in my pocket, feeling the sound get louder.

I found my phone, managing to pull it out of my back pocket and turned off the alarm. The moment I sat back, sighing as my heart rate turned to normal, I felt vibration behind me as Shaw laughed silently. I turned around, trying to push his body away from mine and he only held tighter.

“I don’t know.” He swallowed hard and worked his mouth a bit while his eyes were still closed. “I don’t know what happened, Cardigan, or how you got here, but you’re not going anywhere.”

I pushed against him again and he loosened his grip, just not fully released it. “I thought you were asleep.”

Still keeping his eyes closed he said, “I was, but your alarm clock was obnoxious.”

“Oh.” Yeah, honestly it kind of was, but since they gave me this cell phone, it’s been a whole lot more convenient than setting my old plug-in alarm every day.

He wrapped his body close to mine, burying his head in my neck. “You don’t have to get up.”

I took a deep breath and ignored the fluttering in my stomach. “I have to go to work.”

“Call in,” he grumbled.

“I can’t call in, I’m the only one there today,” I stated. “Mind lowering your hands?”

He chuckled, then his face turned serious. “Give me five minutes and I’ll be up. I just need five minutes.”

“How are you feeling?” I reached up, removing the piece of hair from his face that was always falling in his eyes.

“I’m perfect.” He rolled over onto his back, finally releasing his hold on me.

I eyed him suspiciously. “Then why haven’t you opened your eyes?”

“Oh, that?” He flung an arm over his eyes to shield them. “That’s because I have the world’s worst headache and the thought of opening them makes me queasy.”

I heard movement from the chair in the corner, totally forgetting that Roman had spent the night in the room, squeezed into the tiny chair because I took up all the space on the bed. I looked over Shaw’s body, shyly glimpsing Roman as he stretched with his arms over his head, before rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“I’m going in with you today.” He stood, using the arm of the chair to stabilize himself as he gained his footing. “Go get ready, I’ll meet you downstairs in twenty.”

Twenty. Was he kidding? It took twenty minutes just for me to get up enough energy to roll out of bed, let alone the time it took to shower, dry my hair and get dressed. I blinked a few times at him. “Twenty?”

“She needs longer than that, trust me. Without proper drying . . . Poof. The hair takes on a time zone,” Shaw mumbled from under his arm, the fact that he wasn’t even going to argue staying home was a testament to how awful he truly must feel.

I nudged him slightly, mainly to make room to get off the bed. “I don’t know if I should be offended about your comment or honored that you know me well enough to buy me time.”

He shrugged, still not moving his arm that was blocking out light. “Take it how you will.”

I heard a growl and looked up to see Roman watching us, displeasure all over his face. What exactly he was displeased about, I had no clue, but I did know it was going to a damn ball having him be my guard dog today. “Twenty-five minutes. That’s all you get. Go.”

With the sound of his stern voice, I knew there was no room for argument, so I was up and out of the room before he even attempted to give me a warning, already heading for my bedroom door.

* * *

Twenty-five minutes later,I found Roman downstairs in the kitchen, sipping coffee out of a travel mug. Somehow, he had managed to take a shower, get dressed, and make coffee in the time it took me to shower and hardly pull on clothes before my timer was beeping.

He held out a travel mug with coffee and grabbed his keys. “You look refreshed.”

“If by refreshed you mean, I look like a wet poodle who escaped drowning, then thanks. Your compliment is lovely.” I grumbled as I took a sip of coffee. Damn, he even knew how I took it and made it to perfection. “This is good, thanks.”

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